does a more power full amp mean better sounds at low volume?

[Vancouver]

Getting a rotel processor but cant decide on how powerful of an amp I need. I dont play music or movies to laud becuase I live in a condo. If listen at low to med levels will the sound differ between a 70 watt/channel amp and a 100watt/channel amp?

if both are played at 50 watts will the sound be the same?

 

[jaxvon]

If you're pushing 50 watts into your speakers, you're either

A. Running Some Old Soundlab Electrostat speakes
B. Playing your speakers so loud that you'd have a hard time hearing someone standing next to you outside your condo.

At any moderate to low listening level, you're probably going to be seeing 5 watt PEAKS. I have an old Yamaha CR-1020 with VU meters. I have it hooked up to some Polk Monitor 30 bookshevles (which don't sound half bad) and I cranked it up to some fairly loud levels. It barely peaked above 5 watts, and that was rare.

If you never plan on rocking out with your speakers, then you don't need a beefier amp. Just spend your money on one with good, clean outputs and low distortion.

 

[j_garcia]

Not really. If the two amps are of the same quality, the low level sound will not really change.

 

[Privateer]

Getting a rotel processor

Which one.

 

[Vancouver]

Which one.

I was thinking of either the RMB-1066 or RMB-1075, but you guys haven pretty much answered for me that I dont need to spend the extra money on the 1075 becuase I wont use the extra power.

 

[Privateer]

I was thinking of either the RMB-1066 or RMB-1075, but you guys haven pretty much answered for me that I dont need to spend the extra money on the 1075 becuase I wont use the extra power.

Not the amp but which proccesor are you buying? What is the price difference betwen the 1066 and 1075?

 

[Vancouver]

probably the 1068. I think the price difference between the 2 is about $500.

 

[soundsfine]

Even at surprisingly low volumes, and especially for digital audio, you can get some very high energy peaks (transients). To accurately reproduce those peaks you need power. Power is not just for playing louder.

However, either of your proposed choices will likely be adequate at low volumes.