2. amps-preamps
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Our we Lazy?

I want to start this thread by clearly stating that the purpose of this question was not to fight or rehash the battle of tube vs. solidstate as one being ultimately superior or better than the other one.I hope that besides personnal taste and the different "flavors" listeners enjoy, along with system matching, there is agreement that in the last ten to fifteen years that reference tube and solidstate amps sound very much alike and more like real music. The days of euphonic warm or detailed but harsh-bright sonic signatures are gone when it comes to world class amps.When my audiofile friends and I discuss power amps we always come back to these questions;1}With the finest solidstate amps[Pass Labs,Rowland,Ayre,Edge,etc.]sounding so terrific, why put up with the hassle of re-tubing,getting the right tubes NOS etc.,and the expense of re-tubing on a on going basis?I guess one man's "tube rolling" for pleasure is another man's pain in the butt.2}The sound of a tube amp changes over time as the tubes age, why put up with this hassle when it can be avoided? We like the fact that a solidstate amp will preform at its optimial level everytime we listen to our systems. Please you all, these questions are sincere and not an attack on tube amps or their owners.As stated already the goal was not to fight over something that is obvious ,world class amps are world class amps regardless if there tube or solidstate! We have listened to wonderful sounding tube amps[VTL,LAMM,ARC,CJ,etc.]and thought they were great, however they offered no special virtues that would lead us to put up with what we regard as "hassles" compared with solidstate amps. We would love to hear from our fellow GON members regarding this topic and what has been your experience regarding this topic.Let's not fight but have FUN sharing our opinions and viewpionts on this topic. Remember we might just be "Lazy" audiofiles who rationalize our own position on this matter!
teajay
danlib1
819 posts
 
I owned a Pass X-250 for a good while. It was without doubt one of the finest purchases I ever made.

I now own a Cary SLI-80 Signature Integrated, driving the same speakers- Revel F-30's.

The Pass plumbed the depths with more authority, and had a crystal clear tonality, but the Cary sounds so "real" and engaging that I can't ditch it. I found biasing tubes easy, the amp doesn't get any hotter than the Pass, and like the Pass is beautiful to behold.

I'd sum it up this way. One isn't really qualitatively better than the other- they're just different. The tube gear delivers a visceral musical joy that I really dig at this time in my audio evolution.
timrhu
2,779 posts
 
It depends on what you're in this hobby for. I just want to listen to some good music on a decent sounding system without the hassle of chasing minute daily changes in sytem performance. A nice solid state integrated amp does that just fine.
By day I'm an electronic technician. I remember tube equipment and the trouble it is keeping it operating within peak parameters.
One more thing though, one of the finest sounding systems I can recall hearing was driven by some Cary tube mono block amps. Don't recall the model #s but they sounded great.
waldnerrulez
1 posts
 
I have never heard a solid state amp or preamp at any price do sonically what the best vacuum tube units can do. Valves are just better at amplifying and passing the music without stripping away the important nuances. That said, there are plenty of bad tube designs in the world.

Solid state can be very, very, good, even if not at the level of the best valves.

The majority of people I have encountered who claim to favor solid state at any price fit into one of the following categories:

1. They have never experienced a state of the art vacuum tube system or lived with one long term.

2. They have had a bad experience with some inferior tube gear of which there is plenty.

3. They care more about things like convenience and low maintenance than absolute sound quality (e.g. heat, cost, reliability, my kids, my dog, etc...).

When only absolute sound quality is considered, valves are still the best.

sorry but it's true.
chadnliz
3,736 posts
 
Hey wald... Its not true, its your opinion, but hey thats great...but all the same its only your opinion
satch
329 posts
 
I own a tube pre (Musical Fidelity X-pre with X-PSU and RCA instead of the original Philips tubes) and a selfmade SS power amp, 25 watts class A per channel. I chose these because they sounded best with my speakers & room. If I ran into a better sounding amp (which I can afford) I'll buy it, tubes or SS. Frankly, I don't care what's inside the amp, as long as it delivers the goods.

There is one point I like to add about tubes. Measure them when they're brandnew, and they will perform 100 %. After 50 hours of use, measurements will be completely different, and the tubes will age differently, so performance will be utterly inconsistent. You won't notice, since human earing adapts easily to changing circumstances, and the human brain is capable of filling in missing information, especially on wellknown music.So (i'll probably will get banned now) tubes are not the solution to faithfully reproduce what's on your audio source. However, the distortion they add tends to be pleasant, so many will prefer a 'tube sound'.

Before someone'll shoot, my remarks about tubes measurements are not from my own experience, but from my fathers, who was a broadcast engineer who maintained equipment.
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