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Tube Equipment: Gimmick?

I recently had a mechanical engineer (who has no interest in audio equipment or the industry) express amazement when I told him about the high prices of tube gear. His amazement, he said, stemmed from the fact that tubes are antiquated gear, incapable of separating signals the way (what we call "solid state") equipment can.

In essence, he said tubes could never be as accurate as SS gear, even at the height of the technology's maturity. This seems substantiated by the high-dollar tube gear I've heard - many of the things that many here love so much about the "tube sound" are wonderful - but to my ears, not true to the recording, being either too "bloomy" in the vocal range or too "saturated" throughout, if that makes any sense.

I have limited experience with tubes, so my questions are: what is the attraction of tubes, and when we talk about SS gear, do we hit a point where the equipment is so resolving that it makes listening to music no fun? Hmmm..or maybe being *too* accurate is the reason folks turn from SS to tubes?

Thanks in advance for the thoughts!
aggielaw
tbg
5,263 posts
 
I presently am listening to the H-Cat P12, a ss piece. While I also have a ss sacd player, the Wright/Sony 9000, I also have a tube analog stage sacd player, the Exemplar/Denon 2900. Until very recently I had only tube gear. While I cannot understand anyone preferring Krell gear rather than the better tube gear, everything hinges on what a piece sounds like. I do think it takes something exceptional for ss to better tubes.
slappy
903 posts
 
Tbg, I think the only reason tubes sound better to some people is they prefer that sound, while other people dont.

taste in sound is no different than taste in food. What is good for some people is not good for others.
I heared a tube setup very recently, and while it did sound good, i still like solid state better.

My girlfriend loves broccoli, i hate broccoli. She cannot understand why i do not like it. I just dont.

this is beyond a performance issue and more of an issue of taste. What tastes good to your ears.
jax2
3,031 posts
 
Ahmen Slappy! Fuck broccoli!!! Brussel Sprouts have it all over broccoli! Anyone who thinks otherwise ought to have their head examined! Whoops, perhaps we should move this discussion over to "Vegigon". I hear the listings are free right now, and you can buy a head of lettuce for .53 cents (+3.3% for PayPal). They got those hybrid weird-ass veggies there too, like broccoliflower. Look, if you really must have a broccoli-like vegatable, I say just spring for the real thing and get the broccoli. Synergy is critical among vegatables....mix that broccoli up with some baked-alaska desert and you'll be farting up a storm till sunrise and sending your girlfriend running for the hills. Fuck broccoli I say. Go for the Analog taste of Brussel Sprouts.....and have the Baked Alaska anyway! Let the dudes with the Krell gear boil their broccoli on those heat fins and live a lonely pathetic solitary life in their fetid stench, redolent of the horrific lack of synergy in their intestines!

Marco
jim2
166 posts
 
Slappy, what do tubes "sound" like? My OTL amp sounds extremely transparent with musical bass, textured mids and the best high frequency extension I have ever heard. Saying it is a matter of preference depends on your experience and perspective to carry any weight.

I understand why some people say "some people prefer the tube sound". Personally I think it is because they have not heard the best tube equipment. The best tubes don't have a "sound". The equipment is transparent with textured mids, extended highs... not overly warm mids like some people think "tubes sound like" or are supposed to sound like.

That's just not it. And it is the primary reason why a lot of people never come to realize what tube owners lucky enough to own quality equipment already know. And it is also why most tube owners would never go back to solid state.
gunbei
2,327 posts
 
I like broccoli.

It's an awesome colonic catalyst that's useful while levitating your girlfriend off the bed when you give her a Dutch Oven.

If your tube equipment is on while you perform, the extra warmth in the room enhances the sweet aroma.
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