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Power output of tube amps compared to solid states

I'm having a hard time trying to figure out how tube amp power output relates to solid state power output. I've been looking at the classifieds for tube amps and I see lots of tube amps with 50w or 60w output, but nothing close to the 250w output typical of solid state amps.

So I have no idea what type of tube amp is required for my set up, right now I'm using totem forests with a required power rating of 150w-200w at 8ohms. The bass is so powerful on these that I have the sub crossover set to 40hz.

My question is, are tube amps so efficient that 50w from a tube sounds like 150w from a solid state? Or will 50w output from a tube severely limit how loud I can play my speakers? If so, are tubes usually meant to be driving super-high efficiency speakers?

I had previously tried a tube pre-amp with a solid state power amp (both musical fidelity) and didn't like the results because the imaging suffered greatly, even though the music sounded nicer from a distance. Now I want to try a solid state pre-amp (bryston) with a tube power amp (no idea which brand to look at), but I don't know how much power output I need or if it will even be possible with my speakers. Does anyone know what I would require?
acrossley
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,753 posts
 
Unsound, seriously, just try the test I outlined above. It will eliminate any doubts you may have. When GE did their tests they found that people would not object to up to 30% THD- if it was all 2nd harmonic. But less than 0.1% of odd orders and they objected quite a lot.
unsound
7,327 posts
 
Atmasphere, I don't have that kind of equipment. It's not that I doubt you personally, it just appears as though it might be out of context.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,753 posts
 
Unsound, its not. Almost any service shop would have such gear though, you could easily set up this test at almost any one of them simply because the speaker and the amp really are of no consequence in the test- the results are that profound.

How the human ear detects volume is a fundamental rule of human hearing- the 5th, 7th and 9th harmonics are the cues that tell us how loud a sound is. If these cues are distorted (enhanced) even by slight amounts, we hear it. Bright, hard, sheen, clinical, brittle, etc. are all words that audiophiles use to describe enhancement of these harmonics by very slight amounts; 1/100th of a percent is easily heard.
emorrisiv
313 posts
 
I wonder if GE performed these tests to determine how airline passengers would react to their jet engines noise inside the airplane. I know that flying is so much easier with noise canceling headphones;the noise is very fatiguing.

just a thought

e
unsound
7,327 posts
 
Atmasphere, that might be true, but then there is the issue of whether or not ss or tubes offers such a distortion in the first place, whether or not it does, does it do it often enough or at enough volume to be noticed, whether or not the effect is masked, enhanced or not effected by what proceeds it, follows it or accompanies it, and what by what ratios? Is it lost in the mass of other distortions?
If ss is more prone to such distortions, wouldn't ss sound louder at lower volumes? Isn't that exactly the opposite of what some here are claiming, that tubes sound louder despite lower power outputs? How could the speaker and amp be of no consequence? With all due respect there are way too many things to consider before taking such an excerpt at face value.
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