Watts! How many do we need?

@ghdprentice 

I’m puzzled by your experience. I don’t doubt it but since current x volts equals watts. What you are describing is that lower current sounds better. So something else is going on when you switch to high watts. 

I have an original Schitt Aegir (20 w/ch 8 ohms) and a pair of Ohm 1000 speakers in a 15' X 24' room with a vaulted ceiling -- absolutely no problem reaching my desired listening level (85 dB average) with no hint of clipping or compressed dynamics.  Two caveats, however.  First I use a powered subwoofer and roll off the deep bass to the Ohms. Deep bass can be a power hog  Second, as many know, the relationship between watts and volume level is logarithmic, not linear. Doubling the power gets you 3 dB more volume. Doubling the perceived volume takes 10 times more power. So, if you are a headbanger, and have medium or low sensitive speakers, or have a large room, you're going to need a lot more power than I do.

But, as others have noted, lotsa watts are an attractive advertising carrot. And Class D amps have made it easier to offer that carrot these days.

Normal to loud-side for most speakers is around 1 - 2 watts.  Figure out what it is for your speakers and multiply by 100 to 200 to cover the peaks without capping out the amp's capacity.  And YES, momentary peaks can take that amount of power.

And my tube amp sounds better in every respect with my speakers in ultra linear mode, which is double the power. Also, with its 60 watt/ch it feels significantly more powerful than my previous 80 watt/ch ss amp at the same volume level. Well, you don't compare VAC to Burson, anyway.

@ghdprentice  I assume it makes a great deal of difference on the individual speaker you are using.  I've always heard there is a difference between "tube" watts and SS watts.  On this very sight I have read that tube watts are roughly 3 times as powerful as SS watts.  To this end I've found this lengthy article penned by Roger Sanders to be quite interesting.  Especially as I am driving a set of SoundLab Majestic 745's.  Cheers.  

https://sanderssoundsystems.com/technical-white-papers/172-tubes-vs-transistors