High horsepower vehicles are seldom pushed to the limits. Unless you have your own racetrack, can afford to pay for track time on a regular basis, or have no problem breaking the law, you're not going to be testing the full extent of the 300, 400, or 500 horses under the hood of your raging ride. And yet, every near-luxury and luxury manufacturer is sure to include the horsepower number in their marketing campaign-and you carefully note the number and use it for comparison shopping. Never mind that you're stuck in moving parking lots most of your driving life and that the speed limit barely allows you to rev to 3,500. So why do consumers spend so much money for a lot of power they can barely use?
If you're really honest with yourself, you know that at least from a utilitarian point of view (the sort of thinking that gives rise to doubt when you find yourself contemplating spending thousands of dollars for a little extra luxury) more power is a waste of money. But then what about those moments when a torquey, really quick car can help you maneuver through traffic and such. And there are times when you're all alone (save for the state trooper behind a billboard) on the highway in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do but, uh, "test" your car. Those moments may be few and far between, but that's pretty much life, isn't it? In the end, what you get are the moments, so you might as well enjoy them. Think of it as the "time flies when you're having fun" one week vacation during a year of unrelenting workloads and high stress. Could you get by with a couple hundred horses instead of the 400 hp you dream about? Sure. Do you want to? Of course not. Should you? No, life's too short. The same thinking should apply to car audio. In fact, the argument applies better here. You're in your car, on the road, and no one can hear you-why not crank that system till you feel music moving through your body. Obviously, you don't want to ruin your ears playing music at high volumes, but if you haven't felt the thrill of loud music in your favorite car then you really haven't lived.
So why settle for a crappy system that you cobbled together with product you bought from somebody at a flea market? You want something you can crank without having your speakers fall apart or your amp going kaput. Not to sound like a fascist, but power is its own reward! I mean, it's dangerous to use too much of it, but it's great to have! You may not need a huge system all the time and you can't have it set on 11 constantly, but for certain songs and such it's absolutely essential. I was listening to the new Rakim CD that Koch Records just released (buy it, if you haven't yet) with the "bass boost" on and frankly I didn't give a flying you-know-what that last week was a lousy week. I had that moment. It was the week's highlight. That might seem pathetic to you, but hey, it got me by, I'll take it.