Tubes, tone, and old age.
FWIW, just a short story about how things can change. 30 years ago I had two high power tube amps with SED KT88's. Bought a backup set (or two). Sold amp. What to do with tubes. Nothing, I just put them in a big drawer. Pulled them out every few years and always found them powerful but a tad bright. Never got an amp which served them well and I kinda forgot about them.
I got old. Needed new KT88's. What the hell, I pulled out the old SED's. Interestingly (to me at least) the upper frequency retained its clarity but what was bright in yesteryear, now matched the natural loss of some high frequencies in my hearing due to age. Hog heaven!
Point, if any, to this story is when you go out to buy tubes don't forget that the sound of tubes can and will vary because of the hearing of the seller as well as his knowledge of how they will sound in your system.
If you think about it, despite all the noises on forums, chasing the audio holy grail has little to do with "perfection". It has everything to do with what you think you want to hear. One of the best examples to me is tube equipment. Many people swear by tubes and scoff at solid state. Why? because it has distortion that people like. The best possible system would be the "straight wire with gain" type. What goes in comes out unadulterated. |
Carlsbad2 @llg98ljk Keep whipping that dead horse repeated by ss fans ad nauseum. Maybe you didn't pay attention to my post. I'm whipping no horse, dead or alive. My point is simply that audio perfection would mimic the source. The technology is irrelevant to the discussion. Many people spend inordinate amounts of money and time chasing a sound using a very imperfect instrument. Their ears. |
