@atmasphere
Which First Watt would you recommend to the owner of high efficiency speakers (101db, 16 Ohm) ? Currently using push-pull tube amp designed (OEM) by Trafomatic Audio for WLM Acoustic back in the days.
Take a look at the distortion curves of a typical solid state amp. At a certain lower power level, the distortion is at its minimum and as you go to lower levels the distortion can be significantly higher! This is not a given with tube amps, even push-pull amps (our amps are push-pull but distortion linearly decreases to unmeasurable as power is decreased).
So that power level is about 5-7% of full power with most solid state amps. If you've ever heard that bit about the 'first watt' being the most important, that's because its all about distortion (or in this case, the lack of it). BTW, Nelson Pass has a set of solid state amps called the 'First Watt' amps and they are so-named because they diverge from the usual solid state amps in that they too are very low distortion at low power levels. Their designs are also quite minimalist (even simpler than and not unlike tube amps in that regard) although they don't make a lot of power.
If you want good resolution so you hear everything (including good bass) at lower levels, this is what you have to do: tubes or a low powered solid state amp like a FirstWatt.
Which First Watt would you recommend to the owner of high efficiency speakers (101db, 16 Ohm) ? Currently using push-pull tube amp designed (OEM) by Trafomatic Audio for WLM Acoustic back in the days.