Tube Amps Over Solid State...?

I am sitting on a fence, having a great tube SET and a great SS amp. I know I need to sell one of them, but can not deside which one. I can bi-amp Not sure it will be best of two worlds though

 

It's bit of a daft question really though isn't it; which one is best? There are obviously good and bad examples of both types, they can have different characteristics, they can share some characteristics. Listen to a variety and buy the one you like best, and try not to worry that someone else preferred something else!

 

I suspect the hiss was down to my speakers being 105dB!

 

That'll teach you .

 

Just bought one of these Chinese audioromy valve amps, uses 6550A tubes. Few problems with it on arrival ( after about 3 months surface mail + customs charge ) selctor switch wasn’t working so no sound, but fixed now.

Set it up with my proac reference 8 signatures and it sounds very nice. Its put my nad C350 under the bed for a break. Havent done a side by side yet but I will when I get a chance.

Not quite as much drive and power as the Nad but its a nicer overall presentation ( with out side by side it hard to say exactly though ) there is no doubt that the vlave amps do something’s which solid state just can not match and they seem to give the music more of a live and organic feeling IMO. Really enjoying it at the moment. May be worth me upgrading those tubes in time though. Any suggestions ?

 

why GE NOS 6550 of course!

but in reality the Svetlana Winged C is probably the best new one.

 

what benefits will these bring, and what about the little tubes at the front do i need to change those too?

 

Living in Spain, inconvenients with a valve amp do abound. Besides that, a spare amp's always mandatory, since sooner or later the tubey creature will need to be serviced.

My AI500 was sent to the technie a couple of weeks ago. Thank God a friend of mine loaned me his Luxman smooth sand amp, so that I can still listen to music, while I'm recovering from a hair-rising car crash. That'll teach me !

Regards,

Vincula

 

quote

be very careful when you drive in spain,hope you get well soon, i just had my TV 1X power amp fixed but i find that the KT 88'S do not perform well with my tannoy's

 

Big benefits all round top ,bottom and mid, and they will last forever-ish

The little pre amp valves actually change the sound more than the power valves.

So change those first, Mullard, Telefunken, Siemens, etc

If limited funds change spend the money on the pre amp valves.

You can almost use valves as an EQ, loads of reviews on the web

 

Not Tubes over SolidState or vice versa

been deep into DIY since mid-80ies, where I started with naim clones.

Regarding preamps and phono pres it is purely a matter of implementation, how it is done. There are wonderful ss preamps as well as superb tube preamps.

With power amps, it is a bit more difficult. You need a 90+dB speaker to operate a sonically interesting single ended tube amp. If you don't have, better have an ss amp, because it is a big cost factor to go from 5 W/ch SE power to 15 W/ch SE power. There are even 100 W SE power amps on the market, for the very rich audiofools, but I'd rather buy a house instead. Push-Pull valve amps sound rather dull and uninvolving most times, so ss power amps are for most of us unavoidable.

In my own setup, I have an active speaker with digital xover, for mid and treble horns, single ended tube amps do the work, but for the 12 inch open baffle bass I have a 30W ss amp.

As I have my own style of DIY, my ss preamp sounds very similiar to my valve preamp. And my ss power amps sound not that different from my valve power amps.

Hartmut

 

Personally, I have used transistor amplification most of my life, and Naim amplification at that. Some might think that I am therefore diametrically opposed to valve amplification; in fact, that is not the case at all. Indeed, some of the best amplification I have ever heard has been based on valve technology and lost nothing to my own solid state choice. However, what I would say is that all the valve amps I have ever heard that actually made me think 'oh yes, that is good' cost a significant sum of money. Recently I heard both Trilogy amps and the new ones by Guy S at PureSound and both of these (very different designs) impressed me enormously - neither are exactly budget though.

In the last 15 years or so it seems to me that there has been a huge increase (relatively ) in the availability of more budget priced valve amplification. Unfortunately, the vast magority of these 'value' amps that I have heard have sounded, for me, too obviously coloured and compromised.

 

Good to see the old stereo-types alive and well. Tubes - warm, coloured, slow etc. Solid state - neutral, fast etc.

Of course neither has to be the case, and seldom is, but never mind.

A well designed example of either topology will be a joy to own, and vice-versa. NEXT!

 

Agree completely Steve.

I tend not to like the more hair-shirt valve amps and single ended amps in particular but there are plenty of good vintage and modern valve amps around.
The old Leaks and Radfords are excellent as are, for example more recent Croft and EAR designs.