Originally Posted By: chesseroo
 Originally Posted By: Mojo

I think a lot of it has to do with the room and distance from the speakers. If the room is highly damped and you are sitting far back from your speakers (say, more than eight feet), you will need more than a half watt.

There is something to be said about the power requirements of transient requirements though.
Yes a few watts or less on average are used, but for those short burst of much larger energy requirements, the capabilities of a standalone amp can go much further than most receivers.
Power capacity, big reserves.


Sure, I agree in principle with what you're saying. But take my half Watt nominal case for example. I have 23dB of clean headroom from my 90W Denon at half Watt nominal. Even at 1 Watt, I have 21dB and at 2W I still have 18dB. Why would I need more? Now during the times when no one is home and I end up "cranking" it, I know I could use more than 90W especially on recordings that preserve dynamic range. So for those that have it turned up to 4W or so (Randy would be one because of his large, damped room), you NEED an A1400...or 2 \:\) .

House of the Rising Sone
Out in the mid or far field
Dedicated mid-woofers are over-rated