VTL Tetrode/Triode

Yes, the outlets are separate, dedicated lines @ 20 amperes each. It is funny we have the same preamps. My speakers are B&W 803 Nautilus, hooked up with Transparent super Bi-cable speaker wire. I also use Transparent super interconnects, and my digital source is Mark Levinson 390s. Good sounding system, very lively, I like it now (but it took me a while to get there)!

BTW, your thread is interesting, thanks!

Zaikesman, you description of the physical qualities of tetrode verses triode are exactly what i would say...only completely opposite. I agree with you where you say tetrode has a greater dynamic range and has more purity and naturalness. But i find triode to be more detailed, have a more focused images, tends to reveal more high end detail with a little less body, all characteristics you attribute to tetrode. Interesting.

I think I need to slightly amend a couple of the (mis)impressions I seem to have left from above.

Hgabert refers to agreeing with me that "with tetrode...the frequency spectrum is flatter". Yes, tetrode could be called 'flatter' in that it sounds more extended, both top and bottom, but I said above that triode sounds more neutrally-balanced to me through most of the audioband, including all of the midrange. To me, tetrode is less flat than triode here, which is where it counts most. Questions of ultimate tonal balance, however, are quite dependent on partnering gear and choice of input tube.

Piezo says he agrees with me that "tetrode...has more purity and naturalness". Actually (except for the part I just omitted about tetrode having greater dynamic range, which is true, and which he stipulates to), that is what I said about triode, not tetrode - which generally seems a bit less 'pure' and 'natural' than triode, for reasons I speculate some about above - and in that respect we really do agree.

Doh! I did indead mis quote you, but i do agree, as you noted that triode is more natural and pure. It appears that I forgot to add "triode" at the appropriate place.

As to our other observations being 180 out, that's strange because we both are apparently hearing the same things but in the opposite modes and have a similar overall impression of the two modes (ala triode being more natural). The question that arises is: are there system dependancies that are driving our observational differences or are we describing the same thing differently. If the latter it would seriously cause one to take all reviews with an even larger grain of salt due to the subjective listening impressions being overprinted with imprecisly defined descriptions. Just some philosophical head scratching.

This also reminds me that we audiophiles are using a particular definition when it comes to the word "natural" - one where we are mostly talking about matters of texture and tonal and harmonic balances, and here the word applies best to triode. If we expand on that definition a bit to consider other aspects that could also be described as being more so, then I would say that tetrode has the more 'natural' spatial presentation, dynamics and articulation, and ability to resolve fine detail. But we normally use other words to denote realistic performance in these areas.

I'll also mention an analogy I've used before to sum up the different impressions I get from comparing the two modes: With triode, I often feel as if the performance is less 'electronically' rendered than with tetrode, but also that I'm listening to it at some remove, sort of as if I were in the next room - while in tetrode, the performance sounds slightly more like an 'electronic' artifice, but also as if it's a performance that I'm more in the direct presence of, in the same room with if you will. Or put another way, with triode I more feel like I'm hearing the real thing but also that I can't 'touch' it, and in tetrode I feel more like it's embodied right there in front of me, but that it's less quite like the original thing and more of a slightly 'off' clone. The choice is like looking through a window at your very own mother (triode) vs. exchanging a hug with her replicant (tetrode). I guess people buy even better amps (presumably - hopefully, for me - at a higher cost) so the two qualities can be combined to an even larger degree than these amps can manage strong glimpses of in the respective modes...