Tube Amp. Power ratings


I'm a solid state guy intrigued with tube setups....Is this like everything else in Audiophilia, Eye (or ear) of the beholder? ....Would you always have a tube pre-amp with tube amp? In general terms how do tube amps differ? Warmer?...mellower....And what about the output ratings? The tube ratings seem much lower than SS...Is that the nature of the beast?....
kippster
OTLs are an exception to the rule being designed for 8 ohms or greater. These amps are virtually useless w/ most 4 ohm spkrs of which there are many more on the mkt than 14/16 ohm spkrs.
Whether tube amps reveal more detail is highly debatable. Most white papers need to be carefully analyzed as the mfg. isn't always objective.
given a reasonable speaker match, to my ears push-pull tube amps sound much more powerful than ss of the same ratings, partly because the distortion artifacts from tubes are more benign than from ss. I moved to tubes when I realized I had lost interest in listenting to music, and identified part of the issue as the somewhat irritating sound produced by humanly affordable ss (digital was the other factor). The reviewers seem to think that extremely expensive ss amps (eg Boulder) do not suffer in comparison to tubes, but that is academic to many of us. Single ended triod amps are another category entirely, and sound more lifelike in the midrange than anything else, but require extremely efficient speakers without low impedence dips and most suffer in the highs and lows compared to other designs.
>>OTLs are an exception to the rule being designed for 8 ohms or greater<<

Exception or not, it invalidates your initial assertion.

Furthermore, there are OTL amps that handle 4 ohm loads with ease.

Sorry.
How many OTL amps are there which will easily handle 4 ohm loads that are inefficient w/ a wicked phase angle? I'd be willing to bet these amps are stratospherically priced, & one can count these amps on one hand & not use all 5 digits.