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solid state vs tubes

has anyone compared a tube amp to a solid state amp and discovered that the diffference sonically between them was undetectable. ? if so what was the tube amp and what was the solid state amp ?

the reason for the question is the basic issue of the ability to distinguish a tube amp from a solid state amp.

this is especially interesting if the components were in production during the 90's , 80's or 70's.

if the components are in current production the probability of such aan occurrence might increasea.

why own a tube amp if there exists a solid state amp that sounds indistinguishable from it ?
mrtennis
magfan
1,583 posts
 
I'm not a probe guy. i spent about 30 years making both ICs and discrete.
I am most familiar with probe parametrics as they apply to my area of specialty.

As for probers, I know they weren't HP. The last ones I remember were some kind of european 4 station from one central computer/data gatherer. Individual histograms of each wafer were stored for later analysis...patterns of failure and such. I avoided probe....looked too much like work.
I am much more comfortable with diffusion / implant / metalization and was very good at metrology. Nanometrics equipement, surface profile stuff and elipsometer along with various 4pt probe and specialty tools.
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,793 posts
 
Magfan, here's a nice nutshell explanation that touches on this subject.

That there are capacitive elements of semiconductors should not come as a surprise to anyone- most tuners these days do not rely on variable capacitors to tune the station, instead they use variactor diodes, which take advantage of this capacitive element. Literally by changing the voltage (and thus forward current) on the device the capacitance changes and is useful as a tuning cap in the RF front end of the tuner.

Here's the link for the MOSFET capacitances (you can find many others on this site):

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tubes-valves/155106-ss-followers-drive-power-tubes-3.html#post2316318
unsound
7,329 posts
 
Atmasphere, how is this "non-linearity" measured, and at what level does it become an issue?
rleff
1,065 posts
 
Magfan the hp4062ux is a parametric tester used with probers to test wafers when they come out of the fab.
mrtennis OP
3,295 posts
 
as i have stated before, my favorite amp is the conrad johnson mv 125. i am convinced that there does not exists a solid state amp that comes close to the cj.

i don't own the cj. i own a pair of vtl deluxe 120s.

based upon the comments so far , i am confident that i will not find a solid state amp which sounds like the vtls. that is , i would expect that in a blind test, i think i could identify the difference between my vtls and any ss amp.

thus, all i can do is listen to some more ss amps until i throw my hands in the air and give up.

i suspect i should look for class a amps for likely candidates.

incidentally, i once owned a pass aleph 0 and was using it with a pair of quad 63s.

i did not like the treble response and sold the amp.
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