help w/amp demo


On Friday, Sounds Real Audio of Golden, Colorado will be coming to my home to demo its Dehavilland 50a 40w tube amp w/my Aerial Model 9 speakers (full range, 90db sensitive, 4ohm). Given how good the 50a sounded at RMAF, I am very excited.

Nonetheless, while the 50a is designed to drive a bigger load than its specs would suggest, I am a little skeptical that it will be a good match w/the 9s (although I am hopeful). Thus, I have been doing a lot of reading on how to determine whether an amp is a good match w/a speaker and has enough power. In general, I think I have a handle on it.

One thing I don't understand is mention of a speaker making the amp "work too hard" as opposed to drving it w/"ease". I only understand that in the most general sense. My question is, how will I be able to tell if the amp is having to "work too hard" in driving my speakers? What should I look/listen for? Also, more generally, if people have ideas for how to decide if the amp is a good mate, I would love to hear them.

Thanks much.
shredder
Take advantage of your willing dealer and reward him with a sale after you figure out what sounds good to you. I home demoed a well regarded 35WPC integrated amp with my PSB Synchrony One (88db sens) speakers and it was a complete disaster since it didn't have enough power for my speakers/room/preferences/whatever. Even acoustic piano notes distorted at "moderate" levels. I am accustomed to a bunch of SS watts. Sounds like you have a great dealer so let him do his job and give him the biz'.
The autoformer did not help when I purchased a tube amp to drive my previous speakers that had a very uneven impedance curve. The device has an overall affect but does not fill in the gaps. My 35w p/p amp does drive my 89db speakers pretty well - but, they have a fairly flat curve.
tube or ss, youre gonna need 'juice' for those speakers. atmasphere, arc and mac make some beefy units that match well eith your speakers....that said , your classe is a class act.
Thanks all, I will report back. And, yes, I agree, Jim Ridell at Sounds Real is great.
BTW, I love Classe amps. The 350 is my second. I previously owned a CAP 150, which is a terrific integrated and a great value. I am not looking elsewhere because I don't think highly of Classe, I just want to explore a different direction and at least at audio shows, the tubes always float my boat.