tube watts vs solid state watts

It's not that tubes play louder. They just present the midrange more upfront. 90DB through a tube amp and 90DB through a good solid state(everything else being the same) will sound totally different. In a SS system, the bass will be more fleshed out so, bass will move more air than mids so, it moves the SPL level up earlier and quicker than a tube amp will. The tube amp will be moving the air with more mids and less bass which in turn sounds louder cause it more midrange and less bass. I hope you get what I mean! Get a SPL meter and two amps( 1 ss,1 tube) and test it.

Tube watts sounding louder is an urban legend.

Loudness relates to Gain (Volts out per volt in), not to power rating which is simply the maximum that can be output without unacceptable distortion. A low power amp, perhaps a tube amp, with a high gain will play louder, for a given setting of the volume control, than a much more powerful amp with lower gain so long as the maximum power of the smaller amp is not exceeded.

A watt is voltage times current, regardless of whether the juice is generated by a tube amp, a solid state amp, a magnetic amp, or any other type you can think of.

Distortion sounds approximately 10 times (6-8dB) louder to the human ear than an undistorted signal at the same output, so the perceived "loudness" of an amplifier will be directly related to the amount of TH-distortion in the signal. Just look at Stereophile measurments for your answer. If the amplifier generates more signal (THD) then it is outputing more signal at the "same" wattage output.

Its really quite simple. The Halcro is the "quietest" amplifier of them all.

Speakers will do the same thing adding even more volume to the sound especially when the signal is already distorted, more THD the louder its perceived sound, its really quite logical if you think about it.

i think it all depend's on what amp's your comparing,some manufacturer's intentionally under rate their amp's wattage while other's rate their's right on the money.

there is no correct answer to your question.

mike.