Thanks for the response. It sounds like I won't get any improvement from increasing wattage output. I do own a sub it's a klipsch rw12d. I am actually pretty happy with the sound I am getting currently. I was just curious if the higher output amps would make any difference.
The first time (>10 years ago) I added an expensive 300/500W 8/4 ohm amp to my AVR I heard a significant difference, seemed more transparent and definitely better bass. As soon as the initial excitement and satisfaction subsided, the brain somehow changed it's mind and I no longer felt the difference significant. In fact I could only tell a difference when I cranked the volume way up to the point it blew the tweeter on my 86dB/1m/W Energy 22 ref Conn during one of the playing around comparison sessions. Note: the AVR blew it when it was so loud that the tweeter might have acted as a fuse for my ears.
The amp has been back to one of my two channel system since.
Depending on your speakers and other factors, more power may or may not make a difference for you. It is a
fact that power not needed and/or used will not, and should not make a difference to sound quality. Of course there are no shortage of people who supposedly heard night and day kind of difference even at very low spl, after adding a 200 watts power amp to their 100 watts rated mid range AVR, it is entirely up to you to believe what you choose to believe.
On the objective side, your speakers are rated:
98dB/2.83V/m, 8 ohm nominal
Let's conservatively assume they are actually 4 ohm nominal, the sensitivity would then become 95 dB/1W/m, let's further de-rate them by another 3 dB, so use 92 dB/W/m for sensitivity.
Let's also ignore room gain by entering the following data to the linked online calculator:
http://myhometheater.homestead.com/splcalculator.html
Speaker sensitivity: 92 dB/W/m
Placement: Away from wall
No. of speakers: 2 (stereo listening)
Distance: 12 ft (you need to enter the actual distance in your case).
The calculator shows that you need only 1.35 WPC to get 85 dB at 12 ft. 85 dB is as loud as what you will experience in movie cinemas that follows THX standards. So, based the
assumed distance, even your 80 WPC rated AVR can give you that kind of sound pressure level and still capable of >20 dB peak. If you do listen at this kind of loud level, adding an amp will likely make a difference, but remember doubling the power will only get you 3 dB more of spl. Your AVR does not have mch preouts. If you replace it with one that is rated 100 WPC with 7.2 preouts, you probably should go for a 300 W rated amp to make sure you can actually hear a difference at > reference level.
