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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
Post removed 
unclejeff
1,313 posts
 
I was auditioning the latest McIntosh six channel solid state amp when the salesman decided to tease me a bit by turning on the McIntosh 2102 tube amp. I accused him of changing speakers. He had to show me that everything was wired the same and that it was just the other (tube) amp.

I was so convinced that I now own the 2102. Your friend might like computer composed music too, as it is so....perfect.
williamdc
47 posts
 
It is a mistake to assume that tube equipment is less "accurate" than solid state gear.

Here is a recent M.I.T. thesis you might be interested in looking at:

http://web.mit.edu/cheever/www/cheever_thesis.pdf

On page 26, for example, Cheever discusses the 45 tube:

"The type 45 produces the most linear open loop transfer characteristic over a large portion of its operation range of any device I have tested, solid state or otherwise."

"In chapter 2 I show that the open-loop behaviour of an amplifying element strongly determines the end circuits subjective sound quality".
dweller's avatar
dweller
3,744 posts
 
To me, tubes VS solid state is like fresh fruit VS canned.
Think of peeling an orange at its peak of freshness. Its spray, its perfume, its immediacy. Taste the orange. "Ah! this is an ORANGE!"
Now open a can of mandarin oranges.
Same color? Same shape? Taste the canned orange.
Not quite the same...
bigtee
803 posts
 
I use a tube preamp and it "Sounds" as accurate as any solid state preamp I have used. Of course, what is accurate?
I feel it has to be true to the source, BUT, how did the source really sound? This could go on and on.
I look for flat frequency response and fairly low distortion. If a tube preamp or amp will give you that, how can it be said it is not accurate?
Tube equipment done right gives music back its life, steep in harmonic richness and natural sounding foundation. It takes some pretty good solid state equipment to give you that.
Each has its colorations, so pick what you like and forget about it.
Personally, I like a tube pre with a solid state amp.
I do have one question though, what does a mechanical engineer know about electronics? I must have slept through that section of school!
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