2. amps-preamps
  3. 192205-171531

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.  

immatthewj
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immatthewj OP
2,023 posts
 

A technical reference to triode in marketing literature makes sense, it’s not sexy. Ultra linear Whatever it is that it does is a sexy marketing term. If it’s switchable that’s probably discouraging a lot of people from taking it seriously especially in an amplifier.

@emergingsoul , at this point I am almost certain that you are troll posting. Did you actually read any of the circuit-technical posts from the more tech savvy members?

Here is an article from Wiki that I do not expect that you will bother with, but I’ll post a link anyway:

ultralinear

"Ultra-linear electronic circuits are those used to couple a tetrode or pentode vacuum-tube (also called "electron-valve") to a load (e.g. to a loudspeaker).

" ’Ultra-linear’ is a special case of ’distributed loading’; a circuit technique patented by Alan Blumlein in 1937 (Patent No. 496,883), although the name ’distributed loading’ is probably due to Mullard.[1] In 1938 he applied for the US patent 2218902. The particular advantages of ultra-linear operation, and the name itself, were published by David Hafler and Herbert Keroes in the early 1950s through articles in the magazine "Audio Engineering" from the USA.[2] The special case of ’ultra linear’ operation is sometimes confused with the more general principle of distributed loading."

And apparently, if you are not troll posting, you do not believe that switches could be used to toggle between two circuits, even if it was not the optimal way of achieving either circuit?

 

 

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,831 posts
 

Meaning that I guess he probably "voiced" the V12 in triode, but for at least the present moment, I am preferring UL.

@immatthewj IMO 'voicing' is a bad practice. I very much doubt this amp was 'voiced'.

I think the term ultra linear is marketing in nature and I dare say most people have no clue what they’re buying when they do.

@emergingsoul The term 'ultra-linear' was used to describe the invention that is the subject matter of US patent number 2710312A. You'll see it used in the text of the patent. Its an accurate description of  the time about a break thru in amplifier technology. Diagrams of how it works are at the link.

Loudness controls have to do with how the ear's frequency response changes with volume. Its a tone compensation.

WRT UL, It can be made switchable by having a switch connect the screen of the power tube to its plate as opposed to the tap on the output transformer.

Its not a marketing term any more than the word 'triode'. Its part of engineering lexicon.

emergingsoul
1,159 posts
 

Ultra linear is a sexy term used by the manufacturer. Cary has not done a very good job to explain it on their website.

I think they’re taking advantage of the technology to promote something that is questionable as to sonic credibility. It’s not a very popular feature. I have never seen it before. Most people who buy this have no clue what it actually does only that it sounds different. It’s a rabbit hole and it’s clear when you read through this thread how confusing it is. Again a nice diagram would be nice.

Genius is the ability to explain involved complex things in a manner that can be understood.

decooney
2,015 posts
 

@emergingsoul ... Audio manufacturers do an abysmal job explaining what their products do. It’s a mystery box and you really have to dig in to figure it out. ...

 

Ultra linear is a sexy term used by the manufacturer. Cary has not done a very good job to explain it on their website. ...

 

What you are not aware of and dont seem to understand is these amp circuits and designs were intentionally kept secret, undocumented, not openly shared by the original owner, founder, designer - so others dont try to cheat, steal, copy them.

For your awareness, its done this way on purpose. As you research more, you’ll learn more about what these circuits of strapped triode, ultralinear, actually represent beyond the uninformed nonsensical marketing jargon you are trying to make it out to be. When you own and use one of these amps, you'll understand more that its not just marketing.  They truly can sound different, and people pay up for them just to own one.  

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