If you want to controll the bass and move some air, and have the speakers to justify it, you need the power, tube or SS. Bass peaks suck power no question. The more inefficient the speakers the more power you will need if you are chasing bass. You can even hear large club systems run out of gas when underpowered and then the bass gets sloppy and the dynamics go away. I use about 230 wts (tube)a side at home with one 10 inch bass driver per side. in the clubs i use a 45 wt tube amp for guitar that never gets above 3 because it will overplay the PA, And to drive 2x18 per side we use about 1600w just for the bottom, Good bass+ lots of juice.
SS amps. Why so much power?
I though that there was so much tube amp talk on this page lately, I'd put up a SS thread. Why do so many people buy the big SS amps that have 200,300,500 watts of power? Is it because the speaker you want is inefficient and you need lots of power, or do you need to play real loud? Or is it a status thing, like my amp's bigger than your amp, or what? Do you buy a big amp first, and then look for a speaker with high power handling? Or do you pick a low efficiency speaker you like and then look for a big amp to drive it? Do you subscribe to the idea that if you have alot of watts, the amp will sound better at lower volumes? I've noticed that the majority of AudiogoNers go with high power SS amps and low efficiency speakers. What gives?