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Tubes Through Solid State

I've always had solid state or tubes; never mixed the two.
If I get a tubed front end and run it through a solid state power amp do I lose the tube timbre and depth? In other words are the tubes wasted or does it survive and get passed along? I am thinking BAT tubes for the front and I hae Pass Labs amps.
Thanks
sm2727
dan_ed
2,451 posts
 
Yeah, if you want the sound of tubes, use tubes. If you want the sound of SS, use SS. Mixing them gives you some of the qualities of both, but it does not give you the best of both as many claim.

Czbbcl,
the combination of tubes and ss can be very satisfying so not sure what you mean about a temporary fix.

A nice way of saying "you're not thinking correctly." But I do appreciate your politeness about it.
czbbcl's avatar
czbbcl
1,752 posts
 
Well Dan ed there are a couple of high end manufactures who would disagree with you. The comments here are only opinions (yours included) and not facts and should not be misconstrued as such. And Your Welcome most of us are civilized human beings:)

Chuck
hevac1
812 posts
 
I have an ARC tube Ref3 with 2 Simaudio solid state Moon W6's mono blocks. The sound stage is open, wide & deep. The instruments have plenty of space and sound 3d. The speakers sound very relaxed without any strained. I have owned many tube amps and feel SS amp have better bottom end, extension and decay than most of the tube amps I have owned or tried. These two componants compliment each other very well.
I have tried SS preamps with tube amps and did not like it. The only exception was when I used a Pass P preamp with a tube amp. the output gain was too much and I could not set the volume higher than around 4. Thats with all the jumper set to the lowest settings in the Pass P.
BTW my speaker are 96% efficient so power is not the reason I like the mix of tube & SS. I just like the sound.

sm2727 you may or may not like the mix but give it a try. Audition them in your house with your speakers. Thats the only way you will know if it works for you. Not someone elses rant about it not.

The other nice thing is it does not cost an arm and a leg to retube a preamp as it does with an amp with comparable watts.
inna
7,923 posts
 
Well, if I want to try a mix one day I will probably get hybrids.
And what about phono stage? SS with the rest of the chain tube or the other way around? Or midway? Any experience with that?
g_m_c
443 posts
 
Dan ed, I have all Tom Evans electronics. SS phono stage and pre and tube monoblock amps. He, as a high end designer and manufacture certainly favors mixing the two. And I certainly appreciates his work.
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