That "tube sound" and power ratings

Hi-fi amplification is not the same as with guitars. You want want your amps to be running in their lowest-distortion range, every time (or as close to that as possible given your SPL needs) -- whether tubes or SS. And you can still clearly hear the effects of tube rolling even when amps are perfectly well within their "clean" range.

Too much power doesn't cause problems unless you're careless and let a very high-power signal through to your speakers -- besides that scenario, it's generally safer to have more power, to avoid clipping (which can be problematic for tweeters). When it comes to protecting your gear, there's no silver bullet -- some care and education will be required by yourself, whether you choose tubes or SS, high power or low power.

I run 250 Watt tube amps on 96db/Watt. So I'm definitely on the "too much power" side, and it works extremely well; I love it. The system gain structure is a little suboptimal, but that's a (kinda) different issue.

Thanks Bill, but your response answers the opposite of what I'm asking. I'm not trying to find out if tube enthusiasts like the sound of less clipping from more powerful amps. Rather, I'm asking if they prefer the sound from less powerful amps, and if so how to decide which power rating provides the best tube sound given an amp's characteristics together with the speaker sensitivity and the preferred listening level.

Maybe I need to explain how "tube sound" is partially related to distortion? I didn't want to do that here, and I'm not really the person to do it. An earlier post from Atmasphere explains the sound charateristics of push-pull circuitry. While that may be the most important influence on "tubiness", it's only part of the story. One also needs to consider harmonics that occur when an amp is almost or even softly clipping. These harmonics can be pleasing to the ear at certain levels.

Tube people, please feel free to add or subtract to my knowledge here. As stated I'm a tube audio newbie hence this post.

Anyone else want to take a stab at asking my question in an easier-to-understand way? Atmasphere?

Hazy,

I don't understand why you are tying this question to optimal power levels. I don't think it has anything to do with that.

If it is the purest tube sound that you seek, that's probably the best tube amp design with the fewest tubes, like some very expensive sets. The best tube amp design is the one with the most linear gain, lowest associated distortion levels, and lowest noise floor. The more tubes involved, most likely the harder it will be to achieve the absolute best performance in this regard. Decide how you will determine those things, then after that, factor in how it will perform with given pair of speakers, which does have everything to do with power levels, and I think that's about it.

Thanks Mapman. Great response, but is it really true that "that's about it"? Maybe it is. I'm not so certain which is why I posted the question, and I think the only way to know is to hear your same opinion echoed by enough other tube enthusiasts to make it convincing.

But I wouldn't say it's about "the purest tube sound" that I or anyone else seeks. It's about what makes tube listeners happiest. I'm not sure the purest or cleanest sound does it for everyone, but am ready to be proven wrong.