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Can tubes ever be as quiet Solid State

Recently I have had a major frame shift in my view regarding new production tubes which are getting to be pretty darned good over old tubes which still have marvelous sonic attributes but are often plagued by unwanted noises.This has resulted in my preferring certain current production over old stock more and more.
My question isn't are older tubes even NOS better than new production rather the question is are any tube systems able to match the noise floor of the quieter solid state amps? I was thinking in particular of gain stages in a phono stage. Opinions please
mechans
vicdamone
850 posts
 
After all these years I've come to a love/hate relationship with tubes. My tubes now reside in the output stages of my front end gear, DAC and tuner. I gave up on the tube phono stages.

I still own a tube amplifier that gets use from time to time or more accurately less and less more out of it's inconvenience than anything else (it must be turned on and off). Pathetic, no?

Vic
macrojack
1,303 posts
 
Not so pathetic, Vic. I find myself factoring convenience into my planning more and more as I get older. I think it is a natural shift in priorities.

I bought the tube amps I have because they are self-biasing and the tubes are supposed to last for years. If there's much hassle, it isn't worth it.
paulfolbrecht
603 posts
 
Shardorne, you are completely incorrect to state that tubed pres cannot match solid-state for quietness. S/N ratio is a VERY simple and straightforward measurement and there are many top tubed pres that beat all but the most expensive SS designs, and some of them trounce them all.

My Shindo Monbrison's S/N is better than 120 dB. The previously mentioned ModWright 36.5 is better than 130.

I would like to see a list of solid-state linestages with S/N higher than 130 dB.
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shadorne
7,477 posts
 
you are completely incorrect to state that tubed pres cannot match solid-state for quietness.

Paul,

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply that designers simply cannot work around these issues.

Let me rephrase: I guess anyone who has any experience in tubes as a component for use in amplification circuits will realize that there are in general (in the very broadest genralization sense) more noise issues (such as microphonics for example) than you get with solid state.

I reiterate what I stated above as proof that I agree with you: "I don't think it is a big issue - Manley make great tube amps that are extremely quiet - so do others."

paulfolbrecht
603 posts
 
Thanks for the clarification. Though tubes as gain devices may be inherently more noisy (as well as inherently more linear), the entire device (preamp) isn't necessarily.

I think it is probably true that below a certain price-point valve linestages are noiser in general than transistor. Don't even know that for sure tho.
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