Which Denon & which Acurus/Rotel?
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Might want to take a look at this thread:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=676666
Long story short, I'd look long and hard if you really need an amp before dropping the cash.
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Wild curiosity (as I too am a Klipsch owner), what prompted you to add the Rotel? Was it beneficial? Was it a difference? Would you do it again?
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Well it's true, you can't ever have too many Watts 
It is possible however, to have enough. The tricky bit (and where there is discussion) is what exactly "enough" is.
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That's a very complicated issue there, as there are so many variables. However start with the minimum variables, two amps, identical in all ways except one is designed to produce 125W and the other 200W.
In that setup, given the same speakers, the only time the 200W amp would be different from the 125 is if the 125 was driven to clipping. Note however that the 200W amp would only provide an additional 2dB of "headroom" over the 125W.
The part that makes it complicated is that amps are (AFAIK) rated into a purely resistive, and frequency independent 8Ohm load. Loudspeakers, OTOH, are not purely resistive and represent a far from frequency independent load.
IMO, one must evaluate as many variables as possible when looking for amplification:
How loud you listen.
How big your room is.
How efficient your speakers are.
Are they "easy" to drive (close to 8Ohm) or "difficult" (much lower than 8Ohm).
Here's an interesting tool to look at some of those:
http://www.myhometheater.homestead.c...alculator.html
Now before anyone jumps on me for that, that's not the be-all end-all, but it is a good tool to give you an idea of your actual power requirements.
What it can't tell you is if a given amp can actually provide the rated power into your speakers.
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For some perspective, reference level for DVDs is 105dB peak. With efficient speakers like some Klipsch's (which are actually 105dB @ 1W/1m) you can actually hit reference level on as little as 1Wpc.
Conversely, Magnepans (87dB @ 2.83V/1m or 84dB @ 1W/1m) would take over 400Wpc to reach reference level.
Oh, and FWIW, my current amplification is an MCA50, which I am certain is overkill.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=676666
Long story short, I'd look long and hard if you really need an amp before dropping the cash.
Quote:
| Originally Posted by petergaryr I'm using a Denon 2805 with a 130 wpc Rotel 1070 in a 16x12x8 room with very good results. However, I am also using Klipsch RF5's which are extremely efficient. A lot of whether 200 watts is overkill will depend upon the efficiency of the speakers you are using. |
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| There are some who will argue that you can never have too many watts, no matter what. |
It is possible however, to have enough. The tricky bit (and where there is discussion) is what exactly "enough" is.Quote:
| Generally, however, I'm not sure you would really notice the difference between 125 versus 200 watts. |
In that setup, given the same speakers, the only time the 200W amp would be different from the 125 is if the 125 was driven to clipping. Note however that the 200W amp would only provide an additional 2dB of "headroom" over the 125W.
The part that makes it complicated is that amps are (AFAIK) rated into a purely resistive, and frequency independent 8Ohm load. Loudspeakers, OTOH, are not purely resistive and represent a far from frequency independent load.
IMO, one must evaluate as many variables as possible when looking for amplification:
How loud you listen.
How big your room is.
How efficient your speakers are.
Are they "easy" to drive (close to 8Ohm) or "difficult" (much lower than 8Ohm).
Here's an interesting tool to look at some of those:
http://www.myhometheater.homestead.c...alculator.html
Now before anyone jumps on me for that, that's not the be-all end-all, but it is a good tool to give you an idea of your actual power requirements.
What it can't tell you is if a given amp can actually provide the rated power into your speakers.
Quote:
| Most of the time, "loud" (85-95 db at the listening position) is often achieved with just a few watts. Of course, one person's "loud" is another person's "just getting started". |
Conversely, Magnepans (87dB @ 2.83V/1m or 84dB @ 1W/1m) would take over 400Wpc to reach reference level.
Oh, and FWIW, my current amplification is an MCA50, which I am certain is overkill.
This is a good list, but I'm going to add to it.
How loud you listen.
How big your room is.
How efficient your speakers are.
Are they "easy" to drive (close to 8Ohm) or "difficult" (much lower than 8Ohm).
Are you crossing over to a sub for any/all channels?
Bass (low freqs) is the most power hungry part of the signal. If you cross over to a sub, that means you need that much less power for you to have "enough" power.
I went from a 2 channel Bryston 4B-ST (test results at 300W/ch) to a Proceed BPA 2 (test results at 141W/ch), and I didn't notice any loss due to the difference in power. Both are good amps though anyway.
How loud you listen.
How big your room is.
How efficient your speakers are.
Are they "easy" to drive (close to 8Ohm) or "difficult" (much lower than 8Ohm).
Are you crossing over to a sub for any/all channels?
Bass (low freqs) is the most power hungry part of the signal. If you cross over to a sub, that means you need that much less power for you to have "enough" power.
I went from a 2 channel Bryston 4B-ST (test results at 300W/ch) to a Proceed BPA 2 (test results at 141W/ch), and I didn't notice any loss due to the difference in power. Both are good amps though anyway.
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