Solid State vs. Tubes - What if Transistors came first?

I am all for tubes, but saying they are not an obsolete technology is a bit of over-optimistic stretch of imagination. Ask anyone younger than 40 about tubes. Chances are they will not have any idea what you are even talking about, much less have ever seen or used one.

This has to do with human hearing-perceptual rules. The reason tubes are still around is that its easier to build a sonically pleasing amplifier with tubes than it is with transistors after all this time.

Sure, transistors have 'lower' distortion. But the distortions they have are far more audible to the human ear. One of the problems facing the audio industry is that harmonic distortions are not weighted according to how the ear perceives them. The 5th and 7th are far more audible than the 2nd; that is why many transistor amps are brighter and harsher than tube amps, even though they may have 100th the THD.

But in case anyone has any illusions, the larger tube plants are kept alive by the music industry, i.e. guitar amplifiers. But this allows for tubes to be advanced- such as the KT150, which didn't exist 10 years ago.

dave_b,

My feelings are not hurt by my post being removed and I can stop participating at any time, but it is peculiar what flies and what does not here. So far, I have been flagging only posts that call for death, suicides, and such.

There is lots of bad SS and tube gear out there, but there is lots of good, too.

The problem with these narrow-minded approaches we see here is what mckinneymike summarized well "It is a simple mind that only sees what it wants to see".

There have been, in recent posts, claims about advances in vinyl technology. They are certainly true and they are commendable. I have taken advantage of them myself. However, such statements made to support the claim that vinyl is superior to digital, omit mentioning the fact that digital has been improving as well.

atmosphere,

I think you misunderstood my post. Tubes do exist and do have their place in a very small market spot. I enjoy hearing them from time to time, too. However, they are as obsolete as they get on the global scale. 40-year-olds have no idea, save for a few cool ones, what tubes are. Ask them why Powerpoint slides are called like that. Not many will have an idea. Tubes, slides, it is all somewhere in the past. You and I can babble about it, but tubes are long gone in any, as you mentioned, economic sense. Convenience, reliability, and performance of solid state ran them over. We can enjoy them, but we are not that big of a number.

 
dave_b
The names Glupson...Bad Glupson! Get it right Jeffkate

>>>>Thanks, dale

I think that once tubes came along most would realize how thin and forward and hissy SS amps are.