tube watts vs solid state watts

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.

Perceived loudness aside, take care not to impose a loudspeaker/volume load on to a relatively underpowered tube amp such that it often is driven into clipping. Tube or ss, you still should properly match an amp to its load.