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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 joncin

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joncin
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Those of you who do not understand the hype concerning tubes have never tried them. I am an electronics engineer too and was also prejudaced by the modern scientific school of thought. That is until I stumbled onto a Jolida 302b and a pair of Klipsch Forte' for cheap. When I brought them home I was expecting the typical Klipsch sound that I was accustomed to - brutally cold and hard. I was blown away! The sound was earily live, smooth, detailed, and warm. I swapped the Jolida out with my ADCOM GFA-555. The familiar ugly Klipsch sound returned. I am sold on tubes. Don't waste your money though, buy a cheap tube amp and experiment with replacing tubes. If you currently own any pair of Klipsch and do not have tubes driving them, you owe it to yourself to try it. I would not waste my time typing this if it was not the most dramatic thing I have ever heard.

John
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