Does It have to be loud?

David,

The amps I have liked the most are tube amps.  I own a custom-built push-pull 45 amp, the Audio Note (uk) Kageki (parallel 2a3 SET) and a custom-built push-pull 349 amp.  The Kageki, rated at 6.5 watts/channel, is the most powerful of the trio.  But, I had in my system a solid state First Watt J2 for about two weeks (borrowed from a friend).  The J2 sounded very good--it was vivid and engaging and only a touch hard on the initial attack of notes. I could easily live with the J2.  That same friend built for himself a low-powered SIT amp based on schematics made available by First Watt.  I think that this is also an excellent low-powered solid state amp. 

In the past, the common complaint raised against solid state is that the sound tended to be harsh and "grainy."  I don't think that is the case these days.  Most solid state amps are smooth sounding and are not at all unpleasantly harsh or shrill.  To me, the complaint about harsh and shrill can more often be leveled against high-powered tube gear than solid state gear.  But, when even decent sounding solid state amps are played at the lower levels I prefer, they sound a bit lifeless, and I tend to lose interest.  A friend of mine, who also loves low-powered tube gear, and who has heard much more stuff than I have (he goes to the Munich show), says that the Bridge Audio Laboratories (BAlabo) high-powered amps sound good.  I have not heard these amps, and in any case, I could never afford to buy amps that cost six figures.

@gdhal

The mathematics you use are correct. However speakers do not behave linearly after a certain point. Worse speakers distort terribly. That point is surprisingly low. Soundstage do NOT test speakers above 95 dB SPL as a level above that will damage most speakers!! (Soundstage conclusions and not my opinion).

Drivers have a limited excursion where they are fairly linear (Xmax). Driver voice coils get extremely hot and that causes significant compression (non linearity). There are a huge amount of challenges for high fidelity (no added distortion) at rock concert levels.

My speakers play at 115 dB SPL linearly even at a continuous level with similar low distortion to playing at modest 85 dB levels. This is extremely rare in a speaker and requires large woofers, large drive motors on the drivers (huuuge magnets), short voice coils in a large gap (to preserve linearity),large diameter voice coils (for better cooling), extremely tight tolerances (better cooling) and lots of clean power - in short a huge amount of engineering is required to achieve this over a speaker that is designed to only play up to 95 dB SPL before starting to distort heavily (the majority of designs). To achieve this performance requires specific engineering that you won’t find in 99.9% of home audio.

Since our ears and brain interprete distortion as loudness most audiophiles think they have speakers that play extremely loud however a dB meter will confirm to them that what they think is loud is actually just huge amounts of distortion giving the appearance of loudness.

 audiophiles think they have speakers that play extremely loud however a dB meter will confirm to them that what they think is loud is actually just huge amounts of distortion giving the appearance of loudness

You make a great argument for horn design many sound amazing at low levels but have extremely low distortion as SPL increases 

Well mixing usually happens in the 85 dB - dB 87 average range.  If you listen to higher average levels the risk of hearing damage increases.

@larryi Thank you very much for your response. It’s very helpful.

I’m at a fork in the road with amplification (tubed or solid state) and have essentially chosen the solid state path. I’m also preparing to evaluate a few (new to me) solid state amps. My current amp is the Pass XA-30.8 The Pass performs very well at low listening levels, for my needs and preferences. Speakers are the Tekton SEs (99dB 2.83V@1m).

I hope your findings (copied below) do not bear out, as I am hopeful that my low powered options will perform well at low listening volumes (though I understand and generally agree with what you are saying below, especially at lower price points).

But, when even decent sounding solid state amps are played at the lower levels I prefer, they sound a bit lifeless, and I tend to lose interest.

If you have additional thoughts and advice regarding this, please share (PM me if it makes more sense to reach out that way). Thanks!