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Tube sound Comes, mainly, from? Pre or Power?

I quite like the tube sound and I have become accustomed to it since I was a little kid. So in my own pursuit of the tube sound I have come up with a hypothesis, and I am not sure if it is in fact correct. The way I see it, the phono section and the preamp section pull about a 50-100 multiple the of the amplification done by the power section. Would it be reasonable to assume that the majority of the tube sound would come from the pieces of equipment that do the most amplification (phono and line pre), in terms of multiples? If so this would explain a popular tube pre, solid power combinations that many people utilize. Let me know what you think. I am very curious. Thanks, and please keep in mind that despite the fact that I have been listening to tubed equipment since I was born, I know very little about it and I am in the process of building up my first system.
dfelkai

Showing 1 response by larryi

larryi
3,716 posts
 

I find that the amp makes MUCH more of a difference in sound than any other electronic component.  In the case of tube amps, there is such a wide range of sound from different topology, tube types, models, etc., that the sound can be extremely wide ranging, with many sounding less appealing, to me, than solid state amps.  Among tube amps, I've heard great sound from all types of amps--single ended triode, pushpull tetrode/pentode, and output transformerless (OTL) amps so I do not think any one particular type is the best--the specific implementation and voicing matters.  The OTL I particularly liked is a unique custom built amp, my favorite pushpull amp is a Western Electric 59B, and my favorite single-ended triode is probably the Audio Note Gaku-On.  I suspect that the ZOTL amp can be good too, although I did not like the specific voicing of the two brands I heard (I liked the Berning, but, it is not among my favorites).  

The favorite among the amps I own is a pushpull amp running Western Electric 349 output tubes.  I am also a big fan of pushpull amps running 6L6 or 350B tubes.  I also own, and like, the parallel 2a3 amp from Audio Note (Kageki).  

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