More power for better sound at low volumes?

Do you have any local friend or audio buddy who has a good pair of high efficiency speakers and an SET amp?
go for a visit, bring a bottle of good red wine though . . .LOL!
you will not find better sound at low volume with high power amps, they are not the answer my friend sorry to say, if they were i would have a one system at home and would be perfectly happy with it (naahhhhh . ..)
I have 4 systems @ home, the one I use for my intimate sessions is the one I described before (WHT speakers with triode strapped PP dual mono design 5751/6SN7 & KT88 now using NOS 6550 circa 1964), then I have some amazingly beefy amplifiers y Threshold, Aragon (Poor man's Krell D'Agostino design), Classée, some very limited hand made in Europe monoblocks that look and sound beautiful, some others by Sunfire (Bob Carver's child), Crown, and a hybrid integrated by DK Designs (150 WPC on 8 Ohm, 300 on 4Ohm)
all of them driving lower efficiency speakers such as 86 dB/W/m at 4 or 6 ohm, others @89db etc. they all sound better with a good solid state amp,now . . don't ask them to play great at low volume they will play alright but the music you want to hear @ 3 AM . .. if you know what I mean . .
I think we've all been at a late listening session looking for the holy grail of music.
you will look for the ideal all your life, the ideal is that you're happy with what you have until you find that ideal holy grail of system. which my friend is a life long search.
Agree?

Good luck;

take care;

Gonzalo

I agree with lowering the noise floor. My most memorable musical experiences always involve low ambient noise. Late nights, an isolated room, a quiet venue. Make the room quiet.

Based on my reading, there's an additional factor that might be of importance. That would be the ratio of power supply wattage to output wattage. I'm not a designer, but one told me long ago one of their general rules is that for a 40+40 RMS output amp the typical designer would spec a power supply at about 240 watts, give or take. Many great sounding amplifiers up that ratio greatly. Accuphase, as an example, I believe runs their amps at about a 10:1 ratio, which has the additional benefit of doubling wattage into declining impedance, all the way to 1 watt. Just another thing to consider.

Gonzalo, I disagree with your answer to the question that wasn't asked.

My vote is for low noise (battery power is amazing) and hi efficiency speakers.