Sean,
Good post, but I think you're mistaken on a couple counts.
The first is that people who judge amps based largely or mostly on THD (and sometimes IMD) don't exist anymore. They do - some of them spend $40,000 on Halcro amplifiers, for example.
The second is that tubes sound good because of harmonic distortion. That's at best a small part of the reason and at worst - and what I think is accurate - completely mistaken.
Tubes sound better becuase their higher linearity results in simpler circuits with fewer parts and much less (or NO) negative feedback. That's it in a nutshell.
Paul
Good post, but I think you're mistaken on a couple counts.
The first is that people who judge amps based largely or mostly on THD (and sometimes IMD) don't exist anymore. They do - some of them spend $40,000 on Halcro amplifiers, for example.
The second is that tubes sound good because of harmonic distortion. That's at best a small part of the reason and at worst - and what I think is accurate - completely mistaken.
Tubes sound better becuase their higher linearity results in simpler circuits with fewer parts and much less (or NO) negative feedback. That's it in a nutshell.
Paul