I am new to the higher end audio game. I am wondering whether I have defective equipment or if I need to invest in an amp??? I recently invested in an HK AVR7000 receiver. I was upgrading from a lower end Yamaha which was rated at 70W/ch. The HK is at 100W. Anyway, the HK is crystal clear throughout the range of volume. The Yamaha would seem to put out more sound/noise but it was distorted. The HK sounds beautiful but now I want more. Is it just that since the HK is undistorted that I don't/can't notice the difference in volume??? Does anyone believe that perhaps I have a devective HK??? Or do I just need to invest in an amp to get what I want??? I was looking at the Outlaw 750 because of the good reviews. I look forward to any feedback on this subject and feel free to suggest any solution.
The sound level is more driven by your speakers. How sensitive are they? Remember decibel level is a log scale. Therefore, a tremendous amount of wattage is necessary to increase sound level a lot.
Screeching/Distortion will sound louder.
How big is your room? The bigger the volume, more power needed to build the sound pressure given the same speaker. In general, mini-monitors are not going to overwhelm a large living room. (> 15'x15')
Is your sub powered? Bass takes much more power than tweeters or mid-range. If you are running a passive sub, demo a powered one.
Think about it from the start: Goal is high sound pressure. If a large room, power, more sensitive speakers (> 90), powered sub (maybe two) will be required. Make sure the reciever amp is rated ALL CHANNELS driven with range of 20 to 20K Hz.
You can also get an inexpensive meter from Radio Shack to measure sound level between the recievers.
If your Yamaha and HK rated by the same condition, 70W and 100W doesn't mean any significant loudness improvement. To achieve any significant loudness increment, you have to double the power, so let say your amp power = 70W, you have to buy minimal 140W amplifier, and if you still not satisfied, get another 280W (remember your speaker power handling too)