Impressed with Tubes

My take on tube equipment is to use it where it makes sense, since tubes won't work well in every application. Certainly, the best use for tubes is in voltage amplification applications such as in preamps, input and driver stages of power amps, phono stages, CD players, D/A converters, and the like. Where solid-state equipment has an advantage is in output stages of power amps where semiconductors have a much lower output impendance and work better for current amplification. Now if your speakers are a relatively benign load tubes will probably work well and give you what Cyclonicman and Newbee say they will. But if your speakers have a difficult impedance curve, not only will your tube amps not provide a sonic improvement, they may be prone to outright failure. It has happened to me in the past. The other issue is maintenance of tubes and tube amps, so if you don't like turning dials or adjustment screws, I would stick to solid state power amps and tubes for everything else. There is something magical about the little glowing glass bottles.

I've got a tube integrated (preamp plus amp), tube cd player and tube phone stage. Can't get enough tube :) Seriously, at least to my ear, solid state is just for office and bedroom systems.

In my experience, if I had to put tubes in one component, it would be the preamp hands down.

Art

Kitjv,

I owned a Rotel 980BX amp and RC960(?) preamp about 6 or 7 years ago. While a great value for their price, Rotel definitely errs on the lean side of accurate. Most of the problem was in the preamp stage, I thought.

But, in my audio journey since those early days, I've found there are lot more lifelike and rich components out there, both ss and tube.

Rogue definitely makes great, dependable, equipment which holds it's value well. But, selecting tube components is a highly subjective and personal experience.

How about letting us know what type of music you listen to and at what volumes. Also, what are the musical traits you value the most - dynamics, bass, midrange, scale, etc.

Rogue, Antique Sound Labs, Quicksilver - all worth checking out.

Hi Kitjv:
I've recently listened to a Rogue Perseus through a Rogue Stereo 90. At that time I had a Rogue Cronus integrated, which was great. Rather than buy a new Perseus and 90, I found a used Rogue 99 preamp and a 90. The 99 is remarkable. Better detail and soundstage than the Perseus. For $2500 I got both units vs. $4k for new Perseus and 90. Rogue is a great company to work with too. I've been to their factory twice. If you want to upgrade tubes, get them from Rogue directly, they can guide your choices.

*In general* If you go with a tube amplifier you will find it smoother and more detailed than the best of transistors, if the speaker is compatible with the tube amplifier. This is because tubes obey the rules of human hearing to a much greater degree than transistors do (although this is not to say that that couldn't change in the future).

You've already heard how this works with preamps- its the same with power amplifiers.

Keep in mind that if you are investing in tube power, your investment dollar will be better served by a speaker that is 8 ohms or more (particularly in the woofer region) than a speaker that is 4 ohms.