Solid state; when would you use tubes?

Jax2

If you are ever riding in the SF Bay area of Northern California, look me up and come have a listen to my SET rig. I wouldn't trade it for anything

I just took a look at your system page, Doc: WOW! I'm already packing a large suitcase which I'll send ahead with my wife and dog. I'll be taking the back roads so I should be down there in a few days. You don't mind if we all stay a while and enjoy your system do you?! Nicely done.

You live in a beautiful area, but, seriously, I don't think I'll make it down anytime soon. I used to make a point of riding and camping around the northern areas around Yreaka and Willow Creek (Klammath River Highway), at least once a year, but it's been harder to make time these past few years. Did Howard (Boa2) come listen to your sysem? He sold me my first GS motorcycle back in 1996. Next time I'm down there you may just hear from me! Thanks for sharing your system here on Audiogon.

Marco

"Did Howard (Boa2) come listen to your sysem?"

Howard and his wife were at my house 4 weeks ago for a listening session.

I'll weight in here with an opinion. Can't guarranty the spelling or grammer though : )

In sum I'm going to strongly agree with chazboo's very nice post. It's really not a question of tube or solid state. It's a question of what speaker you are driving and which amp makes the best match for it in your ear's opinion.

A story: I am a Quad devotee. Loved the 63's since '83. Found them to mate very very well with Futterman OTL's (150 amps of big tube power as modified by George Kaye and NYAL). A match made in heaven. I used tube and solid state preamps. For years I used a Levinson ref 32. Nice system.

But quads, like any speaker, has limitations. I wanted more (who doesn't) sound pressure, more bass. So I explored big quads (989s) and wound up with a wonderful sounding stacked arrangement made by a fellow in Montreal (thanks Stew!). At around the same time I auditioned a pair of (ss) Halcro 58s in my system (good reviews and low distortion specs peaked my interest) Wonder of wonders the Halcro outperformed the Futtermans (IMHO) in my system. So I got 'em but could not part with my Futterman's. Now it happened that I had to get one of my big quads repaired so I pulled out my old pair of '63 for a while. Still sounded nice (but not in the same league as the stacked quads). For a lark I put the Futtermans back in for some futher comparison. Jaw Drop! The Futterman's gave the Halcro's a real run and in many respects sounded better. When I got my big guys back up no such luck: the Futtermans just didn't have it.

Moral to the story: what you are driving will make all the diff. The double stacked quads are a rather difficult load for the tubes. They got all congested and couldn't control the bottom end. On the relatively easier load of the standard '63s the tubes were magic. I was torn as to which was perferable. My (non audiophile) wife had no such reservations clearly favoring the '63s with the tubes.

Now I still have the tubes: they are in a second system I have driving LS3/5a's. And yes, a glorious sound. The Halcro's are driving the stacked quads as I speak in an all Halcro system. I am now going to try some tube phono sections and a tube cd player to see if they offer improvements to the overall sound of my system.

We shall see what we shall see!

Interested to hear how the Halcros work out - why do the Aussies make such good stuff?

You know btw, it does seem a common misconception the Mutlistrada is an offroad bike... it's not. It think it means more town and country. Not town and mudpile. But thanks for the invite Oneobyn, oh right... you didn't. Just like someone from no cal.