Slam possible with Tubes instead of SS ??

I am very tolerant of many different flavors of system sound, but I have very low tolerance for noise of any kind.

If I put my ear up to the speaker and hear anything other than silence when the system is on even if only at higher than normal volumes and nothing is playing, I consider it a potential problem, even if practically it is not apparent during normal listening.

I agree with Tvad that noise can and often does have a negative effect on overall sonic performance when present even if virtually impossible to hear flat out.

Interesting points on noise. While I tend to agree with Tvad and Mapman as noise through my speakers drives me crazy....

What about all the noises in one's listening room that are certainly louder then some hiss trough speakers or mechanical transformer hum. Things like...

- home noises like a heater, blower, refrigerator,noise from another room, person in the house in another room etc..

- my own breathing, pages turning etc...

- outside wind, rain etc...

- many recordings have some background hiss and still sound great

- goodness what about all the record surface noise and clicks and pops of dust and dirt

Well you get my point. A little speaker noise is certainly no worse and often times far better then life noise in and around our music rooms?

Now, if we are talking about lack of distortion, silence and space between instruments and those other nuances that great gear does so well, then yes I am in 100% agreement.

Right now I am trying to silence some panel noise in my SoundLab speakers. No, I can't hear it when the music is playing, but it bothers me still. I sat down and told myself the things I mentioned above and said "Grannyring just enjoy". Is that panel noise really getting in the way of the music or rather is it my quest for perfection? In this case perfection means silencing every single little noise.

Could be a good topic for further comments...

Defending my position of championing Plinus was not my objective, though it might not have come out that way. I think it's unfortunate that Blueskies is having problems with the amps in his system, and I hope he resolves the problem quickly and painlessly. In audio, as we all know, what works for one guy (or gal), may not work for another.

Best wishes to all,
Dan

You can get slam with tubes. I have 1 watt Serious Stereo monoblocks that have plenty of slam with my highly efficient Altec 604 drivers. These amps though are more than your price range. As far as system noise the Serious Stereo 2A3's do have a small bit of tube hum. This could be mostly eliminated by humbucking resistors which most manufacturers put in their amps. The problem is that there is no way to eliminate hum noise without taking some of the music along with it. Serious Stereo feels the trade off is not worth it. I have to agree as these are the best sounding amps I have had in my system by far. Once the music is playing you do not hear it. I have addressed other noise related issues though and must say that controlling the ground on your system is an incredible upgrade. Audio Magic makes a ground disrupter that eliminates ground noise throughout your system and it seems to really work well. There are other similar products out there and it is worth checking out.

Going along with the orginal question, how much difference is there between solid-state rectifier vs. tube rectifier in a tube amp when it comes to bass slam (quality).
Thanks