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A tubes vs. Solid State question.

I have followed several of the threads regarding the tubes vs Solid State debate and I am puzzled by the dogmatism of this issue. I have several friends here on AudiogoN who are avid tube lovers so my question is obviously an attack on this stand, but do tube lovers think people with solid state equipment are deaf or is it that they have never heard tubes.
I have owned tube equipment and was fairly content with it but I have since changed to all SS gear. I am much happier with my system now that I have ever been before. Dare I say it? Yes I like SS amps, pre-amps, and phono stages! Does that damage my credibility or was it already gone? Maybe I'm wrong but I get the impression tube people think if we SS people ever heard tubes we would trash all of our gear and run to the nearest glowing orange light to buy all new equipment. Am I off the mark?
nrchy

Showing 1 response by turnaround

turnaround's avatar
turnaround
52 posts
 
Nrchy - I think that people just like to categorize and rank things it's not easy to. What are the three best Beatles songs? Who's better, the Who or Zeppelin? What was the best movie from Jan 2001 to Jan 2002? It's all good, I say, just different music for different moods and you can in a sense have it all.

I guess one difference with picking amps is that practically most people have to settle on putting their money into one for their stereo - so you ultimately do have to make a ranking, although maybe people take too big a step into "definitive ranking" territory.

There are aspects of SS that I prefer over tubes and vice versa. Certain things about tubes make the music sound more "right" to me, but other people's ears pick up on other cues and factors that make for "right" to them.

I think that SS or tube nazis tend to overlook that someone else may value the benefits of, or not be able to overlook the disadvantages of, one over the other in a way that's different from their way of listening. Think about Lord of the Rings fanatics who thought that it should sweep every award at last year's Oscars - I see why *you* like it, but that don't mean it's the best movie ever, period.
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