Advice on Power Amp

[Mission]

Looking to get a new power amp in the next couple of weeks as I have some weddings coming up soon and I don't think my old amp is going to cut it for the size of the room.

I have been using an old 2 x 150w although not very powerful has not been even pushed half way at the venues I have done so far. Dance floors have been right in front of set up, etc. The forthcoming weddings again have dance floor close to setup but future bookings may not.

Was looking at the Warrior 800. Should this have enough power for the gigs I'll be doing, say the 100-150 guests.

Going to upgrade speakers as well, when I can but at the moment the cabs contain 12" 400w 8 ohm and a tweeter at 350w (not sure of ohm).

Thanks for any help.

[Thames Valley Discos]

value for money i,d go with the behringer ep2500
http://soundslive.co.uk/product.asp?id=2998

I use one as a back up but will easily provide power for what you require

[theoloyla]

Personally for weddings of less than 150 people I would have said you have enough power. Birthday parties might be a different matter though. I use a Peavey 900 and I am very pleased with it.

[Mission]

Compared to what I have read in other threads I should need something alot more powerful. Yet I remember disco's in the late 70's early 80's and you would come home with ringing ears. What output would be coming out a twin record deck then, 2x50, 2x100 ?

So would even a 2x250 into 8 ohm do or should I go for something around the 2x400 into 8 ohm. Just want something that will cover most gig situations.

[Thames Valley Discos]

Go for roughly 1 1/2 to twice the rms power of your speakers.
So if speakers are 8 ohm 350W RMS, go for and amp that produces 5 to 700W into 8ohm. This will prevent amp clipping and produce a nicer sound, not just louder

a good read
http://www.axiomaudio.com/power.html
http://www.crownaudio.com/amp_htm/amp_info/how_much_power.htm
http://www.doctorproaudio.com/doctor/temas/powerhandling.htm

[theoloyla]

Compared to what I have read in other threads I should need something alot more powerful. Yet I remember disco's in the late 70's early 80's and you would come home with ringing ears. What output would be coming out a twin record deck then, 2x50, 2x100 ?

So would even a 2x250 into 8 ohm do or should I go for something around the 2x400 into 8 ohm. Just want something that will cover most gig situations.
You are quite right. Up until just a few years ago I was using a Cloud Buckingham console which had a 200 watt amp. I even played 1,000 capacity venues with it and got told I was too loud! I did very much love that old Cloud. It was brilliant. However; if you NEED to upgrade or replace then my advice would be to go more powerful as you dont have to use full power at every gig and you have the capability there if you need it.