Outlaw Amps - What do *you* really need?

Who *needs* 200 watts going to a surround speaker?

I mean really, most surround speakers are silly little sound boxes that are fill; important for movies and SACD, but still fill. Who plays their surrounds full range - full program?

I know, I know. Your speakers are the finest speakers ever created and need, nay deserve, 200 watts (class A) each with 416 db of headroom. Uh huh.

Whose needs are met with a multichannel amp with 5 or 7 channels of the same power?

How about a multichannel with:

Two (2) channels of main power for the (gasp!) main speakers. You know, the left and right front speakers that produce, oh, nearly all the sounds you hear. Main power? How about 300 (or more) quality watts into 8 ohms with the aforementioned 416 db of headroom.

One (1) channel of less power, perhaps 150 watts, for the center channel which needs a decent amount of power for clean delivery of it's program material (predominantly vocals in movies or concert videos). Center channel needs quality sound, but not full program like the l/r front speakers.

Several (?) channels of even less power (60 - 120 watts) for the constellation of surround speakers which do less real work than a UAW employee.

BIG FREAKING POWER for the fronts, less for the surrounds. One chassis.

Signed,
Hypocrite with the same big, honking floor standing main speakers (Linn DMS) in front and surround duty; for now.

It's impossible from a manufacturing and marketing standpoint to produce an amplifier such as you suggest. It would limit the setup options far too much to make it economically viable. So, what is the status quo is likely to remain.

I do hear what you are saying about excess power though - my mains are powered in an active bi-amp setup with just 60 watts for the woofers and 5(!) watts for the tweeters. But I'm in a minority of perhaps a handful of people on the planet who go this route.

I also wondered what would one need with 200watts/channel while watching movies. I agree the surrounds never need that kind of power (I actually use a 120w/channel for my rear surrounds). But I also enjoy using the 5/7 channel mode for music over some of the DSP modes. Occasionally the bypass is preferable but more often than I use the 5/7 channel mode. My room is fairly large. But I really like the 7500 for music, not that I play it really loud. My perception is that is just sounds fuller and detailed. Since getting the 7500 I no longer wonder. Just my two bits.

Though I don't usually, I'll "weigh-in" on this one.
While it's all one's choice and taste, I like having full-range speakers as surrounds....and the 200w/ch there, too.

Sometimes I, too, listen in stereo (front L/R). Sometimes 5 ch. Sometimes 7ch. And I like being able to boost the surrounds for certain movies or music as I choose, knowing that I've got the power (though it's also about headroom).

In addition I and others have taken our old 4 ch live recordings (tape) and transposed them onto 4 ch of hard drive (not computer) machines...and...one of the neatest things is the placement of the four channels onto 4 dts tracks (i.e. Front L/R and Surround L/R). So in this case having full-range speakers and amps feeding the surrounds is happiness.

Power required depends a good deal on the sensitivity of the loudspeaker being used. (Altec’s highly sensitive/efficient speakers at 60+5 watts likely produce more acoustic energy than my loudspeakers powered at 200+ watts per channel.) Example: if your L/C/R speakers are about 90db at one watt, and your surround speakers are 87db at one watt, that’s like having identical speakers all around but cutting the power sent to the surrounds by half. So, if you already know the speakers you’ll be using, compare their sensitivities before deciding on needed watts.

Another factor in deciding watts per channel would be if and how you plan to use subwoofers. If subs are going to carry all the burden of the lower frequencies full-time, then 300wpc for front L/R is not likely necessary. If your L/R speakers are going to perform without one or more subs for the lower bass, then 300wpc for low-sensitivity speakers may be a consideration.

As you likely know, some folks that want to give low power to some speakers and high power to others just use different amps.

This isn't actually true. It's the case for traditional tube and class D amplifiers, but companies are making multi-channel amps with different output wattage for the side and rear channels.

You can find an example at http://www.wyred4sound.com or at http://www.d-sonic.net

However, I can't seem to grasp how these systems scale linearly when the volume is turned up since they'll be outputting different wattage. Unfortunately I don't have a good enough understanding of electronics to understand this concept even though several people tied to explain it to me on AVS.