going from tube preamp to solid state


just toying around with this and it might not even happen.

have a tube preamp now and while i might sell this later on and get another preamp.......have there been members that have had a tube preamp, sold it and went to a solid state preamp and kept it ?          or did you prefer the tube preamp sound and went back to it ?

maybe got a tube preamp that uses different tubes than the previous one did ?     

the preamp i have now, i like the way it sounds, but just not a fan of the 6sn7 and never really have been.   i prefer the 6922, 12au7 / 12ax7 tubes better.   

innersound300

Showing 2 responses by aricaudio

@innersound300 While the 6SN7 tube itself might not be to your liking, it may also help to try some other 'SN7s in the pre to see if you can tailor the sound more to what you're looking for. In the preamp, both channels are completely separated at the positive signal and only coupled at the ground (like all other single-ended devices). In some cases I've found that pronounced frequency response in the midrange can often make the soundstage sound more center focused whereas less midrange energy and more HF energy can give the impression of more extension to soundstage width. If you have no already, I would consider trying some other 6SN7s or even 6SL7s- both of which can be safely used in your Transcend preamp. I find 6SL7s, aside from having higher gain, to also sound a little leaner in the midrange and have more of an extended top end, or more of a "Noval" (mini) type of tube sound. It might be worth a try?

 

Other than that, oftentimes small component upgrades internally can work wonders to bring the stage width out further, such as coupling caps, signal resistors, power supply filter cap change, etc. with the most prominent change occurring with a change of the coupling caps- as there is only one per channel. Anyhow, I just wanted to offer my 2 cents in the hopes it may help with the soundstage issue. 

 

Best regards, Aric

@youwin I received your Audiogon message and they will not let me reply to it with any personal info. If you could, please send me a message through my website, let me know your name and when you purchased the preamp (so I can reference it), then I should be able to help. Best regards, Aric