What an interesting thread, amongst all the angst and outrage, some telling points have been made and I've learnt a lot. The only fair conclusion is that there is'nt one, some of the assumptions are revealing, particularly the one that the more accurate and more "linear" the response the better. A good audiophile attitude, but I am, one afraid I don't subscribe to,I like a system whose sound I enjoy with the music I listen to. Accuracy and linearity can go hang.
It seems to me that "low Powered amps" bring certain advantages to the party that allow them to be driven nearer an amps power limits and into areas of higher distortion. The obvious example here is the "soft clipping" of tube amps, possibly due to there tendency to even order harmonic distortion. I would also argue that a class A Watt and SET watt is not the same as a Class A/B, SS watt and I do'nt think that is contentious. So even if amps are driven into areas of distortion, there are good reasons why this is less of a problem in high quality, low powered amps.
Another point I would take issue with, is that in a given range, a higher powered, more expensive amp will sound better than its lower powered brother, into the same speaker. Given the proviso that the amp is matched to a sufficently sensitive speaker, there are many examples where the lower output amp gives better results. I would suggest here the Pass labs Aleph 3, at 30 watts, the lowest powered and arguably the best sounding of the Aleph range.
To consider speaker choice, a good high sensitivity speaker with benign impedence allows the use of low output amps, I use Living Voice Avatars with an 845 SET, to great effect. That does'nt alter the fact that many of the very best, full range speakers, are power hungry. You can't run Wilson Grand Slamm or BandW 800 Nautilus on a 3 watt 300B SET. That does'nt make the speaker a bad choice.
It's not suprising, I suppose, how many of the threads on this site end up with "it all depends", or "on the one hand X and on the other Y". Few things in life are straightforward and there is'nt one valid approach to system building. The only responses I am dubious about start "well it's obvious" or "the only valid approach is". Frankly if there was only one approach, life would be a bit boring.
It seems to me that "low Powered amps" bring certain advantages to the party that allow them to be driven nearer an amps power limits and into areas of higher distortion. The obvious example here is the "soft clipping" of tube amps, possibly due to there tendency to even order harmonic distortion. I would also argue that a class A Watt and SET watt is not the same as a Class A/B, SS watt and I do'nt think that is contentious. So even if amps are driven into areas of distortion, there are good reasons why this is less of a problem in high quality, low powered amps.
Another point I would take issue with, is that in a given range, a higher powered, more expensive amp will sound better than its lower powered brother, into the same speaker. Given the proviso that the amp is matched to a sufficently sensitive speaker, there are many examples where the lower output amp gives better results. I would suggest here the Pass labs Aleph 3, at 30 watts, the lowest powered and arguably the best sounding of the Aleph range.
To consider speaker choice, a good high sensitivity speaker with benign impedence allows the use of low output amps, I use Living Voice Avatars with an 845 SET, to great effect. That does'nt alter the fact that many of the very best, full range speakers, are power hungry. You can't run Wilson Grand Slamm or BandW 800 Nautilus on a 3 watt 300B SET. That does'nt make the speaker a bad choice.
It's not suprising, I suppose, how many of the threads on this site end up with "it all depends", or "on the one hand X and on the other Y". Few things in life are straightforward and there is'nt one valid approach to system building. The only responses I am dubious about start "well it's obvious" or "the only valid approach is". Frankly if there was only one approach, life would be a bit boring.