Amps can be accurate or they can be amplified tone controls, depending on the design.
FTFY. Really, you can get whatever coloration you want in an amp regardless of the particular active devices used.
Amps can be accurate or they can be amplified tone controls, depending on the design.
This thing is frightening...
Wow, that's ummm interesting.
At one time, it was popular to drive 8 Ohm speakers from the 4 Ohm tap, trading power for lower output impedance.Tube sound comes about when the tube amp's high-ish output impedance forms a voltage divider with the speaker's impedance, and you hear how the speaker's frequency-dependent impedance alters what appears across its terminals.
I still do that.At one time, it was popular to drive 8 Ohm speakers from the 4 Ohm tap, trading power for lower output impedance.
Wow, that's ummm interesting.
Tube amps can be accurate or they can be amplified tone controls, depending on the design.
Both very true posts. I'm not tuned into todays tube market but I do know the offerings are all over the place in the sound they will bring to a system. Also depending on the amps output impedance, ecach can sound very different in any particular system depending on speakers impedance.And a much higher proportion of them have a tonality and voice. Hence tube amp sound, and the myth of tube sound.
I've done both.
I would suggest that the hallmark of what is loosely called "tube sound" may be attributed to limited Global Negative Feedback.
I have heard some lower power transistor amps which had similar "character" but they were terribly expensive. The Pass Aleph 0 sounded great and similar to well made tube amps of the day.
It's my opinion that the best tube amps have genuine triode output stages, limited global negative feedback and heavy iron transformers.
Such designs restrict loudspeaker choices to only the most efficient designs.
Along with the highest output impedances, the biggest FR variations into a actual speaker load,I would suggest that the hallmark of what is loosely called "tube sound" may be attributed to limited Global Negative Feedback.
It's my opinion that the best tube amps have genuine triode output stages, limited global negative feedback and heavy iron transformers.
Both very true posts. I'm not tuned into todays tube market but I do know the offerings are all over the place in the sound they will bring to a system. Also depending on the amps output impedance, ecach can sound very different in any particular system depending on speakers impedance.
I still miss my VTL amps, I chose them back then on various reviews but mainly on JA measurements and comments in Stereophile
"On the test bench, you could have been forgiven at first for thinking that this VTL was a solid-state design,"
https://www.stereophile.com/content/vtl-100w-compact-monoblock-power-amplifier-measurements
David Manley was a recording engineer and his early HiFi amps were designed to be as accurate as possible. Later he started bending to market demands by first adding pentode/triode switching to the line and later other non-accurate tricks.
Everyone is fully entitled to pursue their chosen preferences but personally I've always f.rst wanted to be able to hear what the source was intended to sound like. The VTL's quite high input sensitivity allowed me to also run a McCormack pure passive preamp that had absolutely no sound, noise, or distortion of it's own. The very bottom in that rig was handled by 2 huge HSU subwoofers and 2 NAD SS monoblock amps. IMO the perfect marriage.
I'm getting all nostalgic here for the ole days, my listening room was large so the 2 channel rig was set up on the north wall and the multich-video rig was on the south. With my chair in the middle, all I had to do was swivel 180 degrees to entertain my choice. Life was good
The problem is with disclosure. Most of those designers claim transparency (Nelson Pass is the exception.) They all claim to have finally solved the crossover distortion problem, or the clipping problem, or the current supply problem, or the this problem or that problem, and finally their amp is the one that truly provides transparency other amps are lacking. They claim other amps are "harsh" and "fatiguing", without explaining what those amps do that makes them so. They claim that their amps provide "pace and timing" consistent with the original music, which other amps do not transparently provide, without demonstrating what pace and timing actually mean in terms of waveforms.
If they said, "our amp sounds great because we left in a healthy dose of even-order harmonic distortion, so forget the high distortion measurements and just listen to figure out what you think of it," nobody would complain. But they don't. They say only they have made a product that captures the true essence of the music, while others have not.
Rick "measured against their own claims" Denney
De gustibus non est disputandum.
I mean, I'm sure there's, e.g., a Borgward Owners' Club.
OK, I'm pretty sure.
I mean... it's not impossible, you know?
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Once, I had a stereo friend switch my amplifiers behind a room divider, so I could not see what amplifier was playing. We tried to match levels as best we could. I had a Conrad Johnson Tube Amp, well known for it's warmth, and a Sumo Andromeda Solid State amp to compare. Surprisingly to me, I identified the solid state amp as being more warm! Just to mess with me, he said "Here is the Tube Amp" Immediately, I said "Yeah, there is the warmth" He invited me behind the room divider, and the Sumo Solid State amp was playing! He never switched amps, but just the fact that he TOLD me I was listening to the Tube amplifier, influenced my perception of the sound! Sean Olive was right. He told me about double blind testing, and I doubted him, until I actually tried it for myself.Tubes add a little seasoning to the sound.