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 1 response by sbank

Since digital is your main source and phono tubes are most sensitive to noise because of their lower level signals, cheaper current production tubes for the phono might make the most sense. They may not have the sweetest sound vs. pricey NOS tubes, but will likely be quiet. Then put your money where you will listen most. Cheers,
Spencer