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Are tubes really “warm”?

Time and again I read posts that claim/assume that tubes sound “warm.” I have not found this to be the case. Having owned many high quality tube amps and preamps, I find that tube electronics present more natural highs than many ss designs. But warm?? Not in my experience. Can someone explain what it is about the tube sound that many consider “warm?”
cakids
roberjerman
4,319 posts
 
NO! And transistors don't sound cold!
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Wolfie knows only what I want him to know. So there’s that.
tweak1
3,645 posts
 
Is it the tubes, or the circuit design, quality of the transformers... I have owned complete tube systems, as well as mixed systems (tube pre + SS amp)


For more then 15 years my systems have been 100% SS. My current system starts with the: Oppo 105 with power supply and incoming IEC replaced with Furutech Rhodium IEC with attached pure silver tail connecting to the new LPM and the 110/220 switch replaced with a silver jumper. The tray is loaded with New Dark Matter which helped tremendously with the digital nasties. One meter WireWorld series 8 XLRs direct to my Ric Schultz EVS 1200 amp; dual mono IceEdge class D modules with lots of tweaks. The tops have been removed from the 1200 and the 105. No preamp. WireWorld Series 8 speaker cables connect to Emerald Physics KCII open baffle ~ 96db efficient.

Everything, including the speakers, have Machina Dynamica springs under them


I only spin cds. Some sound dry and brittle (indeed on greatest hits discs some songs sound dry and brittle while others sound terrific), whether they are red book, DVD-A or SACD

hth
djones51
4,947 posts
 
I always thought the warm sound associated with tubes came from distortion and HF roll off. 
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,772 posts
 
I always thought the warm sound associated with tubes came from distortion and HF roll off.
The 2nd and 3rd harmonics are responsible for 'warmth', but tubes can have plenty of bandwidth- the old Harmon Kardon Citation 2 had bandwidth to 100KHz and that amp hails from 1959. So the HF rolloff thing is a bit of a myth.

Flipping the coin over for a bit, it is also distortion that causes transistor amps to have brightness and harshness. This is the case even though the distortion in question is quite 'low'. But the ear uses the higher ordered harmonics that cause brightness to sense sound pressure, and so is arguably more sensitive to them than anything else! So even though transistor amps look like they have low distortion on paper, the ear itself doesn't think so and can hear that distortion easily.

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