Where do tubes matter most???


Here's a question from a newbie:

Where do you get the most of that nice "tube sound"? Some say the ratio of importance of tubes in the pre-amp vs power amp is 75/25, others say it's really 50/50. Some say a good hybrid amp will get you most of the way there, others seem to be more all or nothing.

I see a lot of Hybrids with pre-amp tubes, but I never see any hybrids that have solid state preamp with a tube amplifler. I'm assuming this is because It's less expensive to drive inefficient speakers with a solid state amplifier, but do considerations of musicality and sound fit into this design?
lastwaltz

Showing 2 responses by lastwaltz

I don't want to tempt myself by listening to a 4500 amp...yet. I'm kind of leaning forward to an Dynaco ST-70/Klipsch combination.
So far dealers have only played me all-tube amp/preamps or all solid state amp/preamps. I like the liquid effect of tubes, the etched sound of solid state amps I've heard hasn't really done it for me.

Is that because I'm hearing solid state amps that are not "really good"? What would you consider a "really good" solid state amp? And is the cheapest way to not get that "etching" effect to use mosfet rather than bi-polar transistors? I'm still in college so I have to be creative and work within a budget.