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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 twl

twl
3,251 posts
 
I agree alot with what Jim2 is saying. I think that much of what people perceive as "tube sound" is really "output transformer sound", since it is the output transformers that are generally creating the rolloff and bloat that some people mistake for "tube sound".

Regarding tube equipment being a "gimmick", it was the original form of audio amplification and was around long before the transistor was invented, so I don't think it can be called a "gimmick". I am of the opinion that properly made tube gear can be the very best sounding equipment possible. There are drastic differences in the sound quality of various tube amplifiers, just as there are drastic differences in the sound quality of various transistor amplifiers. The best of either technology can be very good indeed. At this time, and including all of the many pieces of gear that I've heard so far, I prefer the sound quality of the best tube gear.
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