I hate to say it, but now I think maybe I like my amp in ultralinear mode versus triode
It's a Cary V-12; it features a dozen EL34s and each pair has a switch in between them that configures that pair to either triode or ultralinear. In full triode Cary listed in the specs that it makes 50 wpc and in full ultralinear 100 wpc. For most of the twenty three years that I have owned this amp I have always felt that I preferred triode except for the occasions that I wanted to full out blast (it has literally been many years since I've felt the need to full out blast).
However, today I experimented with a couple of things in my system, and after listening to the same "Jazz Essentials" (compilation) red book CD a couple of times all the way through, the next thing I experimented with was switching to full ultralinear.
Maybe there was more "PRaT"? (Which is a term I am still not sure that I completely grasp.) Maybe . . . but what I do feel I noted for sure was that the imaging (particularly the imaging in the center) had more weight (meatier?) and was presented more forward, which I actually like.
I put a few more hours in (one more time with Jazz Essentials, Holly Cole/It Happened One Night, Dave's True Story/Sex Without Bodies, selected tracks from Rebecca Pigeon/The Raven and Once Blue/self titled and Norah Jones/Feels Like Home) after switching to ultralinear. (No booze during this session, just coffee.) The jury is still out on this, but I do have some CDs in mind that I want to listen to over the next few days as I continue to evaluate.
Sounds like a good thing to me if music comes to mind and then to your system. not sure why you "hate to say it" that UL sounds better than Triode. I've said it for 15 or so years. Triode does not have enough bass response for the drummer in me. |
" For most of the twenty three years that I have owned this amp I have always felt that I preferred triode" Your hearing isn't as sharp as it was. Now UL is needed to "push" instrument passages closer to please the ear. That's my personal diagnosis as hearing degeneration and tinnitus take over. "In UL the voices seemed closer to me than I remember them sounding in triode." My experience toggling between the 2- Triode-instrumentation is pushed back with vocal taking center stage. UL- instruments pushed forward just behind vocals. |
@tablejockey excellent point! |
Makes sense. I owned the Cary V12R and the Carly SLI-80 both, and yes hat's how it sounds between UL / Triode switched modes over several years. With those amps, Triode switched mode will have rounder top and bottom end. sounding softer. Ultralinear switch mode will be more dynamic and controlled, not lacking in top or bottom end. While I listened mostly in Triode modes at first with both Cary stereo amps, I later compared to my current Quicksilver Mono 120 tube amps which are dedicated Ultralinear circuit design - there is more clarity and dynamics to it overall. |
@grislybutter , I was thinking along those lines myself. The Revels (sensitivity 86 and minimum impedance 4.7 ohms) are supposed to be an easy load to drive (according to the reviews) and I didn’t think that the amp was straining in 50 wpc triode, but maybe it was and I didn’t know it.
Yes! That’s the way I would describe it. I still haven’t tried A/Bing those PCs from Amazon, the Preffairs (sp?), but if there was a difference with those, it was subtle to the point that my untrained ears were unable to detect it. With that typed, my ears are not that great (and those PCs have been in the system for a while now, so now maybe I would). However, I immediately heard this today, as in immediately, and although it didn’t sound like a whole different component, if I could hear it, with my ears, that says something. As I typed previously, today I liked it.
Well, I guess because for nearly 23 years I steadfastly maintained that triode sounded more refined and also "more better." Perhaps I was wrong about "more better."
I am willing to concede that my hearing is worse now than it was when I bought that amp. And considering that I spent a lot of my adult life around jet engines and hammering rivets with inadequate hearing protection, I often wonder how good it ever was back when I started my personal quest for "better sound." Your description of UL versus triode I think is what I was getting today. I’ll pay closer attention tomorrow. @decooney , I was meaning to ask you about your feelings of triode versus UL with your V12. |
