Tubes Do It -- Transistors Don't.

Hey Kevziek...

I hate to break it to you, but on most recordings the instruments ARE panned into place with a mixer. Sorry. :-)

SS amps might be more accurate in that way (allowing you to "hear" the seperation between tracks). I do agree with you though...I think tube designs (done right) sound more musical and real, though I have heard some that sound so friggin' bizarre...it amazes me that people think the sounds they produce sound anything like real instruments. Still...everything is relevant. Some recordings are made using tube mics and tube preamps and others are made with SS mics and preamps, and both can sound amazing if done right.

I have to weigh in on the SS side when it comes to amps, not because they are all better, but because a few of them are. While I've heard very good tube amps and can appreciate their abilities, I've never heard one that could do bass so that it sounded real. The current and damping just can't handle it, and so I always end up "hearing" that it's a tube amp. It sticks in the back of my mind and won't go away, reminding me every time I hear the thump that I'm listening to a tube amp. I suppose my value system would be very different if I only listened to chamber music and vocalists, and I have no doubt I would be sitting here extolling the virtues of tube amps. SS amps, on the other hand, have gotten to the point where a few of them really CAN seem to disappear from the chain. Not many, and not until recently, but they're out there. My Ayre V-5 is the first amp I've ever owned, SS or tube, which allows me to actually say (the majority of the time, anyway) that "I can't tell it's there." And in my mind, there is no bigger compliment that can be paid to any piece of equipment.

This doesn't address the obvious and more difficult question, which is whether tube or SS preamps are better. I think tubes have a lot more going for them in a preamp, and may always have the upper hand over SS in this application.

I own both solid state and tube pre-amps and amps (Placette and First Sound, Pass and CJ). As with many things in life, I can’t decide which I prefer, so I switch off—a month or two with one, then the other. When I make a switch, I’m usually glad I did and wonder what took me so long.

On balance, however, I tend to prefer solid state. For all of the strengths of tubes—the body, the bloom, the emotional connection, and the other qualities, which many of you have articulated so well--most of the time when I’m listening to tubes I am craving greater clarity. Tube amps, particularly at lower listening volumes, tend to sound too “soft” to me, as if I am listening with a pillow over my head.

I am obsessed with the sound of cymbals. If I put on a jazz z recording, regardless of how great the piano or sax or kick drum may sound, if the cymbals don’t have what I believe is correct bite and aliveness, then I can’t be happy. Solid state seems to deliver these qualities more consistently, whereas tubes (my tube amps, anyway) seem rolled. I wish I would not fixate on this so much, but there you are.

However, I’ve come to feel that listening level is a huge variable in all of this and, further, it is too widely ignored by reviewers and audiophiles alike. A story: I was in a dealer’s many years ago listening to one of the original Hales loudspeakers. I remember thinking it sounded awfully dull, like an old Advent or AR speaker. Later, someone else came in to hear the Hales, put on an opera selection and cranked it way up. I was floored! It sounded so much like the real thing! But I rarely listen that loud. I knew then that the Hales were a very good speaker and also that they were not for me.

I tend to listen at low volume, where detail and clarity serve to help the illusion of music. At higher volumes, these may become less important. Most systems are demonstrated at high volumes. At HE 2002, for example, many, many rooms were louder than I normally listen (and many were just too loud, period). (Most also sounded too bright to me, so I don’t think I generally prefer a bright sound.)

A system that sounds good to me at high volume (even lifelike volume) may not be a good choice for me because it may not deliver the goods at the lower levels I typically prefer. If I’ve got the tube amps in my system and I crank it up, the cymbals sound right and the music sounds real, more real than with solid state. But at lower volume…

I would like to see reviewers be more diligent about addressing performance at different listening levels, particularly for speakers and amplifiers.

-Dan

KarlS, you need to try listening to a Berning ZOTL. One reviewer, when he was asked about the ZOTL he reviewed, said that it was the best SS amp he had ever heard. Of course it was a tube amp, but the point he was making was, that it had the beauty of a tube amp with the speed and woofer control of a SS amp. The Bernings are remarkable amps.

To further expand on the Berning bass performance I will say that the Berning zh270 amp has bass performance comparable to the best ss amps I have personally heard. With a stable 8 ohm load this amp will deliver full power down to 2hz and listening is believing. I have never heard any tube amp deliver the clarity, pitch definition and sense of real acoustic space in the low bass like this amp. It is comparable to the best ss in these areas if not offering the ultimate slam of a large ss amp. Another example of the converging of the two technologies.