@tablejockey excellent point!
I hate to say it, but now I think maybe I like my amp in ultralinear mode versus triode
It's a Cary V-12; it features a dozen EL34s and each pair has a switch in between them that configures that pair to either triode or ultralinear. In full triode Cary listed in the specs that it makes 50 wpc and in full ultralinear 100 wpc. For most of the twenty three years that I have owned this amp I have always felt that I preferred triode except for the occasions that I wanted to full out blast (it has literally been many years since I've felt the need to full out blast).
However, today I experimented with a couple of things in my system, and after listening to the same "Jazz Essentials" (compilation) red book CD a couple of times all the way through, the next thing I experimented with was switching to full ultralinear.
Maybe there was more "PRaT"? (Which is a term I am still not sure that I completely grasp.) Maybe . . . but what I do feel I noted for sure was that the imaging (particularly the imaging in the center) had more weight (meatier?) and was presented more forward, which I actually like.
I put a few more hours in (one more time with Jazz Essentials, Holly Cole/It Happened One Night, Dave's True Story/Sex Without Bodies, selected tracks from Rebecca Pigeon/The Raven and Once Blue/self titled and Norah Jones/Feels Like Home) after switching to ultralinear. (No booze during this session, just coffee.) The jury is still out on this, but I do have some CDs in mind that I want to listen to over the next few days as I continue to evaluate.
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Makes sense. I owned the Cary V12R and the Carly SLI-80 both, and yes hat's how it sounds between UL / Triode switched modes over several years. With those amps, Triode switched mode will have rounder top and bottom end. sounding softer. Ultralinear switch mode will be more dynamic and controlled, not lacking in top or bottom end. While I listened mostly in Triode modes at first with both Cary stereo amps, I later compared to my current Quicksilver Mono 120 tube amps which are dedicated Ultralinear circuit design - there is more clarity and dynamics to it overall. |
@grislybutter , I was thinking along those lines myself. The Revels (sensitivity 86 and minimum impedance 4.7 ohms) are supposed to be an easy load to drive (according to the reviews) and I didn’t think that the amp was straining in 50 wpc triode, but maybe it was and I didn’t know it.
Yes! That’s the way I would describe it. I still haven’t tried A/Bing those PCs from Amazon, the Preffairs (sp?), but if there was a difference with those, it was subtle to the point that my untrained ears were unable to detect it. With that typed, my ears are not that great (and those PCs have been in the system for a while now, so now maybe I would). However, I immediately heard this today, as in immediately, and although it didn’t sound like a whole different component, if I could hear it, with my ears, that says something. As I typed previously, today I liked it.
Well, I guess because for nearly 23 years I steadfastly maintained that triode sounded more refined and also "more better." Perhaps I was wrong about "more better."
I am willing to concede that my hearing is worse now than it was when I bought that amp. And considering that I spent a lot of my adult life around jet engines and hammering rivets with inadequate hearing protection, I often wonder how good it ever was back when I started my personal quest for "better sound." Your description of UL versus triode I think is what I was getting today. I’ll pay closer attention tomorrow. @decooney , I was meaning to ask you about your feelings of triode versus UL with your V12. |
Don’t feel bad about it. There’s some paranormal audiophile force that makes us feel like the more "purist" approach must always be better: triode versus pentode, DHT versus separate heaters, single-ended versus push-pull, ladder-dac versus delta-sigma, discrete circuitry versus opamp / IC, lower output MC versus higher, single full-range driver versus multiple etc. However, when we shut up and actually listen, we can plainly see this isn’t always the case - and certainly, preferences play their hand heavily here. And preferences can change over time - you’re allowed :) I’ve done plenty of triode vs. UltraLinear comparisons on Rogue amps and prefer UL 9 times out of 10 (maybe more). Better dynamics and PRaT (or whatever you call it) for certain. I do play loud, and a lot of rock - certainly, that factors in. Triode has sweeter mids by a smidge, but it’s honestly so minor IMO. UL is awesome. Don’t confuse UL with "Pentode" mode. UL one of those rare compromises that leans very heavily into "best of both worlds" territory. It was hot sh*t when it was invented back in the 1940’s (!!), and still is. When I need a sweeter midrange (a common complaint in Rogue amps), rolling the right tubes moves the needle MUCH further than switching down to triode mode. That way I can get both dynamics, slam, and sweetness. The stock tubes can be fairly awful, honestly. I just put some Tung-Sol 7581A tubes in a Rogue ST100 I picked up for fun (office rig), threw away the stock JJ 12A*7’s (JJ’s go right in the trash), and holy crap this amp sounds amazing! Had a friend over to confirm. Yes, UL mode. I’ve owned Rogue's top-dog Apollo Darks before, own top-end VAC, and this little combo is somehow blowing me away right now. |
I guess I had fell into that. The power of suggestion, perhaps?
I readily admit to how illiterate I am when it comes to electrical. Actually I had always thought that the one was a synonym for the other. I am in need of an education. Can you put into layman’s terms the difference between the three? If layman’s terms just won’t work because the subject matter is just too complex and it would take writing a book, I understand. I can live with just knowing that today I liked UL better today. As an aside, the subject of the Mesa Baron amp (from the late ’90s) came up on this forum a few days ago. I actually took one home for a weekend, and I still have the Stereophile issue that reviewed it, and I am going to dig it out in the morning because I cannot remember if they said that it was switchable from triode to UL or switchable from triode to pentode. At the time I posted to that thread (the one I just alluded to) I was thinking they were saying pentode, but now I’ll have to look. The dealer who let me audition that amp said that the popular setting was 1/3 triode and 2/3 UL or pentode (as I just typed, I am not sure which). Anyway, at the time I was listening to my little Cary SLA70 and the difference was dramatic. The Mesa Baron literally filled the room with sound stage and put vocals right in my face. I thought it was pretty neat. I described the sound, shortly after, as "musky or smoky"; I remember that Margo Timmins’ (Cowboy Junkies) voice sounded kind of husky, which it usually doesn’t. But during the audition, it didn’t have a negative effect on me. The last thing I did, however, the Sunday night before I had to bring it back or buy it (and I was pretty much set on buying it) was to hook the Little Cary back up and I listened to the Cowboy Junkies cover of Sweet Jane either off of Trinity or their only (at the time) live CD, and it was then that I understood the meaning of "black background." Cymbals shimmering and hanging in the air. The Mesa Baron did not do that, and even though the sound stage, such as it was, shrunk to around the speakers with the Little Cary, I decided that it was not a good trade. Anyway, I’ll dig that review out tomorrow to see if they referred to the Baron as switchable to UL or switchable to pentode.
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