Made the switch 45 years ago with a Sony TA-3200F. Still have it, though regulated to multiamp duty on my 'B' setup. Never had a problem, sounds fabulous. In the heyday of HH Scott, Marantz, Mac etc. it was heralded by all my friends as having the best sound they'd ever heard. There is IMO no point to using tubes unless you like the visual factor. Induce some phase shift in the last 1 1/2 octaves, stay out of clipping and poof, you have that 'warm tube sound'.
Switching to solid state amp?
I have had tube amps for the past 20+ years and have totally enjoyed their sound in my system. I am thinking of trying a solid state amp. Pass Labs comes to mind but would be open to anyone who made the switch, was happy and what brand worked for you. Btw I will still be using a tube preamp. Who has been happy with the switch?
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It is not the point of warm or not warm sound, the point is to achieve harmonically correct and balanced sound. For $10k I would probably get Atma-Sphere preamp with phono and amp. Yes, all tubes. Unless you can jump to Nagra, FM Acoustics, Gryphon, Ypsilon hybrids etc. But even then very careful audition and match with speakers would be in order. |
Stay with tubes. Here is a nice article on why many prefer the sound of tubes, including me! https://medium.com/collectors-weekly/could-an-old-school-tube-amp-make-the-music-you-love-sound-bett... |
Tubes tend to have a few disadvantages, apart from the inconvenience: 1 higher distortion, even though some like that. 2 load dependent frequency response. The best are borderline OK, but many have a terrible frequency response under realistic speaker loads. Just watch the graphs in Stereophile (and ignore the words). 3 low output power. Speakers need power, and lots of it, to move the mass of those cones. Without enough power, the sound will distort on louder signals, and be compressed. Again, some like this, but it is not a straight wire with gain. Personally I am convinced that solid state amplifiers are a mature technology that reached sonic perfection in the 1980's. Hence, under controled conditions no differences between them can be detected. That is good news, because manufacturing technology by mainstream brands has made such amplifiers eminently affordable. If you want to spend money on the amplifier with the best test results, look no further than the Benchmark AHB2. For some perverse pleasure in debunking audio myths: http://www.homecinema-fr.com/forum/amplificateurs-de-puissance-haute-fidelite/mesures-ampli-yamaha-p... Litterature: http://www.keith-snook.info/wireless-world-magazine/Wireless-World-1977/Audible%20amplifier%20distor... https://linearaudio.nl/sites/linearaudio.net/files/Valves%20versus%20Transistors%20DCD.pdf |
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