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Questions about tubes and gear that glows. FAQ

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Re: tube VS SS

Posted by Chris Spafford on October 17, 2002 at 11:08:09:
An increase in volume of only 3 decibles requires double the amplifier wattage output. 5 watts difference will be indistinguishable, esp. w efficient Klipsh speakers. You may notice slightly less "slam" and extension on very low bass, but the bass will be warmer and fuller. Tube amps do not play louder, watt for watt, than SS. Nor is the opposite true. Tubes are said to deal with overload, particulary brief dynamic overload/clipping on music passages more gracefully than SS devices. This is a generalization, but one that is largely true. A watt is a watt; you can push a well-engineered tube amp closer to overload than a similar quality SS amp-- and thus the effect is more usable power. This has given rise to the "tube watts are louder than SS watts" oversimplification. In short, a Jolida 50 watter will be fine if your 55 watt SS was acceptable. Chris