Are tube watts equal to solid state watts?

I agree that a watt is a watt, but tube amps can play louder due to smoother clipping characteristics than SS amps of similar power, so they will tend to seem more powerful - at least that has been my experience. There was an interesting demo at the Stereophile show in NYC last year comparing a 30 watt tube amp and a 200 watt SS amp, the tube amp seemed just as powerful because the SS amp was noticeably clipping at a certain volume level and it was not noticeable with the smaller tube amp.

I have to add this to the discussion.A while back I run with success,my Aerial 10T,known to be power hungry speakers with a Conrad Johnson MV-55.
George

Watt!!!!!!

A watt is a watt is a watt. Only present day audiophiles would ask this question. Making a distinction without a difference is the territory of subjective audiophiles, but hey these days anything goes!

Agree that the subjective appearance of 'more power' from a tube amp is due to the fact of "soft clipping" (the amplifier when pushed to the limit of maximum power distorts in a friendly way) vs the solid state amp's tendency to sound dreadful when pushed to the limits and it begins to 'clip' the signal off.
Solid state amps could be designed to sound like the tube amp if the manufacture wanted to do so. (but the tradeoffs in non-clipping situations causes most if not all to avoid this.)