Biggest amp for 340's?

[fastnee]

I am running 340's (front and center) with an 85 watt parasound amp, with an hk avr 230 doing the processing and feeding 170 rear channels. As upgradeitis continues, my question is - if I were contemplating a bigger amp, how much bigger would I have to go before I noticed a difference? I know "clean" power is important as well. Any thoughts and suggestions appreciated.

[jimsiff]

I don't know that you'd notice much of a difference moving from the Parasound. IMO, as long as you've got enough power available to get your speakers to preferred listening level without clipping and enough headroom to deal with dynamic transitions, then going from an 85 wpc Parasound to most anything else would yield minimal improvements at best. That said, subjectively, you might notice a big improvement. Balancing science and psychoacoustics is an interesting topic.

If I were to upgrade, I would consider upgrading to outboard amps of similar quality to your Parasound for the surrounds and a nice pre/pro.

[fastnee]

Thanks jim. I tend to agree with you about the psychoacoustic aspect of things. However, I was listening to the Eagels Hell Freezes Over in DTS last night ( I usually rent it when I recalibrate, should just buy the damn thing) and boy did those 340's shine; I guess its the "what if's" that can kill you (or cost you, as the case may be...)

[Quinn]

I think you'd need a big $tep up in quality before more watts would sound better. That Parasound should be quite nice.

Don't forget that it takes doubling watts for every 3dB increase in volume. You step up to 200 watts and you are barely getting more than an additional 3dBs.