2. amps-preamps
  3. 1170131486

Shouldnt you match tube with tube ?

Heres something i never really understood, and maybe can help me with my preamp quandry...

I cant see why if you have one tube component, wouldnt you need the other to be tube as well to really get the "tube effect" ?

I particularly cant undestand why someone would use a tube preamp with a non-tube amp. I mean the amp is the last component before the sound is reproduced by the speaker, so i would think for a "tube" sound, the amplifier would have to be tube.
The other way around i could understand a bit more, but am still a bit curious as to the quality. I mean the preamp handles the initial sound decoding and or distribution, so although i think if you have a tube amp with a non-tube preamp, the amp would be able to give you some "tube" sound, i would still think that to get the best tube effect, that both the preamp and amp would have to be of tube type.

Someday when i have the money id love to put all this to the test for myself, but until then id love to hear you thoughts.
ramax

Showing 1 response by aball

aball
2,018 posts
 
Each component has its own contribution in the reproduction of the signal. So the more tubes you have, the more "tube" sound you will get, strictly speaking. So, for MORE tube sound, both amp and preamp should be tube. And yes, you are right to get the most tube sound, you should have tube everything - even CD player and phono stage, tuner also.

But in reality, it all gets much more complicated of course. Some tubes don't sound like tubes and some SS sounds like tubes and everything gets blurry. The secret is to know what you want and like and strive for that sound.

Arthur
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