I don’t have any PL gear, but I have learned that good sound doesn’t follow any “rules” per se.
when matching speakers to amplifier(s), more is better. Wider frequency response- better. More power- better.
My amps are only 250 watt rated; but now I run two, balanced, giving 500 watt rating. I do not listen any louder; however the massive headroom makes a massive difference.
I’m pretty sure I could incinerate the speakers if I unleashed the full destructive power of the amps but it’s not about that. The sonic improvement is not subtle.
My rule now is: ALWAYS have far more power available that the speakers “handle” or “need”. You’re only going to be listening to 10-20 watts most of the time anyway.
Turboj5525,
From J!m's comments above, even though we've never shared a common listening session (or even met in person)
he just perfectly described my own view on amp power vs. speaker rating.
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Here's a quick example to illustrate where I'm coming from. Custard Pie is a Led Zep song that I've listened to ever since the '
Physical Graffiti' album was released back when I was in high school. I had the album at home & the
8-track in the car. Anyway, the song has great rhythm, making for a twisting of the volume knob right at the beginning. A little bit later, there's a wailing harmonica added, which nearly always provokes me to add
another dose of volume for good measure.
For me anyway, this usually meant that the system (car or home) was opened up, sounding clean & clear, close but not quite max output. And then,
every time here comes the speed bump, where Bonham puts his all into his kit at the ~3:39-3:40 mark. Right here, most systems fail to maintain the illusion that you are there -- because the system clips/distorts at the instantaneous peak.
When this record came out in '75, I was listening to my first 'amp' - a Radio Shack Realistic 35W/channel receiver. If I had an o-scope back then (& I didn't :0) ...it would have been a simple matter to see the output stage run out of rail voltage & clipped hard when that musical peak happened.
When the Dual 500 replaced the Realistic, this was one of the first songs I played. *Much improved*. But not perfect, for now, at the musical peak it sounded like the needle mistracked. So I upgraded the turntable to a Shure V15 Type III, and that fixed the mistracking, for now it sounded clear & clean through the peak. NOTE: A little later on, I added a
dbx 3bx to the signal chain, and
finally I actually looked forward to the musical crescendo (ex-speed bump) of the song, just like I would in a live music venue. (!)
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Moving to today, I am eagerly anticipating moving from one D500 running both of my speakers to something similar to what J!m is doing -- I'm upgrading to having two D500s, one for each speaker. NOTE: Not to make it any *louder*, but to give the song more 'swing' or 'swagger' throughout, and actually look forward to the full effect of Bonham's pounding at the 3:39-3:40 mark. :0)
To paraphrase a common saying, "You don't get a 2nd chance to make a good leading edge musical transient." :0)
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Excuse me for a moment, for I'd like to share a mechanical analogy.
NOTE: When visualizing the following, please drive every instance at 30 mph.
So there's this long parking lot where people had a tendency to drive too fast. To keep the peace, the powers that be decided to install a healthy
speed bump. You know, the one that is designed to make you crawl over it. (And the one that the motorheads would drag their headers on. :0)
Scenario #1: You are in a
stock '72 Ford Pinto, and you drive over it at 30 mph. Q: How did it feel?
Scenario #2: You are in a
2022 Corvette Z06, and you drive over it at 30 mph. Q: How did it feel?
Scenario #3: You are in a
new Ford Raptor and you drive over the speed bump at 30 mph. Q: Did you even notice it?
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Back to audio land. The point I'm trying to illustrate is that audio isn't about old vs. new. Or how much money you spend. When you are successful in this hobby, what
you are trying to accomplish matches up exactly with what the
designer was asked to accomplish.
The '72 Pinto was a cheap, utilitarian, thrashy ride. (Substitute '72 Vega if you wish) It would survive hitting the speed bump, but as the driver you wouldn't want to make a habit out of it. The '22 Corvette Z06 is optimized for high speed road race work, and it would be a shame to foul the bodywork on that big speed bump...not to mention it's just wrong to put a $85K machine through that. Of the 3, the Raptor would traverse the speed bump at 30mph easily.
To put the full circle on all this? The answer to the mechanical analogy above is having adequate "Suspension Travel" engineered into the vehicle.
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And in audio land, the analog to suspension travel are the 'voltage rails' that your output transistors are suspended in-between. The Phase Linear amps have very generous voltage rails, much like the Ford Raptor has all kinds of suspension travel. (And tube amps for that matter.)
Now if you only drive on perfectly smooth interstate highways
at the speed limit, then all 3 vehicles above will get the job done.
(Same goes in audio land if you only listen to pure test tones at moderate volumes. :0)
But if you listen to dynamic music, tend to favor lifelike volume levels, and want to actually
look forward to the big musical crescendos, then it's not purely the number of watts/channel, it's really how much effortless headroom does your amplifier (and speaker size/travel/suspension) have to offer?
Apologies for the length, but even after I have both D500s vertically bi-amped into my 2 QLS-1s, the vast majority of the time I will be just like J!m, loafing along at 10-20 watts...but no matter what shows up, transient-wise, I'll be ready. You can be listening to
a song with only a single keyboard & drums at an average output of 10-20 watts, but instantaneous transients will need 10x the power for brief instants of time...and those transients are what make the song so much more exciting & involving to a human than a pure sine wave at the same wattage. :0)
