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Tube amps and power consumption


A few days ago, I almost bought a Jadis Orchestra, pretty confident that it was among the best tube integrated I could get. Then, I read the specs and I found out its power consumption was 300 watts. That's a lot compared to my actual amp, a SS 100 watts per chanel which uses only 70 watts. My amp is on all day long so I figured that the Jadis consumption was excessive. Do ALL tube amps have such a power consumption?
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Showing 1 response by gs5556

gs5556
1,213 posts
 
Generally, Class A and Class A/B tube amps will have an efficency in the area of 25 percent. If your amp consumes 300 watts total, then the power rating is around 75 watts per channel.

A solid state Class A is generally less efficient (about 20 percent) even at idle whereas a Class A/B can be 70 percent efficient at idle - a loose term since you're not getting music when the amp is idle - but the power consumption goes up when the amp is pushed out of Class A. This is because the Class A bias is at a very low percentage of the total power.

Everything you stated is par for the technology.
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