2. amps-preamps
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differences between tube and solid state designs

this topic may have been beaten to death.

however, my experience attending ces shows has demonstrated to my eras that the differences between push pull tube and solid state amplifiers sound very similar.

i notice today's tube amps, e.g., contad johnson, audio research, wolcott audio, etc., do not exhibit many of the classic colorations associated with tube designs and sound a lot like solid state, especially with respect to frequency response, i.e., spectral balance.

there may be still be slight audible differences between the 2 formats.

has anyone perceived a narrowing of sonic differences between the two designs and if so if differences are slight, why buy a tube amp.

note, i have deliberately excluded class a and single ended amps, at low wattage, from this discussion. some of them have more of a vintage or classic tube sound, especially relative to bass and treble response.
mrtennis
bartokfan
664 posts
 
Differences in KT88 vs the KT90.
Anyone wanna take a shot.
I much prefer the 90 over the 88. There is nothing about the 88 tube I like. I like everything about the 90. btw notice how few amps offer the 90.
keneallyfan
26 posts
 
"I suspect that some of the low-level articulation advantages attributed to high efficiency speakers is due to their typically being driven by Class A amplifiers which have no crossover distortion]."

The sensitivity/efficiency measurement of speakers is an expression of output sound level for a given input voltage. I am betting that the reason high efficiency speakers "articulate" better at lower levels is that the volume is actually louder at the same dial setting that you used for the less efficent speaker. Unless you have guaranteed that the sound pressure in the room is exactly the same for both tests, it's hard for me to swallow that crossover distortion in a modern class AB amp is to blame.

"Single-ended and OTL tube amps do not suffer from this effect, known as hysteresis."

All magnets suffer hysteresis losses. This includes transformers. OTL amplifiers parallel a bunch of tubes to get the output impedance low enough that a transformer is not required, but every single ended tube power amp I have ever seen has one.
keneallyfan
26 posts
 
And you determined these amps that you were listening to were clipping how, exactly? I constantly hear this stuff on these groups, hard vs soft clipping, even vs odd harmonics, class A vs class AB, tubes are valves and transisters are switches, etc.

You want to know why tube amps sound different than SS amps? All you have to do is look at the frequency response graphs published in every Stereophile review and look at the trace using the simulated speaker load. The amplifier's output impedance is basically in series with the speaker load. A tube amp's impedance is so high that it creates a divider network consisting of itself and the speaker load.

Tubes - Big humps at 65-70 HZ and 1.5 KHZ, big dips in the mid bass and treble, dropping sharply after 10 KHZ.

SS - Flat.
newbee
4,768 posts
 
"SS - Flat"

Couldn't have said it better myself. I've always found SS amps to sound flat.

Sorry, couldn't resist. :-)
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