Fellow members, I was hoping I can leverage your combined experience to help me assess whether the Torii Jr. is a no-brainer upgrade from the Rachael that I’m currently in line for.  My rationale is that if I am waiting this long, might as well make sure that I negate any chances of wanting additional headroom. I have decently sensitive speakers-Klipsch RP-8000fs.  A single Tori Jr. offers up more power than running two monoblock Rachaels, plus it’s cheaper than going the dual Rachael route. So, again on paper, this seems like a no-brainer.  However, I am trying to determine, if there is some other variable (other than just pure wattage) that I’m overlooking…something the Rachael will have and the Torii won’t?  Or am I overthinking it?  I should also mention that I plan to use Schiit Audio’s Freya Plus preamp in the chain.  Your thoughts will be appreciated.

Hello Kamran.  While there are lots of people on this forum who know more than me, I have some similar equipment to what you have, so I thought I would comment.

I started with an SE84C (an older version of the 2-watt amp), and Klipsch floor-standing reference premiers (I think they are RP-620, which are now discontinued).  They are similar to your speakers but have 6-inch rather than 8-inch woofers, and have 97 db sensitivity rather than the 98 db of your speakers.

I try to look at the volume from a combination of amp and speaker with the following three steps:

(1) Identify Desired Average Volume at Listening Position. I think the first question to ask is "how loud do I want to listen."  I use a hand-held meter to roughly measure my average listening level at my listening position (I think there are probably also apps you can use on a smartphone to take those measurements).  Based on my measurements, I personally like the average listening level to be in the range of about 70 to 76 db.  And based on some internet searches on other forums, I think this range is pretty typical.  

(2) Estimate Maximum Volume at Listening Position.  I estimate what the maximum volume of my speakers would be at my listening position if I operate my amp at full power based on the speaker sensitivity (volume produced from one watt at a distance of 1 meter), adjusted for two factors:

    (b) Power - the volume at a distance of one meter will increase by about 3 db as the power is doubled.  

    (a) Distance - I think a rule-of-thumb is that volume drops about 3 db as the distance increases by one meter.  

For me, using the 2-watt SE84C with 97 db speakers, the maximum volume at one meter distance would be 100 db (where doubling the power to two watts would result in 100 db at a distance of 1 meter), and would be 97 db at my listening position that is about 2 meters from my speakers (reduced by 3 db to reflect the additional meter of distance).    

(3) Estimate Average Volume at Listening Position -  I estimate what the average volume would be at my listening position, by assuming you need about 20 db of "headroom" to avoid clipping during peaks.  If the maximum estimated volume at my listening position is 97 db, then I would have 20 db of headroom at an average listening level of 77 db.  

So, for me, 2 watts is enough to drive my Klipsch speakers to as high a level as I like to listen (just barely!).   This analysis seemed to work for me in pairing a Rachel (6 watts) with a speaker that has a sensitivity of about 93 db (which also works, but just barely).   

One final thought - all other things being equal, I think there is something to be said for having some extra headroom to work with.  While having "just enough" power has worked for me, there may be good reasons to have more headroom.  

=====

I hope this makes some sense, Kamran, and is helpful to you.  Hopefully you will also get some input from some of the more knowledgable forum members.

Good Luck!

Thanks Tone Deaf for your detailed and thoughtful response. I am actually using the decibels app on my phone and it seems the range is actually 75-85 db based on how dynamic the track is.  I am sitting approx. 4 meters and change from the speakers.  Currently running 20 watt schiit Aegir monoblocks (so more than 20 watts in this setup but I can’t recall the exact outout in mono mode).  Haven’t run in to any clipping issues.