Hi guys-
Appreciate knowing about what you think works well. Thank you!
About the powers recommended by me:
70W tubes, 120W solid state. Yes.
In my experience, this is not unique to Europas, and I think it is useful to know how we (and others) arrived at those power levels for an 88-89dB sensitive speaker.
These 70/120W into 8 Ohm ratings are necessary to supply the Peak output for listening at loud, lifelike levels at 11 feet away, in a moderately-dead room with good carpet, from reference recordings having the highest peak-to-average ratios, at the altitude here, into a 4 Ohm speaker.
If you listen 8' away- cut those values in half, for your LOUDEST peaks on those reference recordings.
If you listen to compressed recordings, at 8 feet, cut those powers by 75%. Most recordings are compressed, which is intentional, essential, for us to enjoy them at average SPLs.
If your room is fairly live, make that 85%
And that's at our 6500' elevation. For most listeners who live where there is actually air, knock off another third from that final value.
Which means 70/120 becomes 10/20Watts. Peak. In Pittsburgh, at 8 feet away, for James Taylor (Etta James- make that 30/50 peak), in a quiet room having an average residential RT-60 decay, for what most folks consider "fairly loud": the low 90dB range on the Radio Shack meter, peak.
For reference recordings, 40/60 seems plenty. Peak, into 8 Ohms on fast transients, at 8' away in Pittsburgh, for this 4 Ohm loudspeaker.
Have a look at the power supply. Into 4-6 Ohms, many tube amps act like they have more power-supply-related "oomph" than than the same RMS-power SS amps. At least those below a 70W rating. I'm no expert- is this indeed the difference for my 70W and 120W recommendation? Any amplifier designers who'd enlighten us?
How do some listeners get away with 7-10 W tube amps on speakers of average sensitivity?
Because they are less than 7 feet away, and have very little background noise from the world outside.
Because their system and speakers are broken in really well.
Because the gear was chosen for its purity and clarity at very soft levels
(which seems easier for tube amps than SS, $for$).
Because they have cleaner electricity (late at night).
Because using this system, they have re-learned what it is to hear very quiet sounds, training mind and body to hear and feel everything musical at soft SPLs- under 85dB peak, including their reference recordings. Which is a few watts/channel. Where most amps are still in their class A mode, fortunately.
Try to audition an amp late at night, and run through as much music as you can, at very soft and very loud volumes, besides "your normal volumes". If it is a better amp, every recording would be improved at every loudness. Live with the amp for a week, don't think about it, then replace it- as valid as listening to one song then changing it, but often leading to different impressions.
Reference recordings with high peak-to-average ratios include direct-to-disc Harry James LPs, "Jazz at the Pawnshop", Christian McBride's "Gettin' To It" CD or Clark Terry's "Live at the Village Gate" (Chesky), some Allison Krause or early David Grisman, "Far More Drums" from DMP label, the Reference Recording CDs/LPs of the Turtle Creek Chorale, the old Mercury and RCA classical re-issues.
There are many more, but you have to look at the recording info sometimes to tell. Folks are often delighted with the apparently wide dynamic range of Dire Straits- yet it is compressed and greatly peak limited, especially on the drums. Their expertise in the studio, like that of Prince, Sting, Alan Parsons, Fleetwood Mac, Rush, Supertramp, Tina Turner, Cher, Elton John, Tori Amos, Neil Young, Brooks and Dunn, most new-age music engineers, makes compression and limitng an impressive sound.
Best,
Roy
