Going Tubing
Greetings!
I would like to introduce some tubes into my two channel set up.
I currently have a solid-state preamp and a solid-state power amp. (And a separate, hybrid tube phono stage.)
I am wondering, conceptually, staying with separates, if it would be better to switch the preamp to a tube preamp, or if it’s better to change the power ramp to a tube power amp. With “better” in this case I mean would have bigger impact on, for a lack of a better description, “tube sound.”
(I realize there are other considerations, such as having enough power to drive my speakers, but here I’m talking about conceptually, which part of these two audio chain components would have the most impact on the sound if switching one of them from ss to tube.)
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OP, about 30 years ago when I started my trek down the road to 'better end' audio, my intent was to combine HT with 2 channel stereo. Therefore I went with a ss digital HT pre in front of (for the left & right front speakers) Cary's entry level two channel amp. That probably wasn't the best way to go about things. Later down the road I swapped out the Little Cary for a pair of ARC VTM 120s (tube mono blocks) for a bigger sound, but still I wasn't getting what I wanted. A year or two later I picked up a second hand Cary SLP 90 (tubed pre) and swapped out the HT pre, and that is when my system started to really sing. Two or three years ago I swapped out the SLP 90 with a SLP 05, and that turned out to be one of the biggest sonic improvements I ever made. All that was to say that I am also in the camp that, if I was only going to go with one or the other, I would start with a tube pre in front of a ss amp. Have fun! |
Get a tube amp that allows tube rolling as it adds a lot of fun to the process (There's a Dennis Had Firebottle on Ebay if you have efficient speakers), and you cant go wrong with the amazing bargain that is a Freya + (class A in Stereophile). I own the original version of that preamp, and it's amazingly good. |
