Do tubes matter beyond gain stage on preamp?


High end preamps such as VAC, CJ, VTL only use a couple tubes on gain stage - impacts harmonics of course.  Vs BAT and ARC who use 8.

Tube dealers confide that tubes beyond gain stage dont meaningfully impact sound, saying its what people want so its done.  









emergingsoul
@dekay 

+1 but don't expect a troll to provide details of a made up comment.
jperry, how r u?  Even if made up it would be good, its not. So add somethin or go away.
well, if i had a client with a tight budget, i would advise gain stage first….but in my experience they all matter eventually as ratchet up performance across the system.

Can hardly wait to get the tube power supply for my….wait for it….direct drive turntable….
Heavy - next time you find a MC240 for $1,100 buy it for me…..

of course, a lot of the magic are those lovely high bandwidth output transformers….