Murph, I didn't do any calculations, but the "Fill the massive space" and "Lots of power is required for any significant volume change" concepts seem right on - and I had given that some thought after JohnK's post. Your guestimates seem as sound and thoughtful as possible. Thank you for taking time to do that.
That's why I figure it will sound noticeably better if I upgrade the amp and speakers - although it may not reach the ear bleeding levels I would like to achieve.
I don't mean to treat anybody here like my personal calculator or research assistant, but I'm now wondering the following:
If the XPA-2 reaches 500 wpc at 4 ohms... and our best guestimate is that I need 319 wpc... but the signal is split among 3 sets of 8 ohm speakers... that have a total resistance of 2.67 ohms... what does that mean in terms of power delivered to the 8 ohm outdoor speakers and the volume they will generate?
