That "tube sound" and power ratings

Mulveling - thank you!

"You 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."

Great answer. Does every tube enthusiast agree with this? I know I shouldn't believe everything I read, but it sure seems there are a lot of "audiophiles" who believe a great amp is a great amp tube or SS, and unless you're nearing or at clipping you probably won't hear the tube characteristics that drove your tube enthusiasm to begin with.

So ... if you never operate in this range are you happy with your tubiness?

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.

" I'm not sure the purest or cleanest sound does it for everyone"

Nop doubt about that. Top notch technical performance and what people like best are not always the same thing.

The difference is the first is objective and performance claims can be substantiated by measurements.

The second is completely subjective.

The domain of tube amps and SS amps are different, with some overlap but significantly different paradigms at work. But performance is performance.

For me, I have found the best sounding tube amps I have heard sound mostly like the best performing SS ones. What they both share is very high performance well matched into the system as a whole yielding similarly good results, though each different in design operating within distinct paradigms.

09-23-14: Hazyj
Mulveling - thank you!
Great answer. Does every tube enthusiast agree with this?

LOL! Of course not! You are new to this. You will never find every enthusiast to agree on anything. Tubes, SS, digital, analog, cables, etc.

Mulveling loves high power tube amps, nothing wrong with that. My tube amp is 35 wpc and my speakers are 91 dB, no audible distortion. While I agree that no one wants to push their amp to hard, as distortion will rise quickly as you reach the clipping point. Most amps operate in a range where distortion is not a factor. I know of folks driving less efficient speakers than I have with even less power and loving it.

As Nelson Pass once said, if the first watt doesn't sound great, who wants 200 more watts?
Listen to the amp/speaker combo, and don't worry so much about numbers. I've heard amps with high power and low distortion specs sound horrible. Listen to the music and let your ears decide.