Current - Class A vs Class A/B, various wattages

To the fist question, if both amps are making the same power into the same load the current will be the same as well.

The higher powered amp will be capable of more current at higher power levels.

'High current' amps are usually those that can drive 4 ohm loads with double the power that they make into 8 ohms. This characteristic is also known as 'constant voltage', i.e. the amp is regarded as a voltage source. What this means is it can make the same voltage regardless of the load. So if the voltage is the same into 4 ohms, the current will increase such that the power is double that of the 8 ohm load, given that both loads see the same voltage.

Now if you are still with me, the real question is, 'is that important for musical reproduction??' The answer is a qualified 'No'. IOW its important for some speakers, and other speakers sound worse if the amp has that power doubling (high current, constant voltage) characteristic. You have to look at the intention of the designer of the speaker to sort that out.

If the designer uses tube amps, its likely that a SS amp that can double power will not exhibit flat frequency response on that speaker. OTOH if the designer did use a SS amp with his speaker, then 'high current' might be useful.

More:
http://www.atma-sphere.com/Resources/Paradigms_in_Amplifier_Design.php

Hi Ralph, looks like you have a life mission to educate us so-called audiophiles about Rule 1 of Hi-Fi: amop/speaker matching. Mesaboogie, Ralph (Atmasphere), Al (Almarg) and I have communicated about this issue a "ba-zillion" times by now.

It's a difficult issue to get one's arms around, but it's critical to get it right, or at least not get it wrong, if you plan to dump big bucks into a rig. If you follow my threads over the last 6 months, you'll see that I've been on my own personal mission to understand this concept. I think I may have finally figured out why my amp and speaker combo seems to work well, even though on paper it shouldn't.

Too complicated to explain here, but Ralph is 100% right that if one is interested in buying speakers or an amp, the first Q to get out of the way is whether the combo you have in mind is compatible. This may require separate calls to the amp and speaker manufacturers, as Ralph suggested. Otherwise, after dropping a lot of time and money into buying components, you may have a bad day when you bring it all home and set it up. The gear may not sound like it did at the dealer.

Btw, right now there is a thread running now about a chap who is having major aggravation getting his Music Fidelity amp to work on his PSB speakers. A lot of folks have dropped posts trying to help the member out. It may turn out the problem is a bad amp and speaker match. Jury's still out.

Cheers,

BIF

P.S. I have another great article for lay folks like me that does a great job of explaining what is meant by a tube friendly speaker. I'll post it later today or over the weekend.