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why are tube amps sporting such low RMS numbers?

30hz MAGIC,
I see you're asking questions, and that's good.
I also see that you're looking for answers that meet your expectations and experience, and those kinds of answers are only part of what you'll get here.
But, for the most part, you won't get attitude either. Some, but not like other places.

If you open your mind, and your ears, you may learn that different types of systems can meet the same needs in different ways.
I can rattle the room with relatively efficient speakers and a 30 watt tube amp. Yet, I'll use a powered sub to get that chest thumping feeling when I'm in a mood for metal.
In my home theater system, I'll use seven 200 watt SS amps and two powered subs. But that's more for movie stuff than for music listening. I find that system tolerable and acceptable for music listening, but it doesn't draw me to it for reference system listening.

Basically, there's more than one way to accomplish what you want. If you're happy with your way, great. But if your questions are genuine, and you're not just looking to confirm that you're right, you can accomplish what you want other ways. It's all up to you.
Good luck on your journey.
 
30hz MAGIC said:
I sure as hell cross into the 500RMS+, sometimes into 2000RMS category while playing Blu-Rays and when I'm in an immersive mood for gaming.

How do you guys experience that IMax quality, earth shattering low frequency bass during movies with a tube amp??? Gotta feel like I'm REALLY in a theater.

I guess I just need power, I need impact while I listen to music. Club EDM is my thing, man!
Needs to feel like a club in here!

From what you guys are telling me, tubes aren't for me.
Click to expand...

Tubes aren't for me either, and I don't even need the house-shaking power you do. Nothing to worry about.
 
30hz MAGIC said:
I sure as hell cross into the 500RMS+, sometimes into 2000RMS category while playing Blu-Rays and when I'm in an immersive mood for gaming.
How do you guys experience that IMax quality, earth shattering low frequency bass during movies with a tube amp??? Gotta feel like I'm REALLY in a theater.

I guess I just need power, I need impact while I listen to music. Club EDM is my thing, man!
Needs to feel like a club in here!

From what you guys are telling me, tubes aren't for me.
Click to expand...

It sounds to me like solid state is serving you well. No offense, but I find the bass in most movie theatres to be excessive and very annoying, not to mention distorted. I've had (and still do have) high power solid state driving relatively inefficient speakers and tubes driving very efficient speakers. Both are capable of fantastic sound quality. It comes down to what matters most to you about your listening experience.
 
30hz MAGIC said:
I sure as hell cross into the 500RMS+, sometimes into 2000RMS category while playing Blu-Rays and when I'm in an immersive mood for gaming.

How do you guys experience that IMax quality, earth shattering low frequency bass during movies with a tube amp??? Gotta feel like I'm REALLY in a theater.

I guess I just need power, I need impact while I listen to music. Club EDM is my thing, man!
Needs to feel like a club in here!

From what you guys are telling me, tubes aren't for me.
Click to expand...

Don't take this as criticizing your taste in music at all but EDM is about putting out high SPL and not subtlety and nuance. If you were into jazz or classical or acoustic music The trade off of power for that last 10% of resolution of acoustic instruments and soundstage might be worth it. In your case it probably isn't. Tube amps and efficient speakers excel at reproducing the complex timbre that you get from unprocessed vocals and acoustic instruments.

Different tools for different jobs!
 
I have a 2 watt set amp that drives 94db speakers and never get the volume past12 o clock which is loud for this amp.Like the maker of my amp says "if the first watt sucks,why continue"
 
My Dynaco 70 would blast me out of the room with moderately efficient speakers...
My play list has always included "high spl" material (acid rock to classical organ) as well as lute and clavichord pieces that require near silence to listen to.

(Of course, when I lived down near West Plains, MO, there were no neighbors for a long way away!)
 
