Tube amp power watts equivalent to Solid State?


I have a Cayin 35 watts tube amp. What is its equivalent to a solid state amp?
50jess

Showing 1 response by lewinskih01

C'mon guys, everybody is entitled to getting started on this hobby at some point. And we all know there are a number of confusing aspects of it.

50jess, I'm certainly no specialist, but here's one explanation in layman terms.
1 Watt is 1 Watt...equals to 1 Amp x 1 Volt, or any combination of AxV equating 1 W. Hence the above sarcasm. However, there is no established standard for how this is measured by the various manufacturers, and then some amps work at relatively low voltage delivering high current, and others vice versa. And some speakers need high current while others don't. It all depends on the design, and on how the manufacturer decides to rate the amp at any given power.

So high current amps conservatively rated power-wise are often said to equate to more powerfull amps. Conservatively here is used as a term relative to most amps in the market.

There is not really an answer for your question. Maybe a better way to think about it would be in the context of the speakers you have or you are thinking about having. Generally speaking, you would be looking at higher efficiency speakers, probably at 91 dB/W sensitivity at minimum for a 35W tube amp. But then again, it's not only the sensitivity that matters, but the shape of the impedance as a function of frequency...probably this sounds too complex, but at the end of the day you either want to know what speakers are a good match to your amp, or what amps are a good match for your speakers...and can disregard the reasons if you don't care to get into that mumbo jumbo.

I hope this helps