Power: Good or Bad

I think the understanding of the relationship between a chosen speaker and the amplfier necessary to make the best of it is the key equipment relationship and the one that a good dealer could be most helpful in educating the customer. There is such a preconcieved prejudice towards thinking that bigger is better, and coincidentally more watts cost more, that we often go down that road without really understanding that you don't need more power than you need, and that lower power is always simpler and purer, and "better" if adequate to drive the speaker. Of course, some speakers won't be satisified with low to medium power, and you then you do need more power, indeed a lower power amp will not satisfy, will not be adequate. I therefore lean towards relatively sensitive speakers, with high and "flat" impedances to work best with tubes, and that can be driven by a wider variety of low (20 watts) to mid (60 watt) amplfiers.

I second the synergy thing. A gainclone amp is about as simple as you can get. But the sound has been described as grainy, harsh in the H-F, and lacking drive. Sometimes the simplest is too simple. IMHO they are a great match with single driver speakers which show their strengths in spades.

The gainclone amp is simplicity itself and sounds great. The 50+ watts per channel into my 6-ohm speakers is more than enough for my listening area. My LM3886TF amp is paired with a tube preamp. Siegfried Linkwitz of Linkwitz-Riley crossover fame uses the National Semiconductor LM3886 IC in his Pluto powered loudspeaker project. If the chip didn't sound good, I don't think he would bother.

Yes 20 watt S.E.T sounds better at 115 db peaks if your Room can handle it and your speakers are efficient enough in my experience, vs. 200 plus watt solid state really flattening out at those power transients... So I believe the higher quality watts which always costs more for less watts is in fact the way to go if you have the speakers capable, otherwise you need the bigger amps. I run 101 db speakers, so reality is this is not the norm to get such dynamic contrast with all lower power Class A S.e.t amps.

Double the power for 3db, if I am not mistaken. You have to ask yourself, how loud is loud enough? 90db for 1 watt, 2 watts for 93, 4 for 96, 8 for 99, 16 for 102, 32 for 105, etc. The efficiency of the speakers, size of listening area, and need for power peaks(usually bass) all come into play. IMHO, no more power than necessary.