[Todd H.]

eponymous cowherd writes:

I am thinking about buying a new amp and would like to know how much
power I need. My current amp is rated at 25 watts and I never put the
volume knob past the 1/3 point and I never have problems playing music
LOUD enough. Is the power usage proportional to the volume knob
position,

Audio power output is proportional to the volume knob position, yes.
Whether it's a linear or logarithmic relation depends on the actual
pot used to implement the volume control.

am I always using less than 12 watts?

Most likely.

The actual output though depends not only on volume knob position, but
age and gain of the tubes in question (if applicable), as well as the
impedance of the speaker load, and the voltage of the input signal.

But if it's audio reproduction we're talking about, we like more power
to have in reserve for musical peaks even though we don't use much on
a continuous basis, our speakers tend to thank us for clean peaks vs
harshly clipped signals.

Best Regards,
--
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