valve amps power ratings - how important

[matengawhat]

maybe a daft question but for example what hi fi this month page 51 Union Research Preludio - 14w of power seem really low especially for driving bigger speakers - i really like the valve sound - have a valve headphone amp, fatman carbon mkii and my mf dac has a valve buffer stage but how do these amps cope with standard speakers

 

[the record spot]

It's all dependant on the sensitivity of the speaker to be driven. Some speakers need a bit of a push, maybe sitting at 82 or 84db, but when you get up to 90 or even 92db, this lessens the need for a heavyweight amplifier. It's the quality of the drive as well to be fair, so a meagre 14w (or less in some cases) can still be room filling with the right speakers and still sound superb.