2. amps-preamps
  3. 174207-10803

Can one have too many tube components in a system?

Especially if one has sensitive speakers? For myself with ZU Omen defs, I have to keep an eye on the gain of the amps I choose since my BHK runs tubes. If gain is too high, tube hiss becomes an issue. However, I see people with tubed amp, tube pre, tubed phono pre, tubed dac......doesn't the tube his (just like tape hiss every time you copy a tape over and over) intensify with every component? Or to pull this off one needs less efficient speakers?

aberyclark

Showing 1 response by mapman

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,638 posts
 

It’s the overall tube amp design and implementation that normally matters for sound. Not # tubes.

Where # tubes matter is when one starts to go bad. You have more tubes to test and verify in order to isolate the issue than otherwise. So in general more tubes means harder to maintain over time.

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