Stereophile's Jim Austin disagrees w Atkinson; says tubes have something that can't be measured

[computer-audiophile]

Still are!

Musical Fidelity | Power Amplifiers

www.musicalfidelity.com

These Musical Fidelity devices had also come to my mind. I do not know if there are any interested parties. But recently I also saw that a manufacture builds a phono amplifier with old germanium transistors. What does one not do everything for a USP.

 

[fpitas]

Of all the things I miss from the past, germanium transistors are not on the list.

 

[Sal1950]

Just in case I'm in need, I always keep my bibles close at hand.

 

[atmasphere]

You start to sound like you have an agenda. :-D "Tubes rule, semiconductors suck"... has no one ever ever said since Shockley and his team did some work...

Incidentally you seem to confuse circuit design with the merits of discrete components' specs. Putzey's white papers may provide some help there. Try to deliver on those specs with your "superior" tube tech, from linearity to power to distortion.

Please up your 'reading comprehension' as you put it. I specifically said I am not advocating tubes and certainly did not say anything like you impune:

I'm not advocating tubes here.

(#436)
The rest of your post is thus a bit of a Red Herring; I've advocated Putzey's papers often on this site and others.

How many tubes do you find in military gear. As a tube amp manufacturer you obviously have a bias.

FWIW tubes were in military gear for quite a lot longer than you might be aware! My comment above applies to you too. As a tube amp manufacturer apparently I have more of the facts at my disposal which is why I've simply said:

If you are going to denigrate tubes (or anything else for that matter), its helpful to do with with[sic] facts rather than myth.

(also post #436)

I'm also a class D manufacturer (which is of our own design not using anyone else's modules) and advocate for that over tubes. Its just that historically we started out making tube amps. I saw something better and went with it.

My main statement is that SS gear is easier and cheaper to make at the same quality, I don't see how you can argue with that.

That isn't what you said, which was:

The same can be had from transistors at a fraction of the cost and the transistors never have to be replaced.

To which I correctly responded that if you think transistors never need to be replaced you're living in lala land.

 

[Trell]

As you can see now, there are some colleagues who have consciously experienced the history of electronics.

Some? I for one have experienced at least some of the history of electronics, mostly consciously I think.

 

[Sal1950]

Some? I for one have experienced at least some of the history of electronics, mostly consciously I think.

Personally I've spent a large portion of my life in a semi-conscious condition. LOL

 

[computer-audiophile]

Some? I for one have experienced at least some of the history of electronics, mostly consciously I think.

I'm sorry if my posts may sometimes be funny to native English speakers.

 

[Doodski]

Personally I've spent a large portion of my life in a semi-conscious condition. LOL

I think I've been a zombie for part of my life...LoL.

 

[Sal1950]

Lot's of folks when they see me now are known to say,
"Ozzy, is that you"??? LOL

 

[Trell]

Lot's of folks when they see me now are known to say,
"Ozzy, is that you"??? LOL

Before or after you bite off the head of a bat?

 

[mhardy6647]

[/QUOTE]

Still are!

Musical Fidelity | Power Amplifiers

www.musicalfidelity.com

Thus my valedictory comment in the earlier post.

I am sure all y'all know that there've been a few "modern" hifi products that use NuVistors, too!

 

[mhardy6647]

You had to cascode triodes back in those days to get decent RF noise figure. Tube guys felt a little wary using two tubes, or both parts of a dual triode. Costly extravagance!

That may explain why there were, e.g., some Fisher tuners* that had (if memory serves) four Nuvistors in the FM front end.

_______________
* And, if memory serves (which is never a given, at least in my case), these were all-tube tuner sections, not even hybrids. I believe, e.g., that at least some Fisher 500B receivers were so equipped. As an aside, I think (???) my Mac MR-67 tuner might have one or two Nuvistors somewhere way up in the front where I cannot see them without popping the Panlocs open.

 

[fpitas]

That may explain why there were, e.g., some Fisher tuners* that had (if memory serves) four Nuvistors in the FM front end.

