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Can tubes ever be as quiet Solid State

Recently I have had a major frame shift in my view regarding new production tubes which are getting to be pretty darned good over old tubes which still have marvelous sonic attributes but are often plagued by unwanted noises.This has resulted in my preferring certain current production over old stock more and more.
My question isn't are older tubes even NOS better than new production rather the question is are any tube systems able to match the noise floor of the quieter solid state amps? I was thinking in particular of gain stages in a phono stage. Opinions please
mechans

Showing 3 responses by shadorne

shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
Equivalent input noise is several orders of magnitude higher with tubes. There is really no way to get around this. Semiconductors come in all sorts - so you can design circuits specifically for low noise depending on gain/impedance requirements etc.

I don't think it is a big issue Manley make great tube amps that are extremely quite - so do others.
shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
I can turn the volume up completely with nothing playing and there is no sound, complete silence.

Was it plugged in?

I have not even heard SS that can do that - not if you put your ear up to the tweeter with the volume turned all the way up.
shadorne's avatar
shadorne
7,477 posts
 
you are completely incorrect to state that tubed pres cannot match solid-state for quietness.

Paul,

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that designers simply cannot work around these issues.

Let me rephrase: I guess anyone who has any experience in tubes as a component for use in amplification circuits will realize that there are in general (in the very broadest genralization sense) more noise issues (such as microphonics for example) than you get with solid state.

I reiterate what I stated above as proof that I agree with you: "I don't think it is a big issue - Manley make great tube amps that are extremely quiet - so do others."

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