Octave Integrated Amps

That will most likely depend with which integrated you are using and with what tubes. It will also depend how efficient the speakers are too. Also what is too loud for me is not loud enough for my son. EL34's don't have the power 6550 or KT88's have. I have the V70SE driving 85db Dynaudio Signatures. With the volume control at 10 o'clock is plenty loud for me. Lately I've been rolling 6550's - KT88's and KT90's. I haven't had the EL34 in for several months now but they have a lower power output (but a mid range magical sound).

That being said I recently had a V40 in my home and the power did not seem to be any less than the V70SE.

I think that is a question best answered by yourself. Like X stated, "Also what is too loud for me is not loud enough for..."

till the pain in ear-drums.

Xti16 thanks for your answer. I was looking into V40SE to use with ~100db 2 or 3-way pro horns with impedance dips below 4 Ohm. I also wanted to narrow my search to amps with shallow volume taper before doing any travel to audition.