2. amps-preamps
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Neutral Sounding Tube Amps - what gives?

If I'm in the market for a tube power amp or preamp, it's because I enjoy the sheer musicality of tubes, the romance they bring, the warmth, the inner-glow, the bloom, the whatever the heck you want to call it.

So why, when I'm reading current reviews and forum comments on the latest tube gear, has it suddenly become a good thing to encounter modern tube gear that sounds 'neutral,' 'transparent,' 'uncolored,' etc.? These were not the attributes that drew me to use 'valves' in the '80s (A classic Leak Stereo 20 driving Quad ESL57s), and it's not what I want from my tube gear today.  

Who changed the rules? Did anyone else get the memo?

With the above in mind, what do you consider to be the best tube preamp offering a 'classic' tube sound, but built in the last decade, say in the $10K new range? I'm not shopping, I'm just curious to see if I'm missing something.

Cheers

Rooze
rooze

Showing 2 responses by rooze

rooze's avatar
rooze OP
645 posts
 
Just stumbled upon this thread from a few months back https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/why-don-t-tube-amps-sound-like-tubes-anymore

At least now I know there are other folks thinking the same thing about the evolution of tube 'sound'.

I can go back to my corner now, thanks.


rooze's avatar
rooze OP
645 posts
 

Thanks for the comments above.

I probably wasn’t making my point very clear in my OP. I said “romance,” “warmth,” etc, as those are what I consider to be classic tube artifacts or colorations. These are positive attributes and mostly the reason for dealing with the additional “maintenance” requirements of owning tubes, IMO. 

I want more of a good thing, not less of it, yet I see a trend where modern tube gear is often voiced to sound more like SS gear.

Apologies if my linguistic skills and choice of adjectives are poor.

@atmasphere  - Thanks for the comment. You do make a distinction in your post between desirable and undesirable colorations, which I share. Obviously I’m not suggesting that having a component that sounds “bright and harsh” is a good thing.

As for recreating the experience of music sounding “real” in my room, I think I do pretty well with it, given the constraints of the obvious physics involved and the fact that I’m not extremely wealthy. I’m not sure why anything I said in my OP would be construed as my not having heard a good facsimile of the real thing in my own space. As an aside, I heard your pre/power gear in the Classic Audio Loudspeakers room at CAF 2019 and it was my favorite room at the show. I'd like to try some of your gear someday soon.

@dentdog  - I owned the Chardonnay for a couple of years and enjoyed my time with it. I think Mick finds a nice balance with how he voices his gear. I’ve been using the Allnic L-5000DHT for a while and would love to try the Supratek DHT, but the wait-time from Oz is a killer.

@verdantaudio - thanks for the info. I was looking at some of your posts about a week ago, following the trail on a used Art Audio Carissa, which somehow lead me to your listing on eBay for the Conductor and then to your website. I wanted to try AA gear when I ran a horn rig some years ago, particularly the Diavolo 300b and the PX25. I hadn’t realized AA make a good linestage, though.

Anyway, thanks again. Tubes rule, as the saying goes, particularly ones which are unashamedly tubes.

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