In Reply to: Dear Mr. Welborne... posted by john on January 19, 2001 at 20:06:24:
One very important thing to keep in mind when talking about low power SET amps, power ratings are not everything. The normal Laural puts out 8 watts. To double the acoustic volume output, you would need roughly 80 watts. If you were comparing 2 amps, you would be hard pressed to determine which had 8 watts and which had 12.I believe that steady state output watt ratings are a poor measure of power when it comes to reproducing musical signals. Tubes and especially SE tubes have a wonderful micro dynamic headroom that makes them sound very different than push pull solid state.
Put another way, if 8 watts will not float your boat, you need 50+ watts. A better use of energy is getting some more sensitive loudspeakers. Moving from 90db sensitive speakers to 100db speakers will be the same as moving from an 8 watt amp to a 300+ watt amp. On the other hand, listening to music over 95db will leave you investing in hearing aids instead of vacuum tubes. Have Fun.
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