2. amps-preamps
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Tube Equipment: Gimmick?

I recently had a mechanical engineer (who has no interest in audio equipment or the industry) express amazement when I told him about the high prices of tube gear. His amazement, he said, stemmed from the fact that tubes are antiquated gear, incapable of separating signals the way (what we call "solid state") equipment can.

In essence, he said tubes could never be as accurate as SS gear, even at the height of the technology's maturity. This seems substantiated by the high-dollar tube gear I've heard - many of the things that many here love so much about the "tube sound" are wonderful - but to my ears, not true to the recording, being either too "bloomy" in the vocal range or too "saturated" throughout, if that makes any sense.

I have limited experience with tubes, so my questions are: what is the attraction of tubes, and when we talk about SS gear, do we hit a point where the equipment is so resolving that it makes listening to music no fun? Hmmm..or maybe being *too* accurate is the reason folks turn from SS to tubes?

Thanks in advance for the thoughts!
aggielaw

Showing 1 response by f1a

f1a
202 posts
 
Why has no-one brought up the assertations of Cheever's MIT thesis mentioned early in this thread?? Cheever claims/proves(?) that non-negative feedback (open loop) single-ended designs, either tubed or SS, are superior in TONAL QUALITY both objectively and subjectively.

Linear triodes create pleasing LOW-ORDER (2nd, 3rd, etc) distortion, while most SS designs are plagued with nasty-sounding HIGH-ORDER (5th, 6th, and up) distortion. The physiology of our ears is such that our ears actually create 2nd and 3rd harmonic distortion OF THEIR OWN in the cochlea canal. This effect serves to "cancel out" triode distortion preserving harmonic integrity. Interestingly, our ears also cancel out higher order distortion that follows a PARTICULAR PATTERN. However, most SS designs do not follow that pattern. SS may have incredibly low THD figures, but the negative feedback required to do that is what screws up the harmonic portrayal. Cheever asserts that EVEN AS LITTLE AS 3dB OF FEEDBACK will screw up the sound.

SS designs with ZERO feedback and the correct PATTERN of rising order distortion may IN THEORY sound as good as well-implemented single-ended tube designs. I'd encourage everyone to study the thesis for themselves, and post your thoughts accordingly.
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