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You are kind of scaring me! How loud are you listening? Take some advice froman old man who hearing has diminished...preserve what hearing you have by listening at reasonable levels, nearer 80-85 db or less.
If your hearing leaves you little else will matter. Get a Radio Shack sound pressure meter, and regardless of how inaccurate it is get a handle on how loud you listen now!
You could look at Audio Advisor at some of the Parasound amps that sound good and are a good dollar per watt value. If you need more than 200 watts per channel you have some loudness issues you must deal with.
Take care!
Could be you want 200 watts of clean power per channel. Relatively cheap is always a killer. Since its vintage, maybe go vintage with a preamp/amp combo. http://www.audiogon.com/ http://www.classicaudio.com/ http://www.oaktreeent.com/hi-fi_.htm http://autopedia.com/html/HotLinks_AudioVint.html Or, how about two Audiosource AmpOne/As bridged for 200 watts per channel into 8 Ohms and an Audiosource PreOne/A preamp? You'ld be in for about $574. You don't need the AM/FM tuner do you?
A little input from an electrical/acoustical engineer.. from my experienced opinion, a simple fix for your problem would be to buy an amplifier, not a receiver, but a dedicated amplifier. For home audio products an amplifier could give you gains of 25W/Ch all the way up to the hundreds of W/Ch. These amplifiers you could find any where between $100 to $1000.
Also, don't listen to what your first reply said about damaging your hearing. I have installed car audio systems exceeding 4000W in total power usage that have had 2000W of dedicated bass and 400W/Ch. of component speakers that do not produce that effect. Its all about sound quality, using high power to process the signal better, to in turn get a cleaner, fuller sound.
Regardless of whether the issue is one of output spl, or of sound quality, DO be careful not to overdo the decibels. Your hearing is the most important component an audiophile or music lover possesses. Besides, I too would assume the issue was mainly one of output power related to speaker eficiency. That said, I think a move to separates IS your best bet. Or else trade those speakers for something more sensitive. Maybe some Klipsch.
I'd venture a guess, aaubee, that you are one of those folks whose car can be heard a mile away. Maybe you need those 4000 watts so you can feel your car vibrate because your hearing has been so diminished?
Good advice, though, regarding the use of an amp as opposed to a receiver.
jkk, do check out the web sites that jackfish posted - I have dealt with Oaktree and was most pleased.
And heed Jim's warning about excessive dB's. As a guy who spent years exposed to high noise levels I now have a degree of permanent hearing loss.
Quick answer. 100W vs 120W. Undetectable. 1db increase is supposed to be the minimum perceptible change. 125W is a 1db increase in power from 100W.
So if my calculator is working correctly, a 4000 watt amp produces a 160 dB increase in sound. (Not much sound for all that power.) Or did I press the wrong buttons?
Very true, Cyclebrain.
Also, in general, an increase in power (watts) can be beneficial for mid and low freq sound quality.
If the drivers are large, high mass, or not on the efficient end of the scale, the extra power can have a beneficial effect of 'tightening up' or delivering 'cleaner' sound on the bottom end.
With that said, keep in mind the rule of the 'First Watt'.
IOW, if you start with a compromised design and just give it more power, you simply end up with more low quality sound.
I think that I am being baited. My calculator claims that a 4000 watt amplifier produces an increase of 16dB over the 100 watt amplifier. 10Log P1/P2. And no, an increase in the sound level will probably not be 16dB. More likely a blown speaker or two.
I agree having extra watts is a good thing. But 20 more watts compared to 100watts is insignificant.
Just like "I listened to some RAP through my high end system and it still sucked.
No, cyclebrain, I'm not baiting you...my fat fingers on those tiny calculator buttons guarantees a wrong answer. That's why I questioned my own answer of 160dB.
Yes, "a blown speaker or two" is sure to be the results.
Thanks for checking my math.