Build location for tube integrateds

I believe the Stingray is 40 Watts in ultralinear (20 in triode). Watts is watts, but tubes clip more gracefully so they sound better than SS when the reach their power limits so tubes seem to have more useful power for the same watts.

While tube watts do have more apparent ("useable") power than comparable SS because of the clipping distortion characteristics, 40 watts of tube will not be comparable to 200 watts of SS with tough loads and low efficiencies. Although I did hear a tube versus ss demo at the Stereophile show in NYC. The tube amp was 30 watts and the ss was 200 watts. With the speakers being used, it certainly seemed like the SS was clipping at a lower volume than the tube amp. With the Klipsch I suspect 40 tube watts will be more than loud enough and just as loud as you Krell. With the Aerials you might want 60-80 watts, maybe a used VAC Avatar.

The amplifier/speaker matchup is so important, that I find it almost impossible to evaluate, or make claims about the sound of either component (any amp or speaker) indepently of that system context - one can come to assess either an amp or a speaker very differently based on the match between these two components. This makes evaluations more difficult, but it is the only way to find great sound and make recommendations IMHO.

Trelja, well said.

I'm not sure what to say about your measurement comment. I own a CAT JL2 and and a Pass Labs XA30.5, arguably among the best samples of tube and SS sound, and I'm sure the Pass measures better, no one would pick a the Pass sound over the CAT sound IMHO. I'm not biased towards tube or ss, I own both, but when you hear both, the choice is clear.

David, I agree with you. What I meant to suggest is that while their may be a consistent sonic siganture in an amp that is more or less revealed with most speakers, it is critical that the amp/speaker match well to allow that amp to sound its best, putting its best foot forward. This seems especially critical with tube amps that generally require smooth (linear) and highish impedance loads from the speaker. A moutain ridge impedance curve or dips below four ohms can severly hamper the perfomance envelope of a tube amplifier, which with the "right" speakers sound wonderful. Not having sufficient power to drive a particular speaker can also lead to conclusions about the amps performance that are really about the amps perfomance with that speaker. So while I do think there are basic sonic signatures to amps, their performance is critically bound to the speakers they are asked to drive.