SS amps. Why so much power?

What else can they gonna talk about? I'm not enough of a regular to comment on the makeup of AGoners, so I'll just speak of myself. I've been involved in audio for 26 years, though only aggressively in the last 6 years. After listening to my first tube amp (Dynaco st70) IMS I knew what kind of sound I was after. Ever since I've defied convention and built my system(s) around tube amplifiaction. I'm now on my third tube amp and feel confident I'll hold on to this one for awhile. In fact, I loved my last amp. I only sold it to fund my first SET amp.

The Moth s45. A custom amp with upgraded parts, is switchable between 2a3 (5wpc) or 45 (2wpc) output tubes. The coupling speaker? Silverline Sonatina - 93db. Suprisingly this unlikely pairing has worked out better than I expected. I'm still looking into horn-loaded or single-driver speakers but in the interim I'm enjoying the highest level of replay I have witnessed IMS. Not everyone is power hungry.

I think the reason some use a high wpc amp is ego.
My d*&%k is bigger than yours type mentality.
I have a friend who has a 240wpc amp with 88dB speakers.
Mine is 30wpc with 92dB speakers.
His plays loud.Mine plays loud.Is his louder?? maybe a bit but who's going to listen that loud? Im a head banger.I get more than enough volume with my set up.
My amp sounds great at low volume or high.
It makes no sense to pay for watts you wont use.
Wanna go deaf? get a high wpc amp and blast it! Want music? get a low watt single ended amp and blast it or just enjoy it at a safe level.

For me, it's a matter of bass control and slam. My speakers are 91dB efficient, but have 15" bass drivers. Lower powered amps just don't control the woofer as well, at any volume. Very noticeable in the low bass region (below 30 Hz). My $0.02

I guess it depends on the person. For me, I had 87db speakers with an SS amp that was around 35wpc. It just didn't sound good to me. Even at 1/3 or less of full volume, the speakers sounded thin and lifeless. Then I got an amp that had 175wpc into 8 ohms and 250 into 4. It really made a difference for me. Everything sounded fuller and less strained. Perhaps if I went for a 300-400 wpc amp it would make more difference yet? I don't know. But I'm glad I upgraded in power.

Most solid state amplifiers prefer low impedance speakers. Most tube amplifiers prefer higher impedance speakers. On a reasonably high impedance speaker, a much lower powered tube amplifier should be able to drive the speaker better than a high powered solid state amplifier.

A good example is the SoundLab speakers. They have a reasonbly high impedance through much of their curve and will generally laugh at higher powered solid state amps, while a 220 watt tube amplifier, like the Wolcott (Hi Albert & Duke), has no trouble with them whatsoever. Even much lower powered tube amplifiers do a very nice job on them.