Power output of tube amps compared to solid states


I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how tube amp power output relates to solid state power output. I've been looking at the classifieds for tube amps and I see lots of tube amps with 50w or 60w output, but nothing close to the 250w output typical of solid state amps.

So I have no idea what type of tube amp is required for my set up, right now I'm using totem forests with a required power rating of 150w-200w at 8ohms. The bass is so powerful on these that I have the sub crossover set to 40hz.

My question is, are tube amps so efficient that 50w from a tube sounds like 150w from a solid state? Or will 50w output from a tube severely limit how loud I can play my speakers? If so, are tubes usually meant to be driving super-high efficiency speakers?

I had previously tried a tube pre-amp with a solid state power amp (both musical fidelity) and didn't like the results because the imaging suffered greatly, even though the music sounded nicer from a distance. Now I want to try a solid state pre-amp (bryston) with a tube power amp (no idea which brand to look at), but I don't know how much power output I need or if it will even be possible with my speakers. Does anyone know what I would require?
acrossley
if you have any doubt, then look at what HP has to say about tubes and ss (in this case; when it comes to stats)June/July issue in his Golden Ear Awards.
Angela, I have stopped all my subscriptions because of the well known problems that I won't go into here. If you have a URL or a PDF you can send me that would be great.
I used to read TAS religiously when it was a "underground" rag,but it has gone the way of the dodo bird.IMHO
Stereophile is much worse.

e
I'm wondering why this thread ever stopped. It's one of the most interesting AND informative threads I've read here. Why not keep it going? Certainly the posts have only touched on the subject.