Tubes vs. SS

I had a Rogue 66 in my system many years ago when they had just been introduced. As I recall, the 66 sounded pretty well focused but had PHAT bouncy bass which was not too articulate. And overall the sound was not very dimensional.

One thing to consider when using a tube preamp is that many of them invert polarity... so for any comparison to be fair, you need to make sure you have the polarity correct at the speakers. This sometimes means reversing the positive and negative speaker leads on both channels. This will result in a "different" sounding presentation.

I don't remember if the Rogue inverts, but I'm sure you could contact the company and find that out easily.

As a side note, I found the sound of their model 99 tube preamp to be much more to my liking.

Cheers!

I don't know what your budget is,however,I do know the Rogue is not the best example of the tube magic you're seeking.

The real deal is this. The fact that you put tubes in the chain before the power amps will not do the tube magic show. You must go with a tubed poweramp and not some hybrid either.
I struggled for 6 years until I bought tube monoblocks. For less than most good SS units.The whole story was layed open. If you must know what to look for you don't have it. I can say that soundstaging proper tone and sparkle are more prominent with tubes.You will never know that tube magic unless you use them as the outputs.
I would go as far as to say that you can do the opposite with better results. A Solid State pre, which is very quiet, into tubed power amps will do the trick.
I have finally found Nirvana and I don't have the least desire to to change it. No audionervosa here.
The comment pointing at tube amps being a snob appeal product and that people buy the just to roll tubes is ridiculous. That's why I have several hundred different tubes. Actually I have left the stock power tubes 6CA7s in my Consonance Cyber 800s alone and only rolled the inputs and drivers.
The rolling really had very little impact compared to making the switch. The previous set up was a classic 6 tube pre the ARC SP6B and 400wpc SS power amps. I sold the power amps and bought a very simple tube pre, I am as happy as a pig in s**t.
P.S. e-mail me for further advice and help I also bought a DA-60 by Jadis this year.

Mechans..I have to disagree with your statement totally..Runnning a tube pre with solid state power will give you tube magic.I guess it depends on what grade tube pre you are using.It also eleminates the expensive of constant tube replacement in the power section which I got really tired of. Pre-amp tubes last years.Also rolling tubes in the pre-amp can change the layout of the system tremendously at little cost..IMO its the way to go

I have to agree with Mechans !

I have auditioned different combinations of SS and tubed equipment . If you want to know what tubes sound like you have to do the amp AND the pre ! I have and do suggest that if one wants to experiment , just get a decent integrated and try it . You will probably spend about the same amount and get a TRUE feel for what tubes can do for the presentation .
Once you do that you can then tailor the sound to your particular taste and partnering equipment by rolling the tubes .

For me , tubes bring a sense of life to the music . Something that I have not been able to find with SS equipment costing multiples of my little integrated . And some these SS components are considered to be warm with a
"tube like" sound . But they had no heart ! It is hard for me to describe what tubes do . I could not describe it to the various dealers that I talked to . But when I heard that first all tube presentation I knew that it was what I had been looking for .

Different strokes for different folks !

Good luck .