Tube Watts vs. Solid State Watts - Any credence?

"A solid state amp that sounded identical to a tube amp? That's gold, Mapman, gold! Humor is the best medicine. ;-)"

Not to spoil your little chuckle, but that was Bob Carver who made the claim, not me. He's done a few things designing gear over the years but take it for what its worth.

I can only vouch for the fact that the amp was not irritating. Like most good quality amps, including tube amps, it sounded very good with the right speaker match. Harmonics did nt seem to be an issue.

"If you really want an amplifier that is as smooth as a tube amp you are going to have to get a tube amp (its the lack of the 7th harmonic that makes them smooth)."

I suppose so. But having heard many amps of all kinds, including both tube and SS amps in what most would regard as "reference systems" I have found a tube amp is NOT what I want and I am happy with what I have. It provides hours on end of musical enjoyment. Irritation has been a problem in the past with some amps but is not an issue with the amps I use now, which are both Class D amps by Bel Canto. The TAD Hibachis were a hit for me as well.

There are many things that go into good sound. It either works or not. If i find it works well, i am not going to worry about individual theories about what's really going wrong. When it sounds wrong or irritating, I will do something about it, but it does not.

That's just my experience. FWIW. Not that I do not like the sound of a good tube amp, but having dabbled with tubes again in recent years, its all the rest that goes along with it that I still do not want.

I might feel differently if not for having found Class D to be a better option for me.

Some 100 posts in and no one has really answered most of my questions, at least practically speaking for decision making. So I will ask again…

A practical question out of all of this is power tube choice in the same amp. Currently am running eight EL34's tubes in a primaluna HP integrated amp to Sonus Faber Olympica III speakers. The Sonus Fabers are 91db, 4 ohms, and recommended amplification of 50-300 watts.

Tube choices in the amp are as follows:

ULTRALINEAR MODE:
85 watts x 2 (KT120)
73 watts x 2 (KT88)
70 watts x 2 (EL34)

TRIODE MODE:
45 watts (KT120)
42 watts (KT88)
40 watts (EL34)

I know tubes have there own characteristics, but besides that, from a power standpoint, would it be better to go to KT120s to get more power to my speakers? Would the difference in wattage moving from EL34s to KT120s (15 watts increase in ultra linear, 5 watt increase in triode), be beneficial or even perceptible to my ears? Would this be better for the performance of the speaker, or at least the health of the speaker?

Sorry I know nothing about what tubes will work best there. Others probably will. Cheers and good luck!

Djfst, the differences in power which you cited all amount to less than 1 db, in most cases much less than 1 db, which is negligible. Even a doubling of power would amount to only 3 db, which while easily perceptible is not a huge increase.

In addition to researching which of those tubes others have reported to be preferable in the particular amp from a sonic standpoint, preferably with SF speakers, you might try asking Kevin Deal at Upscale Audio for his recommendation. In addition to being a very knowledgeable seller of tubes, he is the USA importer/distributor for PrimaLuna.

Regards,
-- Al