Is powerfull Amps only for low sensitivity speakes?

I have DeVore O/93's and an ARC Ref6/Ref 150se combo. The GS 50 is identical to the Ref 150se but looks much nicer. First, it is a very good and very quiet amp. Second, you are going to need a very good pre, and preferably an ARC. Someone else posted this and he was 100% correct-the GS150 is balanced only and you are going to want/need a fully balanced preamp. After that, you will need really fine cabling, particularly from the preamp to amp, but I have learned that my speakers are extremely sensitive to speaker cable too. 

But a powerful solid state amplifier allows you to use mostly far better inefficient speakers and avoid the distortion and non-flat frequency response of many tube amplifiers. Anyway, we are not going to persuade each other.

@willemj Actually I agree that a solid state amp with a lot of power is helpful with low efficiency speakers. If you do your matching homework, you can arrive at a pretty good solution.

Regarding the comment about tube amps- if the amp employs enough feedback, and many do, they will be just as flat as a solid state amp on a given speaker. All it has to do is act like a voltage source and tube amps have been doing that since the 1950s.

But there is a bigger issue- there is a lot more to high quality audio reproduction than just flat frequency response! The first problem of course is that such is just plain impossible because no speaker is actually flat. The next problem is understanding how the ear perceives sound and in particular how it perceives distortion.

Its that latter bit that is often where solid state and tube people part ways.

Distortion is heard by the ear as tonality. This is why tubes are often thought to be colored- because of the 2nd harmonic, which causes 'warmth'. People that don't understand that the warmth is caused by distortion often think that tubes just can't be flat; but that is not the issue!

But solid state amps have coloration too- and in their case as well, its not due to frequency response error- its due to distortion. Thinking that the small amount of distortion that solid state amps have as 'negligible' is a mistake.

The ear uses higher ordered harmonics to sense sound pressure (again, a fact that has been known for decades) so 'negligible' amounts are easily heard.

The ability to sense sound pressure is easily the most important aspect of hearing perception. The implication is its a Bad Idea to increase the harmonics used by the ear, unless high fidelity is not the goal.



 

Thank you again for all your comments. All are well noted.
kind regards,
ozan

A lot of interesting facts posted as well as a lot of interesting opinions.  Of course,  many times, Opinions turn out not to be facts, so,  I'm going to give one of each....
Fact:  Nothing says that sensitivity alone has Anything to do with the sheer sound quality of a speaker.  I've been building for near 40 years now.  This is a fact.  Well chosen high sensitivity parts can produce a high sensitivity speaker system.  Poor parts OR poor design will produce a lower quality regardless of Sensitivity. 
Opinion:  way back when,  We produced a particular speaker that was 97db sensitivity @ 8 ohms.  This particular speaker (15 inch 3 way) sounded great with Tubes and solid state,  but man,  when you put a really good big mama solid state amp on them with a great power supply,  these things reacted with dynamics like non other.  
So, my opinion, in general is:  High powered solid state amps can be a benefit to High Sensitivity speakers. 
Clear as Mud?  Tim 

So, my opinion, in general is: High powered solid state amps can be a benefit to High Sensitivity speakers.

The generalization is the problem. I often run amps of 150 watts or more on my speakers, which are 98 db. I certainly don't mind the power!

I've heard 500 watt amps on that speaker and they can't make detail. They also sound bright for some reason. I've explained why.

So I think you have to define some limits, within which what you say is perfectly true.