Why are older tubes so much sought after

Actually to adress Blueranger's original question...

In Tennis(I have played alot,for many years)one has the ability to choose the stringing type and tension as well as racket type,which will best serve one's game.

In acoustic guitars,the same thing almost.You choose a guitar type(dreadnaught,or Concert body,or Jumbo, etc)along with the preferred "tone woods" to voice a particular style of play...or musical flavor.Strings too.

With tubes,it's almost the same thing.It is very easy to voice a particular sonic preferrence,once one becomes familiar with what's out there.

Of course this can also be done in other ways.However.....tubes "can" allow a good system,with a careful owner,to be intriguing and down right captivating if done right.If the tube type is not up to snuff,it can easily be pulled out for a better match....we hope!Seems to me that many folks like this.

I've heard as many lousy sounding tube based rigs as SS set-ups,but when a good tube system is in front of me,it's instantly obvious!!And sorry....the better NOS tubes sound much better than the new alternatives.I wish it was not my experience,but it's so!

Btw,my own set-up is a hybrid,so I'm not in any specific camp.

Best

My own personal feeling is that musical preference has little to do with what tubes (or, loudspeakers, amplifiers, CD players, etc.) I prefer. The best tubes, loudspeakers, amps, or whatever do best with all of the many genres of music I listen to.

I will say that personal preference does play a role. For example, many people feel Sylvania 6SN7 to be among the best of the bunch, as there is a clarity and openness there. But, for a lot of applications, I prefer the honkin' fat mid/upper bass that the RCA variants lend. Likewise, the Telefunken 12AX7 is consideres the gold standard, but I find Sylvania Triple Mica 5751 to be so much more open and beautiful, these tubes just seem to make everything bigger, and everything gets better with no tradeoffs whatsoever. Again, that holds true whether I'm listening to hard rock, classic jazz, or dusty 1950s female vocals.

So I guess that the one thing that everyone agrees about is that tubes "color" (alter) the sound: opinions vary regarding the best color.

But I thought the objective is to reproduce sound with "High Fidelity", which means without alteration. There really is nothing wrong with altering the sound if that's what you like, but such a system should be regarded as a musical instrument rather than a reproducing instrument.
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Hi Trelja,

I would agree with sirspeedy, you need to find the right balance for a specific set up. But I think this takes a great deal of experience, time and cash.

I listen to a wide range of musical styles. From classical orchestral music and small scale instrumental music though to rock and electronic music. This is the main reason I dont go for old tubes and except in a few critical areas dont use them at all now.

My main use for tubes are in mic preamps and vintage mics these days where I am looking for color. My hifi is tuned to be neutral.

I have never found any tube to work well in a full range system although wonderful in bandwidth limited set ups like Quads etc or for a specific type of music normally acoustic small scale with or without voice.

Eldartford,

my point exactly.