That's mostly true in the guitar world, but really not at all accurate when it comes to any bass amp design in the last 15yrs or so. It was possibly true at one point, but that was a while ago, and amp technology in the bass world has bypassed the tube v SS debate since (at least as far as their relative volume is concerned).
To answer your original question in this thread, I'd look to Eminence for a replacement speaker that doesn't cost a second mortgage. They have a solid variety of options, though like most others on here, I'd say that swapping the speaker on the R40 isn't really worth the time, money, or effort involved. Or pretty much any bass amp. Speaker swapping is so much more problematic with bass, for a large variety of reasons.
As a follow up, here's a question for you: why are you so interested in (possibly) swapping speakers on this amp? Like, has the current speaker failed you somehow? I'm just trying to understand why you're convinced this is the move you need to make here. Unless I missed it, you haven't explained why you're looking into this. It would probably help everyone here who'd want to chip in!