I want to thank everyone very much. I decided to give the Prima Luna a try. I have a 14-day audition period. I am purchasing it from Kevin at Upscale Audio, who based on my due diligence has an excellent reputation. He would be surprised if the 34 watts are not sufficient.
The Prima Luna website explains, "if two amps are . . . both . . . using a pair of KT88 tubes per channel, how can one be rated at 40 watts per channel, the other at 80 watts per channel? This is a simple engineering and math question, and these are the two possible answers:
The higher powered amp isn't really meeting it's specified power rating and/or the tubes are being run very hard to get that extra power. . . .
The benefit of doubling power from 40 watts to 80 watts will only increase maximum volume levels by approximately 3dB."
That makes a lot of sense.
The Prima Luna website explains, "if two amps are . . . both . . . using a pair of KT88 tubes per channel, how can one be rated at 40 watts per channel, the other at 80 watts per channel? This is a simple engineering and math question, and these are the two possible answers:
The higher powered amp isn't really meeting it's specified power rating and/or the tubes are being run very hard to get that extra power. . . .
The benefit of doubling power from 40 watts to 80 watts will only increase maximum volume levels by approximately 3dB."
That makes a lot of sense.