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Tube vs Solid State Amplifiers

cjfrbw

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Sal1950, you were a notorious tone control addict at one time? I never thought I would wind up talking toobs on ASR.
 

Sal1950

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Sal1950, you were a notorious tone control addict at one time? I never thought I would wind up talking toobs on ASR.
Shhhhhh, It's a secret. ;)
 

mhardy6647

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tubes are* tone controls... so are wires ('interconnects' and 'cables'), and capacitors, and maybe certain kinds of resistors in certain places in a circuit.
;)

__________________
* or can be, depending on the application.
 

SIY

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tubes are* tone controls... so are wires ('interconnects' and 'cables'), and capacitors, and maybe certain kinds of resistors in certain places in a circuit.
;)

__________________
* or can be, depending on the application.

Only if you do something very, very wrong.
 

pma

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Only if you do something very, very wrong.

I would not say so. In case of tube power amplifiers, it is a rule in most cases. Though with well designed SS amplifiers we will find almost no difference at acoustical side, such statement is not true for tube power amps. With their generally high output impedance and often higher distortion than good speakers have, we easily measure differences at acoustical side, vs. good SS amps. We should not be blinded by our personal preferences, if we want our attitude to be considered as "scientific". The high output impedance makes a difference and acts like a small EQ. I have even shown an effect of impedance of 6m 2x4mm2 zip cord here.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...on-your-workbench-right-now.11155/post-318370

Tube output impedance is generally much higher than that of the 6m zip.
 

SIY

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Would you kindly show me a "good" one? Just a single one would make it. Would it be this one?

https://www.stereophile.com/content/audio-research-reference-160s-power-amplifier-measurements
I wouldn’t look in the fashion area for good amplification, whether tube or solid state. I’d look at engineered circuits, like those from Morgan Jones, Tim de Paravicini, the RCA tube manual (the 50 watt design is a particularly interesting one), Pete Millett, Menno Vanderveen, yours truly... or back in the day, Marantz, McIntosh, Krohn Hite...
 

magicscreen

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Tube amplifiers have *MAGIC*.
Sorry, you cannot measure that.
You have to listen to it.
If you cannot hear, you are unlucky. That's it, easy as pie. :cool:
 

cjfrbw

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This is why Amir needs a 'magic pixie dust' suite of tests to add to the crop.
 

BDWoody

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Tube amplifiers have *MAGIC*.
Sorry, you cannot measure that.
You have to listen to it.
If you cannot hear, you are unlucky. That's it, easy as pie. :cool:

Gotta love that snake oil pie...

Mmm mmm good...
 

Purité Audio

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Solid state amp, with old filament light bulb stuck on top, best of both worlds.
Keith
 

majingotan

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Solid state amp, with old filament light bulb stuck on top, best of both worlds.
Keith

Better yet, some nixie tube clock or nixie tube sample rate frequency indicator :)
 

A800

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Tube amps are a waste of $ and energy.
Tube pre and a good class-D should do the job.
 

Xulonn

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How could any dedicated tuber resist this fine $3K Meixing MingDa push-pull 5x70wpc channel KT-90 AV amp?

Ming Da 5 Channel Amp.jpg
 
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cjfrbw

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The magic test is easy like any other. You input signal with magic, then see how much magic comes out the other end.
Are you seeking magic waveform fidelity, or magic amplification?
 

Sal1950

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Tube amplifiers have *MAGIC*.
Sorry, you cannot measure that.
You have to listen to it.
If you cannot hear, you are unlucky. That's it, easy as pie. :cool:
Easy to measure for. MAGIC = Total Harmonic Distortion. ;)
 

0bs3rv3r

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Easy to measure for. MAGIC = Total Harmonic Distortion. ;)

Yes but like most true magic, you have to mix the ingredients in the potion in the correct proportions. Just measuring how full the bowl is at the end will not guarantee the spell will work. ;)
 
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