_______________
* And, if memory serves (which is never a given, at least in my case), these were all-tube tuner sections, not even hybrids. I believe, e.g., that at least some Fisher 500B receivers were so equipped. As an aside, I think (???) my Mac MR-67 tuner might have one or two Nuvistors somewhere way up in the front where I cannot see them without popping the Panlocs open.

Yup. Probably little teenie triodes. Pentodes have better gain and lower interelectrode capacitance, but the partition noise from the screen grid is a non-starter in a sensitive front end.

 

[fpitas]

RCA did make some tetrodes where the "screen" was at 0 volts. No partition noise. I think it was too late in the game to stave off the evil semiconductor wave

 

[egellings]

Coincidentally, related to this topic:

Just yesterday I was at my friend's place listening to his system. I'd brought my Brother-In-Law (a very ASR-oriented type audiophile) over to listen to some fun gear.

Among the gear my friend is reviewing is a new solid state pre-amp by the designer formerly of Blue Circle Audio.

Idiosyncratically enough, aside from volume and input selections, it also has 3 knobs for adjusting the sound to taste: Transistor, Tube, Warmth.

In Transistor mode it just operates like a standard transistor pre-amp. But you can dial up the "tube" mode knob to get a more "tube-like" sound. It was fascinating because it really did what it advertised. For instance on an orchestral track with some high piercing strings and horns, they were fairly icy and thin and piercing on that particular track, but dialing up the "tube" knob both thickened out, slightly rolled off, and softened the sound. Very much like what many have associated with the "classic tube" sound.
It was easily discernible to all of us, and I have no doubt everyone here would easily have heard the difference. (Interesting that my accuracy-focused brother in law preferred the more tubey-setting for some tracks).

Not sure exactly what the "warmth" knob does, but it did seem to thicken out the lower mids of the strings.

Apparently the alterations are all done with resistors/capacitors, if I understood correctly.

Specially designed tone controls.

 

[Cbdb2]

Please up your 'reading comprehension' as you put it. I specifically said I am not advocating tubes and certainly did not say anything like you impune:

(#436)
The rest of your post is thus a bit of a Red Herring; I've advocated Putzey's papers often on this site and others.

FWIW tubes were in military gear for quite a lot longer than you might be aware! My comment above applies to you too. As a tube amp manufacturer apparently I have more of the facts at my disposal which is why I've simply said:
(also post #436)

I'm also a class D manufacturer (which is of our own design not using anyone else's modules) and advocate for that over tubes. Its just that historically we started out making tube amps. I saw something better and went with it.

That isn't what you said, which was:

To which I correctly responded that if you think transistors never need to be replaced you're living in lala land.

I meant replaced as in worn out not from abuse. A properly designed SS amp transistors will last as long as any other device in that amp, not so for tubes. There more durable, if you don't agree your living in lala land. And tubes were used in military gear for a long time, so what? They arnt anymore.

 

[JSmith]

See me rollin’

If you’ve played with or read about tubes for longer than fifteen seconds, you’ve probably come across the concept of ‘tube rolling’ and the amazeballs things it does for so…

wtfamps.com

JSmith

 

[MAB]

The one important thing that could be needs to be measured on tubes but no longer is routinely available... Tube-testers in the local grocery store or pharmacy. It used to be any family member could go down and replace a worn or defective tube. Now, we have legions of non-technical people with these safety-hazards amplifying their speakers and no remaining support, with no idea where in the life of the tube they are, or if their tube has a defect.

 

[Galliardist]

The one important thing that could be needs to be measured on tubes but no longer is routinely available... Tube-testers in the local grocery store or pharmacy. It used to be any family member could go down and replace a worn or defective tube. Now, we have legions of non-technical people with these safety-hazards amplifying their speakers and no remaining support, with no idea where in the life of the tube they are, or if their tube has a defect.

And as a non-technical user, how would I know if my transistor amp is incorrectly biased or has a defective power transistor?

 

[Galliardist]

Thus my valedictory comment in the earlier post

Sorry,I took “have been” as different from “current”