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Is your tube amp really a tube amp?

I use and love the older ARC D70Mk2 tube amp. To many people, this design is a true tube amp...however, ARC uses a LOT of transistors in the circuit. In the "day" a transistor was considered a ss device. Anyone know of a tube amp that uses NO transistors in the circuit...only tubes. I suspect that in my amp, the audio signal passes only through the tubes and not through the "ss" devices ( don't know this for sure)...Therefore, what is a TRUE tube amp...how many of us are actually using such a device ( no transistors or other ss devices whatsoever in the amp), vs. a hybrid...what's the definition of that term in regards to tube gear?
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mapman's avatar
mapman
22,107 posts
 
If one cares about bass that is where the work is involved, both for the user who must get everything set up properly and for the gear that has to be able to handle the workload.

Treble is still work for teh owner to get things set up right but not so much work for the gear itself. Most good quality gear is capable of good performance with teh treble these days.

Note sound quality depends on performance but are not the same. Getting things to "sound good" is largely an exercise in personal discretion once the basic ability for teh gear to perform up to the level expected is in place.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,107 posts
 
Ideally, in teh end you want a system that can do the work asked of it effortlessly without ever breaking a sweat. The amp/speaker combo together is the part that will be asked to do most of the work.

There are many good source devices for reasonable price that can be used to good effect once the workload needed is covered. Especially digital ones.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,107 posts
 
My car may perform excellently and me loving it under normal circumstances, but if I ask it to tow a 3 ton load it may not work out so well.

Same thing with audio. You gotta have enough muscle to get the job done or nothing else matters much. That means the right amp/speaker pairing for teh job. the technology chosen in teh design including tubes or transistors does not matter so much as does a good design and a quality product to work with in any case. The rest is mostly personal preferences that you cannot bank on.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,761 posts
 
A hybrid amp will have semiconductors in the signal path.

Some examples: The MOScode, Berning ZOTL, some of the old Counterpoint stuff, some of the CJ stuff.

So this is an easy thing to spot. To flip the coin over, anyone making the claim that the H/K Citation 2 power amp is a hybrid because it has a semiconductor power supply would get laughed out of town.
czarivey
5,940 posts
 
Yup never mix milk with coffee or visa versa. Keep the race clean:-)
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