I'm going back to tubes... a question for y'all


It's been years and years, but I remember the sound my old Stromburg Carlson used to put out. Also grandmas old Packard Bell. My vintage Marantz had 'the sound' also.

For some reason I just can't get it (that sound) out of my head, and here was the kicker: A week ago a buddy brought over a forty+ year old Harmon Kardon mono reciever for me to offload on e-bay. I plugged it in with it hooked up to one of the speakers, let it warm up, found a station and THERE was That Sound! I didn't say anything... my buddy looked at me and said "that sounds better than your (other stuff). The sad thing is... I was thinking the exact same thing.

Oh, the question... how many of you chased through SS stuff only to wind up back at tubes (sometimes many) years later.

I ordered up an amp from Paul at 2B audio. I'll let you know how it goes...
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Showing 2 responses by sean

With poor digital recordings and lower quality digital playback gear, i agree that tubes can really breath life, body and soul into your listening habits. This is especially true if those crappy digital recordings are being played back on a lower grade digital front end AND "sterile" SS electronics.

Other than that, most tubed gear is somewhat slow, warm and soft. To add to that, most tube based amps lack dynamic impact, especially when run with typical "audiophile approved" speakers. These "colourations" tend to balance out the "hard, bright and lean" sounding digital based recordings and systems that most people have and use. As such, i can understand how this type of situation happens.

One should honestly ask themselves the following question. If it wasn't for the introduction of "digital" recordings and playback, how many tubed components do you think we would have today as compared to SS designs? My guess is, not nearly as many.

Buy and use what you like. There's no sense in spending your hard earned cash on something that you don't like or trying to please someone else that won't be listening to your system. Sean
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Jamiehughburr: Atma-Sphere gear is NOT "typical" tube gear. To me, these are tube amps with an SS heart. This is not meant to put them down in the least. What i'm trying to say is that these amps are fast and offer wide-bandwidth. Most tube amps are slow and very limited in bandwidth. That's why Atma's sound as good as they do. Obviously, Ralph Karsten knows his stuff : ) Sean
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PS... If i remember correctly, Ralph is also a fan of Goertz speaker cables. Hmmmm.... I wonder why ??? Must be that great minds think alike : )