Tubes... what do they do?...

Pauly...you were making such progress until your last post. What happened?

Its amazing whats available on Google.

Check out the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valve_sound

Here's another good link to review.

This covers both arguments, so to speak.

http://stereophile.com/thinkpieces/165/index.html

Don't wanna be a pest about things but here's another.

http://www.soundstagemagazine.com/measurements/test_amplifiers.htm

It produced this warm, soothing glow that takes your mind off of the cares of life, and your system, as it ever so gracefully distorts the signal to its final output. Not exactly what you would call a tube fan, but I have done some research conducted by independent sources and historical periodicals. Once you understand what you are reading as far as charts, specs, and graph; and apply this to to the overall effect of the systems performance, you come to this same conclusion.

Let it be known...my opinion completely differs from the concensus of this thread and its contributors, and doesn't represent the opinion of audiogon. :)

So Pauly...what testing results or guidelines do you use or suggest one should use to determine the difference between a good tube amp and bad tube amp? How should one inteprete the tangible results of the testings?

Thanks Paul. I also found this doc to be useful as well, back when I wanted to research the anatomy and function of a typical SET amp. This also includes many of the scientific strategies and practical analysis of the tube amp, which also produces tangible conclusive results.

http://www.next-power.net/next-tube/articles/Cheever/cheever.pdf

I must admit, even though I'm not a fan of tube amplification, this document was very eductional regarding the practical applications many of today's tube amp manufactors use to test their products before release to the market.

This is just one of many available. I'll see if I can find more and post them.

I'm glad to see there is more than one person who is into education regardless of how much experience one has.

Good looking out Pauly! : )

Enjoy!