The biggest issue for you is to spare yourself the physics and understand that the "tube watt"simply sounds different that soynd is perferred by many,myself included . The 120 watt SS is a really good high current amp it will distort less than any 20 watt anything amp SS or tube.
The problem is how the speaker behaves as was said above. The main point is to understand that tube amps distort more with speakers that drop their impedance. Believe it or not--- even low sensitivty speakers but not very low impedance, can be driven by a low watt tube ampIn the case of driving a low sens. only the big power supply tube amp is used to keep it linear . Braodly speaking that implies big trannies.
My 60 watt tube amp weighs about 80 lbs. with the majority of that weight coming from the transformers. I have yet to clip it and I like it loud . My speakers are not super high sensitivity they are 88 Db/W/M.
But and this is where the crux of the matter is . They hold their impedance close to the stated 8 Ohms no matter watt. Yes the impedance drops but not very low they claim no less than 6 Ohms. Some tube amps have transformers that are engineered to play speakers at 4 Ohms , like my 78 watt per channel tube mono blocks.
You do have to consider the impedance and sensitivity in building a system. There are tube amps rated much higher than my 60 wpc integrated that will distort more quickly as you turn up the volume. And if you are contemplating electrostactic panels it is very difficult to find a tube amp to tolerate a 1 Ohm impedance. Thus think about a speaker in terms of and the impedance and sens. before trying to use a tube amp.
The speakers you have are going to be a bad match with a 20 watt amp unless it is a really good amp.
Do yourself a favor and try a tube integrated with speakers that keep the impedance near the rated 8 ohms The sound of tubes is really magical if you can get true advice in helping to select the components tubes sound different. To me no SS amp will sound as good with my JM labs Electra 938 speakers because. I tried a few and was frustrated for years until..... I finally bought tube power amps and I was..... blown away it is now Nirvana every time I play them. BTW they are Opera Consonance "Cyber 800s". If you don't they sound good, then you are a SS person period.
Nothing wrong with that but this is not a question of watts against watts it is much more like comparing apples and oranges.
The problem is how the speaker behaves as was said above. The main point is to understand that tube amps distort more with speakers that drop their impedance. Believe it or not--- even low sensitivty speakers but not very low impedance, can be driven by a low watt tube ampIn the case of driving a low sens. only the big power supply tube amp is used to keep it linear . Braodly speaking that implies big trannies.
My 60 watt tube amp weighs about 80 lbs. with the majority of that weight coming from the transformers. I have yet to clip it and I like it loud . My speakers are not super high sensitivity they are 88 Db/W/M.
But and this is where the crux of the matter is . They hold their impedance close to the stated 8 Ohms no matter watt. Yes the impedance drops but not very low they claim no less than 6 Ohms. Some tube amps have transformers that are engineered to play speakers at 4 Ohms , like my 78 watt per channel tube mono blocks.
You do have to consider the impedance and sensitivity in building a system. There are tube amps rated much higher than my 60 wpc integrated that will distort more quickly as you turn up the volume. And if you are contemplating electrostactic panels it is very difficult to find a tube amp to tolerate a 1 Ohm impedance. Thus think about a speaker in terms of and the impedance and sens. before trying to use a tube amp.
The speakers you have are going to be a bad match with a 20 watt amp unless it is a really good amp.
Do yourself a favor and try a tube integrated with speakers that keep the impedance near the rated 8 ohms The sound of tubes is really magical if you can get true advice in helping to select the components tubes sound different. To me no SS amp will sound as good with my JM labs Electra 938 speakers because. I tried a few and was frustrated for years until..... I finally bought tube power amps and I was..... blown away it is now Nirvana every time I play them. BTW they are Opera Consonance "Cyber 800s". If you don't they sound good, then you are a SS person period.
Nothing wrong with that but this is not a question of watts against watts it is much more like comparing apples and oranges.