It's not about loudness, it's about controlling the panels. Tubes have a more difficult time doing this. Therefore, more tubes in parallel whether it's push/pull or single ended, lowers the output impedance,(plus or minus an output transformer). Dampening factor doesn't seem to quite explain it either. It's got to do with realism... With tubes, you'll simply need a ton of watts.
As you add devices to gain power, you lose delicacy, kind of a trade off.
With 3.5's I vastly preferred 200 wpc over 100 wpc when using solid state. Same series of amps, both new, just the power difference. I also performed this test with 2 different brands of amps with the same result.
The 1.6's are far easier to drive than 3's or 20's. yes, I've heard 3.5's with 35 watts, I've heard them with 4 watts, while the 35 watts was almost acceptable, it just didn't do it for me. My room is rather large for panels
though, so your results may vary.
Try your 3.5's with a borrowed 50 watt amp, see if you like it. That may help give you more perspective.
Good luck.
As you add devices to gain power, you lose delicacy, kind of a trade off.
With 3.5's I vastly preferred 200 wpc over 100 wpc when using solid state. Same series of amps, both new, just the power difference. I also performed this test with 2 different brands of amps with the same result.
The 1.6's are far easier to drive than 3's or 20's. yes, I've heard 3.5's with 35 watts, I've heard them with 4 watts, while the 35 watts was almost acceptable, it just didn't do it for me. My room is rather large for panels
though, so your results may vary.
Try your 3.5's with a borrowed 50 watt amp, see if you like it. That may help give you more perspective.
Good luck.