Amp powerful enough?
BigMac
Posts: 849
I just got a NAD 2400pe THX amp. I noticed an immediate improvement in sound quality and now quiet passages are very quiet and all of a sudden when instruments chime in loudly it is like a gun shot going off. Guess that is what you call dynamic power.....I knew what it meant but never truely experienced it.
Now here is where I am getting a little confused. Almost everyone here and at other forums say, "the more power the better" in terms of amp power ratings. I am running my cd player directly to this amp with my Polk 10b speakers and I am wondering if more wattage would eek out a little more quality sound from my speakers. I read some papers on distance from speakers,amp power,dynamic power, efficiency and so on and the more I read the more confused I got. I saw this little "tool" and used it but I have no idea what it means in laymans terms.
I guess what I am asking is that for those moments when a particular part of a song calls for every last drop of power your amp has to reproduce it correctly what wattage am I looking for? Is what I have no good enough or should I go for more power? Here are the specs for my amp.
Link for the "tool": http://www.musicalfidelity.com/products/supercharger/sliderule.swf
My amp specs (no idea if my THX version matters or not): http://www.nadelectronics.com/img/datasheets/NAD_2400.pdf
Now here is where I am getting a little confused. Almost everyone here and at other forums say, "the more power the better" in terms of amp power ratings. I am running my cd player directly to this amp with my Polk 10b speakers and I am wondering if more wattage would eek out a little more quality sound from my speakers. I read some papers on distance from speakers,amp power,dynamic power, efficiency and so on and the more I read the more confused I got. I saw this little "tool" and used it but I have no idea what it means in laymans terms.
I guess what I am asking is that for those moments when a particular part of a song calls for every last drop of power your amp has to reproduce it correctly what wattage am I looking for? Is what I have no good enough or should I go for more power? Here are the specs for my amp.
Link for the "tool": http://www.musicalfidelity.com/products/supercharger/sliderule.swf
My amp specs (no idea if my THX version matters or not): http://www.nadelectronics.com/img/datasheets/NAD_2400.pdf
Post edited by BigMac on
Comments
-
Well....it might be enough. What kind of music do you listen to? If you listen to alot of classical type music with alot of quiet passages, or jazz even, you should be OK since your NAD has like 6db's of dynamic headroom (wow!). Now, if you listen to primarily hard rock you may want more continuous power. After all, your 10B's are rated for 200 watts continuous. I did see by the spec sheet your amp has a damping factor of 100. Thats not great, especially with a sealed cabinet. The higher the damping factor, the greater woofer control you have. Again, this is of higher importance with more stressful music. A number closer to 400 would be better. 'Course, alot of people on here run NAD amps and love 'em so bottom line is, if YOU are happy with it, run it til you find something you don't like about it. Then replace it with something bigger!:D
stubbySRS 3.1TL
Harman Kardon Citation 5.1
Anthem AVM2 -
Thank you very much for that info. Every time you all reply I am hit with another audio term I need to know (a good thing). This feels like I am going through BUDS training (the mental part anyway). Just when you think you have a handle on it there is a ton to learn and do. "Damping factor" is the term I am referring to. Now I need to go do some more reading,lol.
I listen to all varieties of music. Lately it has been Staind,Alison Krauss,Stevie Ray Vaughn,Metallica (trying to like the new album),Killswitch Engage,Pantera,and some Patsy Cline. I know that is a very weird mix but it depends on my mood or if I have a hard training session I am about to undertake. For security though I listen to jazz and classical to keep me relaxed so I act with caution. Don't want to go to a gig after I have been listening to Killswitch,lol. No plans on upgrading till after the holidays but then again I never know what I am going to do from one second to the next. Again, thanks for the information, really helps me out alot.:)
