How big of a difference do amps make?

Up to a certain point I agree with Elizabeth most tube amps I have heard have more colouration the most SS amps. However there are some brands that do make good tube amps. Nagra, Octave and KR audio among others.

But a while a friend and me compared a Prima Luna one/two with a Sugden A21. IMHO, the Sugden was cleary the better amp. Far less colouration, my friend bought the Prima Luna.

Thanks Charles & Gsm, the Polish review particularly piqued my interest... what a rave! Love to try 'em...

When people mention coloration...what exactly are we talking about? A certain tone or house sound of component?

Fla,
The Polish review is the best description and accurate review of the Takatsui 300b.That group just nailed it.
Regards,

'Coloration' usually refers to a tonality. 'Richness' in the midrange is a common coloration caused by the presence of a 2nd harmonic in tube amps.

The ear hears harmonic distortion as a tonality.

It is also the most sensitive to bird song frequencies, and uses odd ordered harmonics to determine how loud a sound is.

As a result it is more sensitive to these harmonics than any other phenomena of sound; much more so than human vocal ranges!

So if the equipment makes odd ordered harmonics, even in vanishingly small amounts, we hear it, and have words for it: harsh, bright, hard, clinical, etc.

We hear lower ordered harmonics (2nd, 3rd and 4th) as richness. The ear finds these harmonics less objectionable; in tests people will not complain even if 30% 2nd harmonic is present. That is not entirely true with audiophiles- hence the 'tube coloration' of Elizabeth’s post.

Thus the tubes/transistor debate, ad nauseum.

The other part of the coloration issue relates to the Voltage and Power Paradigms, the link to which I dropped in on my first post in this thread.

If you mix equipment from the two camps, you get a tonal aberration. This is the amplifier/speaker matching conversation that we also see a lot.