Tubes in Hi-End Preamps

I own a tube and a couple of SS pre amps aswell as tube and SS power amps. Believe me when I tell you that the small voltage gain the tubes provide yield a cleaner sounding pre than the SS preamps. I have an ultramodified ARC SP6B (6 tubes) which has had every extraneous circuit disabled and it is astonishing in its purity. I have been able to change the sound to a limited degree but not its fundamental character by using different exceptional NOS tubes in tube rolling experimentation.
However as far as "tubey" goes which to me means slow and syrupy when used as a perjorative, this pre maintains a "Wire with Gain" sound. In fact I have noticed that small signal tubes actually do the opposite of that rather trite conventional wisdom. If you add tubes to a CD output stage for instance, it makes the sound generally brighter and cleaner,they actually seem to add sparkle and liveliness. This probably accounts for all the modders who know that audiophiles desire detail and purity and add small signal tubes in a previously pure SS circuit.
I think that the so called Tubey coloration you speak of occurs only with the big output tubes when used to provide big voltage gains on your power amps for instance. Even then the aforementioned expected distortion may really provide a rather extended clean sound until you push the tube to its limit then the distortion becomes quite unpleasant. This is very easy to do if you are using one of the smaller tube amps.
Therefore I can only conclude it is the circuitry that really colors the sound. I can only suggst that you rid yourself of any prejudice and see for yourself. See if you can get a couple of preamps together from the same maker one with tubes and one without and draw your own honest conclusion. I didn't want to believe it either but via extensive exposure to both types of equipment (I am part of a very active Audiophile group) and I could only draw this conclusion. Trelja was the first to point this out to me. He was right as he usually is.

All active and passive devices add distortions; we simply pick the ones that are most consonant with our inner paradigm of what music sounds like. We then label them with fictions like "neutrality" and "musicality".

04-30-06: Viridian
All active and passive devices add distortions; we simply pick the ones that are most consonant with our inner paradigm of what music sounds like.

I find Viridian's statement to be refreshlingly insightful, and it helps to explain why I favor the sound of tube gear over the sound of digital gear. Digital gear has far less distortion and noise, yet I find tube gear reproduces audio that "sounds more like real music". That's my personal paradigm, and it won't apply to those whose paradigms are different.

Is your Audible Illusions the latest production? If so, it will require a LOT of break-in. I was talking to Art Ferris at Audible Illusions last week. He says the caps he's using are specially made for him, and include lead wound into the cap. they are especially immune to stray interference and vibration, he says. However, they take forever to break in. I got a new one this month and I've been playing it for about 3 weeks. Only now is it starting to open up and reach its potential.

Going back to your question... the previous answers are sound, I think. The tube guys are getting very good at designing circuits that take into account the actual tube behavior at different loads, and in different parts of their response curves. So they're less coloured in sound and more linear in response. And the comment about even-order harmonics being psychoacoustically more benign is a tube advantage. But most of my engineering buddies believe that it's possible to design solid state circuits that will match or exceed the performance of any tube-based preamp, with better objective performance, and greater long-term reliability. Of course, they're the kind of people who see the glass partially full of water as simply being over-designed...

My previous Audible Illusions preamp had a sort-of "holographic" quality that made musicians almost real in my listening room. I liked it, even if it WAS based on artifacts of the design. As a previous poster said, my CD-player sounded much richer and more "real" through the preamp. Of course, since most of my listening is vinyl, I don't really have a choice. But I think you'll like what the Modulus does for you after it finally breaks in!

Hope this helps!

Thanks for all the great input.

Question for Dfhaleycko:

My AI pre that’s in route now is a used one. It’s supposed to be about two years old. After reading more threads on this device, I understand that they eat tubes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Any recommendations on what the best replacements would be. Do you think I should listen to the unit first and then decide if I should try retubing or install new tubes right away so that I know I’m getting the best performance from them without guessing?

Also, I understand the AI pre is constantly evolving. Is there any difference between the units being made now from ones just a couple years ago?