Myth: low-power high-efficiency

Hi Gang, Interesting thread here and many good observations. When one contemplates the many factors involved in the equation here it can be a little overwhelming indeed. I would hazard to guess that the room size would probably dictate ones priorities and perhaps have the biggest influence regarding the power issue. As many here have already pointed out, all watts are not created equal regardless what topolgy we wish to choose....the type of tube employed in set amps,push/pull,triodes, pentodes or SS for that matter. In many cases the quality of the transformers and/or the power supply can have more of an influence than the type of tube employed in the amplifier itself. I am not denying here that power doesn't matter however,if your speakers crossover is a reasonably begign load and the speaker anywhere close to 100 db sensitive, I can assure you that 25 to 50 watts of power is more than enough to simulate the volume levels of a live event in most rooms.... unless of course your room is the size of an auditorium. My main rig is in a huge room....34ft x 27ft with a 16 foot ceiling. I use a pr of Tannoy Westminsters [98 db efficient] and have many amplifiers on hand to pool from.Both high powered tube and solid state as well as both low powered tube and low powered solid state. I can also bi-amp with any number of combinations. SET amps? The wright 2a3's.... nice,clear and vibrant but don't quite cut it full range for anything but chamber music or simple acoustic stuff. When used as the tweeter amp only... more than enough,300b's for tweeter only?.....way more than enough. The 300b set amps [western electric 300b].....a greater sense of the venue,a larger soundstage with more of a holographic presentation,slightly rolled off on both frequency extremes but somewhat soft and lumpy below 100 hz. But what a fabulous midband, incredibly nuanced and fluid though not your rock and roll amp for full tilt boogie. Higher powered 845 based set amps bring a whole higher dynamic presentation to the table. The cary 805 will rock with the best of them,and will handle any and all musical genre at any sane volume level one chooses to listen at,and does so without any hint of compression,glare or collapsing of the stage...although it possess decent bass power and weight, it's still somewhat soft and overly ripe in the bottom two octaves. By contrast, the Antique Sound Labs parrallel 845's 60 watt 1009 monos have a similiar presentation,seemingly unlimited dynamic range with a far superior bass range akin to the better high powered push/pull tube amps like the el-34 based VAC pa-90's,the kt-88 based mfa 120's or the Jadis Defy 7 and as good as any tube amp I've had the pleasure of listening to in my room.When compared with high powered solid state.... The Bryston 4bst just flat out boogies at any volume levels with recorded rock n roll music.As does the Krell KSA 50,classe dr3 or the little bedini 25/25. Bass energy and power that is second to none, a percussive vibe that most tube amps only hint at. Funny thing here is: [to my ear anyway] I much preferr the sound of the lower powered [high current] classe A ss amps to the higher powered solid state stuff, at least when powering the Tannoys. They seem to be a little more articulate in the bottom octaves as well as possessing a sweeter sounding treble with less of a grain structure in the midrange.Any one of the SS amps above will play to well above 100 db in my room without any sign of dynamic compression or diminished dynamic range. At times: when I have a room full of people over for social gatherings [read party here]sometimes things can get a little carried away with regards to SPL's. Yup... 50 watts is way more than enough in my room.Just recently had a pre Christmas gathering with around 30 people over.Many of them are professional musicians that stop by regularly to jam. A friend had been restoring a pair of old vintage 30 watt Eico monoblocks . These are a parrallel push/ pull design from 1959 that employ the el-84 output tubes.The circuit was stock,original transformers but obviously tweeked and updated with modern coupling caps as well as power supplies. WOWZA!!!! These babies just flat out rocked the room and with a bass punch that knocked me out. They simply made music believable and in a room full of people no less.Hey, I think I'm getting a little carried away here but: Big power....it has it's own vibe I suppose,different stokes for different folks.