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4 18's equipped with 160oz magnets each.
6 10's equipped with 70oz magnets each.
18's are capable of 700RMS safely each but I'm probably only giving 500 to them each.
I only have one amp now so 18's only. The amp is 8000peak watts and has blown the fuse box repeatedly, no idea it RMS.
Neighbors are lucky I don't have a second amp for the 10's, I would hit high 140's in DB's easy peasy.
 
My setup is in pursuit of what I heard at the Musikverein Wien some 2 years ago.
I don't think I can ever achieve that really. But it is my pursuit. I'm in no hurry.
I don't feel I need all that wattage to achieve it though.
 
davidro said:
My setup is in pursuit of what I heard at the Musikverein Wien some 2 years ago.
I don't think I can ever achieve that really. But it is my pursuit. I'm in no hurry.
I don't feel I need all that wattage to achieve it though.
Click to expand...

I partially withdraw the above comment.
The low notes definitely do benefit from big watts.
For my Distributed Bass, I do need 100+ wpc.
 
I would hit high 140's in DB's easy peasy.
Click to expand...
I doubt it, certainly not below any appreciable distortion level.

In what frequency range?

How close was the first reflective boundary?

Measuring device?

Weighting scale used?
 
davidro said:
My setup is in pursuit of what I heard at the Musikverein Wien some 2 years ago.
I don't think I can ever achieve that really. But it is my pursuit. I'm in no hurry.
I don't feel I need all that wattage to achieve it though.
Click to expand...

Our audio dreams are such difference between eachothers. Your chasing reality, precision, accuracy. I'm chasing artificial, imagination, a lie.

I want my experience to be over the top and unrealistic.
Colors to some are only colors until there's too many of them, only then are they beautiful.
To others they are a nightmare, but not to me.
 
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bowtie427ss said:
I doubt it, certainly not below any appreciable distortion level.

In what frequency range?

How close was the first reflective boundary?

Measuring device?

Weighting scale used?
Click to expand...

Just... For a second... Assuming 4500RMS cannot achieve above 140db range...
Kidding me?
 
30hz MAGIC said:
Our audio dreams are such difference between eachothers. Your chasing reality, precision, accuracy. I'm chasing artificial, imagination, a lie.

I want my experience to be over the top and unrealistic.
Colors to some are only colors until there's too many of them, only then are they beautiful.
To others they are a nightmare, but not to me.
Click to expand...

Many of us are achieving both and on a budget. My system probably looks like junk to most people, but turn the lights out with a good recording and there is a holographic presentation as if the artist/performers are right there in front of me. It is both precise and imaginative;real and totally artificial. I'm sure there are lots of others here with similar conditions whose systems are far better than mine.
 
If you're really aiming for 140 dB SPL, you had better have some good hearing protection if you don't want to end up with noise-related hearing loss.

That's the same thing that turned Pete Townsend from the Who deaf, after 40 years of standing in front of full volume Marshall stacks, and the same thing that deafens carpenters who are around power tools all of the time.

OSHA sets a daily exposure limit of 15 minutes per day for a 115 dB SPL; NIOSH sets that level at 110 dB. You're aiming for a signal that's more than four times as loud.

You can wear hearing protection that will cut the level to your delicate ears by 20 dB, and still feel the thump in your chest and the kick in your butt, and save some hearing for future decades.

Or you can blow it all out now, and not have to worry about hearing the subtlties of a low-power tube amp in ten years.
 
I seldom ever turn any of my receivers up past 9 O'clock. I match the speakers to them and they sound great.
 
30hz MAGIC said:
4 18's equipped with 160oz magnets each.
6 10's equipped with 70oz magnets each.
18's are capable of 700RMS safely each but I'm probably only giving 500 to them each.
I only have one amp now so 18's only. The amp is 8000peak watts and has blown the fuse box repeatedly, no idea it RMS.
Neighbors are lucky I don't have a second amp for the 10's, I would hit high 140's in DB's easy peasy.
Click to expand...

What make/model is that amp? I'd like to learn more about it.
 
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