Tube Amp lower power vs higher power and cruising volume


After having Solid State my entire life thus far, I bought a PrimaLuna EVO 300 integrated and absolutely love it. I am currently driving 20 year old B&W CDM9NT's and it does a wonderful job, I never heard my B&W's have that much bass before, even at lower listening volumes. The EVO 300 is rated at 42W. Since I recently purchased it I have the option for a brief time without losing money to possibly move up to the EVO 400 integrated which adds 4 more output tubes and gives you 70W. I believe the 300 and 400 both use the same transformer because they both weigh the same 68 lbs. So my only reason for possibly doing this would be for future speaker upgradability having a little more power. I know my B&W's are not the most efficient and the 300 seems to be driving them very well, volume rarely goes past 9:30/10. So my question, if I get a higher power model, since I listen most of the time at comfortable listening levels, with a higher power tube amp will you have to turn it up higher to hit that cruising speed where it starts to open up? The 300 seems to hit that early and I listen at comfortable levels and good extended bass without having to crank it which is nice when I am listening at night and my wife and daughter are sleeping. Overall I am very happy with the 300 but while I have the option I am trying to decide if the extra for a 400 is worth it. Thanks
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Showing 3 responses by sandthemall

I own the Evo 400 power amp. I also auditioned Evo 300 power amp.

I say go for the Evo 400.

It won't sound any better but what you will notice is that the switch to triode mode makes almost no difference in volume. The Evo 300 will drop in volume quite a bit more.

The Evo 400 does make changing out tubes a bit more expensive, however, after swapping tubes out with the dialogue premium during my audition period...El34s won that contest for me.




@jjss49 

Point taken. However there's a noticeable difference when comparing the dialogue premium vs the Evo 400 power amps in a real world comparison with 88db 6 ohm speakers.

The difference is very subtle with 8 power tubes.
Not so much with 4 tubes. It's as if the volume was cut in 1/2.  It's what my ears are telling me.

 

The speakers are Salk Songtowers. So there is a slight dip below 6 ohms. I use the 4ohm taps...btw, I cannot hear a difference between the two taps. 4 power tubes are more than enough power in ultralinear mode.

I’ve heard the same from another Primaluna owner who’s used both setups.