Watts and power

27 amps is 1500 watts into 2 ohms. 60amps is 7200 watts. 60amps would require a bus voltage of 120V at 2ohms, phase-angle aside. I think the number of speakers that drop below 1.5 ohm approaches a handful and even the number that drop much below 2 ohms are uber expensive and won't be matched with a $1,500 amplifier. 60 amps at 1.5 ohms requires a 90V bus voltage (approx). Odd of the odyssey amplifier having a 90V bus supply are pretty much 0. Given it's power rating, it is much more likely to be close to 35-40V.  That 60A specification is pretty meaningless ..... not to mention 60A would drag down the power supply capacitors pretty seriously, further limiting the practicality of delivering this much current.

Tube-amps sometimes "seem" more powerful as their distortion is typically more pleasant when they clip, but they are still clipping.

After a lot of listening and reading speaker specs here is what I feel to be true:

Amps, including solid state, are a lot more susceptible to low impedance in the bass region than we should expect by the common mathematical models.


If you have a speaker that dips below 4 Ohms in the 150Hz or lower region, that is a speaker I'd expect to come out as more "discerning" of amplifier gutsiness. You can also call that speaker more challenging, and less amplifier friendly. I've even seen speaker manufacturers deliberately make their speakers dip in this region, I suppose that the idea was that by dipping the speaker would be called more transparent, because you can hear the quality of different amps. I don't know why they did it, but i know they did.

I also think this is why cables seem to matter. Amps are more susceptible to variations in impedance than we think.

Most tube amps don't have "guts" in the bass due to low damping factor. You may prefer that or you may not and that will be room / speaker dependent. 


That dip in impedance is a factor of woofer electro-electromechanical properties and sometimes a 2.5/3.5 way folding in another driver. Crossover may shunt current from woofer to tame a peak.

I doubt that audio savvy people drive tube amps to clipping when actively listening unless that listening involves heavy drinking and dancing with lampshade headwear. I used to be able to easily demonstrate where my 12Wpc tube amp clipped because my main speakers were around 90db efficiency, but now that I'm using 99db horn loaded Heresy IIIs they simply get way too loud for that sort of thing. Still, I rely on tube distortion with guitar amps, but even in a "clean" mode they are so much better sounding overall that there's no contest with the silly "modeling" amps or any SS guitar amps. Some jazz dudes still use SS amps, but many don't (John Pizzarelli borrowed a little tube amp from me at a concert last year...a 15 watt Reverend Goblin, and the brilliant Matt Munisteri used a mint 64 Fender Princeton Reverb with Katherine Russell). Tubes "seem" faster and snappier in hifi and elsewhere. Or so they say, and I agree.