How many tube watts for Vandersteen 2's?

I listen to records 95% of the time and didn't even think to use my CD player with the rm10--until today. To answer the leading question of this thread: the 35 watts of this amp is more than sufficient for Vandersteens in a sizeable room. I have my passive preamp at 10 o'clock and I can't imagine wanting it any louder--or better. A Love Supreme never sounded better on my system. Earlier I was listening to the the Bob Ludwig remaster of Leonard Cohen songs and was moved beyond reason. These CD's have always sounded good but good grief I was in for a pleasant surprise. I had the privilege of hearing Cohen live a few years back in LA, and I don't hesitate to say that the emotional connection I had listening today was nearly equivalent to that live performance.

I am surprised by this as, to be honest, I've been somewhat disappointed with my vinyl playback with this amp. There are a lot of changes going on in my vinyl rig so I'm not drawing any conclusions.

At any rate, if my cheapie CD player can produce this sound then maybe I won't continue dumping untold dollars into vinyl. Or: I'll just blame the phono stage and continue on.

Not bad for an amp the size of a book - is it? :)

A small book - not Websters Unabridged.

I have the IT-85 with upgraded caps in my bedroom driving a pair of Dynaudio Special 25's... You should be fine (at all volumes).

Pubul57, the act of increasing the bias on the tubes has the effect of reducing their output impedance. This will change the relationship they have to the output transformer.

In addition, you have to also consider how the amplifier was designed. For example, many power tubes want to see about 3000 ohms plate to plate. But what if you had the transformer designed to be 3500 ohms plate to plate? You might loose a little power, but now you can experiment with different taps to affect the sound in different ways. This is because the transformer really does what it is called- it transforms impedance. The load that is on the output taps will affect the load that is on the tubes. Especially in the last 30 years, its been a good idea to build in a little reserve to deal with the many 4 ohm speakers out there.

So if in the above case you are loading the 4 ohm tap with an 8 ohm speaker, the result is that the tubes might see a load impedance that is much higher, perhaps 6000 ohms. Now in some cases the amplifier will not be able to make as much power, as the voltage that needs to be made across such a load to get the power is no longer available. But it may not matter if the power thus obtained is sufficient.