Why so many tubes?

One would think after 117 years of evolution (1904, invention of the vacuum tube) and with only 4 other components involved (R, C, L, transformer) engineers would have reached the optimal configuration for a tube amplifier by now.

But there’s another ’science’ involved. It’s called Marketing ... the art of tempting people to spend top dollar.

Ya- you'd think. They've been making automatic transmissions for a while too, and yet they still fail in the middle of nowhere.


There are actually innovations still occurring with vacuum tube amplifier tech (I can call out a couple of patent numbers if you like). Electrolytic caps keep getting better- and the better they get, the more effectively you can bypass a power supply. Plus we have computer modelling now so you can simulate and optimize circuits (including tube circuits) better than you could back in the days of slide rules.

Reminds me of a midnight trip with a buddy to visit the transmitter building at KCMO AM in Kansas City. That's a 50KW clear channel hair dryer. Those guys were using some tubes big enough to be landed aliens. Anyone here ever worked a site like that?

clearthinker,

Why not having 1 or 2 cylinder high performance cars?

“Why not having 1 or 2 cylinder high performance cars?”


😊😊👍😊😊

Wish I had a  jadis JA30 pair of monos with a quad  vs my 
Defy 's 12 tubes
Don't need 12 tubes. 
For WBer speakers all you need is a  SET or a  PP with a  quad. 
Jadis went big power due to the popularity of  gigantic dinasaur speakers with disgustingly low efficiency.
A=Z speakers brands past 40 years. 
I learned early on in the 1970's that big never was better. 
True then,  true today, Oct 2021, and true in a  100 yrs from now.
Folks saying how great speaker xyz  is, when i take just one glance, its nothing more than the 1970's speakers rebranded, repackaged and ,,last but not least,,,re priced..
hehe