tube amp wattage questions/psb golds

There are certainly high wattage audio tube amps but they tend to be big fellows due to the transformer requirement. The higher the wattage, the bigger the "iron" needed. (If you want to talk about sheer power, tubes are by still commonly used as output device for TV and radio transmitters for 10,000, 50,000 watts and more.)

An undistorted watt from a tube amp is the same power as an undistorted watt from a transistor amp with the same rating.

Where you start seeing the difference is how the amps behave when driven above their rated power into clipping territory. A tube amp clips more gracefully (from a sonic standpoint). It acts as a natural limiter for the peaks while increasing the apparent average volume level. A transistor amp tends to give a nastier sound when it clips. So even though the average volume level is within the power range of the amp, the nasty sounding peaks make it clear the amp has run out of oomph and needs to be turned down.

Add that all up and it "sounds" as if the tube amp has more power. A common rule of thumb is that a tube amp might sound "twice" as powerful as a transistor amp.

All of that said, there are good tube amps and bad ones. Similarly, there are good and bad transistor amps. There are also a large number of solid state designs using different output devices in a variety of topologies. Speaker impedance and reactivity are also big issues. You may find that a particular speaker is not a good fit for a tube amp and sounds much better with a particular type of transistor amp.

So, generalities are nice, but your best performance is going to come when you get a good match between amp and speaker. That is the far more important consideration.

Flyinjz sez: how could i possibly make a educated decision...

Welcome to reality. Even professional reviewers only get exposed to a small percentage of the available equipment out there. The best you can really do is narrow the field to what seems to be eligible candidates and go from there.

The first step is to see what others are successfully using with speakers like yours. That means reading reviews and forums. I'm a Spendor guy and haven't listened much to the PSB line beyond some cursory auditions. However, with Spendors, you'll see a lot of people using solid state with the new "S" series but many of the owners of the "classic" prefer tubes.

From there you can see what your local dealers have available. Some brick and mortar dealers will allow home auditions.

Another option is right here on Audiogon. If you shop wisely you can typically buy used equipment, try it out, and then, if you don't like it, resell it for about what you paid for it. If you like it, then you're set and you paid a lot less than retail. Not a bad way to put a system together if you are prudent in your dealings.