2. amps-preamps
  3. 125897-2444

Too many tubes?

I have what may be a less than ideal situation for now, a tubed preamp and a tubed phono pre feeding into the first pre. So I’m wondering how to tube each one so the different sources don’t have totally different sound. Ideally I would like the main preamp to be responsible for setting the sound for the entire system as much as possible.

So how do different tubes "sounds" interact? Would a lush sounding tube in each preamp result in "double lush"? Would a leaner sounding tube in the phono and a more lush tube in the system pre even out the sound somewhat from the two different sources? Or would two leans equal "double lean" or maybe something closer to the lush tube. I guess the best way to put it, is are the different tube types when mixed in different ways additive or subtractive or somewhere in between? Hope that makes sense.

Thanks.
jaybe

Showing 2 responses by erik_squires

erik_squires
15,657 posts
 
Each component in sequence, up to and including your speakers and room adds to the sound. Sometimes you add a negative, but there is no way to really undo something done upstream. That is, if noise gets added, it's there all the way down.

I know this isn't quite what you are asking for, but one thing that gets added too much of is gain. Phono preamps MUST have a lot of gain, and therefore noise, but preamps tend to have too much gain by design, so I really like PrimaLuna's approach to designing preamps with reasonable amounts of gain, and minimizing the noise added.

If you are reasonably happy with your tubes though, I'd suggest looking at having your coupling caps upgraded instead. 

Best,


Erik
erik_squires
15,657 posts
 
Hi @jaybe

You know, lots of tube preamps have tube phono stages as well. The 12AU7 is an interesting tube for having a lot less gain. Not sure if that translates into less absolute noise though.

Best,

Erik
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