How many watts per channel are enough?


I am considering my first tube amp (Prima Luna Prologue 5 or Jolida 502 p). I lean toward the Prima Luna but it only has 34 watts per channel. Is that sufficient to drive my Jm Labs Daline 3.1 speakers (rated at 89db into 8 ohm)? My preamp is a Jolida 5 t. The room is 12 by 24 with high ceilings. I listen primarily to jazz and classical at low to moderate volume. Thank so much for any advice.
hugo1
If by low-to-moderate volumes you mean peaks up to say 90dB (perhaps pushing to the mid/high 90s), then you should be fine, with ample headroom -- just don't do something silly like set the seating 20'+ away.

I found 60 Watts/ch to be perfectly adequate on 93 dB/Watt speakers for "loud" levels supporting peaks over 105dB and seating about 8-10 feet away. A more moderate level buys you the luxury of some more distance, less Watts, and less efficient speakers -- probably still with more headroom to boot. Classical tends to be more demanding, with its huge dynamic range and typically high crest factor, but you should still be OK here. The only time I audibly clipped that 60 Watt amp was with a Sheffield direct disc recording of Firebird Suite, on an accidentally-too-loud volume level set during the REALLY quiet intro...then WHAM!!

In your case, you'd possibly start hitting trouble if you wanted to push peaks over 100dB.
Sufficient, but just barely.
89db for speakers is rather inefficient.
I would say no way.. but if you never ever want to crank it up, you might get by with 34 watts.

To play softly only takes a watt. the trouble is the moment you add in any real bass notes and are slightly louder ...zoom you are using way more watts.
I do not have the link wit this info, but my speakers use about 1 watt up to 20 watts at lower listening levels.. Then a moderate level with bass the wattage jumps to 80watts.. as soon as I crank it up a little the wattage needed is 400 watts..

Same for your 89db efficient speakers.
I think you should look for a more powerful amp.
Or more efficinet speakers.
If you had 92db efficient speakers. you could easily use the amp you want.
To be sure, you'll run out of headroom real quick once you start pushing that
volume knob into loud territory. That's why they make efficient speakers and
powerful amps!

I'm a fan of efficient speakers for sure. Even those *honest* 93dB/Watt speakers
I had were a little on the low side for me. I found the step up to 95dB or 96dB to
be very worthwhile. Unfortunately, the efficiency ratings assigned by
manufacturers seems to be oft abused and "fudged". Speakers should be
measured anechoic, not just on a single frequency that happens to be a
significant peak, and (ideally) not at the expense of decent bass extension. In-
room efficiency ratings are...misleading.

I've seen a posting from a well known system/room optimizer who measured a
set of "famous maker" 97 dB/Watt speakers at 3dB LESS than a 96dB/Watt
speaker from a different manufacturer.
It is hard to tell without having experience with the amps

the reason I say this is because I once had a Stingray amp (rated at 40 watts) and it was quite lively driving my Maggie 1.6 speakers however, Rogue 120M (120 watts) sounded a bit dull and lacking dynamic range. Both had new tubes.

maybe the archives have more info on the ability for each amp to drive a real life load.

fwiw

good luck