does more power=better quality ?

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

That's a statistical conclusion rather than a fact of life: it's very difficult and copious and much more expensive to produce MANY outstanding watts.
1) Very good amplifying devices (like the 845 tube or the 300, etc) only offer a few db's of gain. More gain increases the complexity manifold... bipolar transistors and Jfets can be good too, but if you want many class A watts, you'll probably end up with mosfets... SO, there's a good choice of devices offering a few excellent watts for less than the price of a new house -- but very few giga watt equivalents (for less than the price of a new house).

2) It makes more practical sense to choose a very sensitive speaker since there is lots of choice out there, and the price levels are comparable to their insensitive brethren.

3) Many tube designs offer their best performance at 1-3W. Many ss devices offfer their best performance level at full power.

Onhwy61:
SS devices: the circuit design.

As to my use of practicality, I do agree. What I should have written is something like, "if *I* were taking the route of outstanding amplification, it would make better financial sense to opt for a few watts and a sensitive speaker.." or s/thing like that.
Thanks!