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Can tube amps give true high end bass?

I got the giant Silverline Grande La Folia speakers. They are really good and true high end in my opinion. They are efficient ca 93Db but got for bass 4 x 9,5ยด dynaudio woofers in each cabinet. I have tried 2 tube amps with them: Antique Sound Labs monos 2x60w and a protype VERY good 2x40W with El34 tubes (more about that amp in a later tread). And I have tried 2 transistor amps: An Ayre V1xe and Krell 450mcx monos. All givin very good sound in the mids and heigths BUT very different in bass. In my opinion the best bass was from the tube amps. Powerful deep bass!!

My dealer clames that such big speakers need a lot of power to control the 8 woofers: You must have several 100W i.e. tranistor or BIG tube amps like big VTL. With the "small" tube amps, that you have tried, the woofers get out of control and "pumping" air in an incorrect way. This movement in the woofers gives sound on it own that you only THINK is good bass!

Beeing an audiophile for 30 years I think I can determine when I hear good bass. But I am puzzled! -How can a 40W tube amp give better bass that Krell 450 monos?
128x128ulf
bartokfan
664 posts
 
So one guy wants to make a n offer on my JOR. I told him "don't you know what you are buying, , Its Jadis. Not your everyday average tube intergrated". Man Jadis 10+ yrs now, and so few folk know what jadis really is.
We need a Jadis topic.
Paul
audiofeil
4,011 posts
 
>Not your everyday average tube intergrated<

Well in fact it is your everyday tube integrated or buyers would have jumped all over it.

Lower the price and somebody will buy it.
jmaldonado
57 posts
 
Ulf, there's no way a tube amp will produce better bass than a solid-state amp. It's just the laws of physics. Specially, not a 40 Watt tube amp! What you are probably describing as "better bass" has to do with the coloration and second harmonic distortion that your tube amp is generating. Besides, the higher output impedance of tube amps create the conditions for slightly undamped resonance that adds to the "joy" factor. The end result is a warm, rich bass around the 40-200 Hz region to which you have become accustomed by now. The problem is, this bass is a distorted version of the original as stored in your recordings. Even worst, you probably are missing the very lowest bass frequencies that only a solid-state amp can produce, and which contribute greatly to the realism of your bass playback.

Regards,
markwatkiss
508 posts
 
Have to disagree,yes solid state can provide that kick ass bass,but you gotta ask yourself is that what it's supposed to sound like.Suggest,if at all feasible, you do a shoot out between a top shelf tube and an solid state.
If you enjoy music the way it is meant to be heard...well you be the judge.
t_bone
1,182 posts
 
Jmaldonado says...
Besides, the higher output impedance of tube amps create the conditions for slightly undamped resonance that adds to the "joy" factor. The end result is a warm, rich bass around the 40-200 Hz region to which you have become accustomed by now.

Jmaldonado, where do these "undamped resonances" come from and how do they manifest themselves? I am perfectly willing to believe the "joy factor" you mention comes from colorations, but how does "high output impedance create conditions for undamped resonances? Are they speaker cabinet resonances?

Even worst, you probably are missing the very lowest bass frequencies that only a solid-state amp can produce, and which contribute greatly to the realism of your bass playback.

Jmaldonado, please elucidate. Why would this be the case? What frequencies are we talking about? Those below 40Hz?

Regards,
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