What Solid State PreAmp?

Dcstep,

Manufacturers pick the tubes they put into new equipment based primarily on practical considerations -- cost, reliability of continued supply (meaning new, not vintage stock), and reasonably good sound.

But, there is no way for a manufacturer to know what sound any particular customer would favor based on that customer's taste and complement of other equipment. Given differences in taste/need, it does not make sense for a manufacturer to spend a LOT of money on NOS tubes that may actually sound worse to a particular customer.

There is no consensus on what is "better," that is why the ability to make changes to the sound by the relatively simple act of changing tubes is a good thing.

06-10-08: Larryi said:

"Manufacturers pick the tubes they put into new equipment based primarily on practical considerations -- cost, reliability of continued supply (meaning new, not vintage stock), and reasonably good sound...."

If I spent $10,000 on, say, an ARC Ref 3, I would expect the tubes to not be compromises, just like if I paid $18,000 for a Rowland Critereon, I'd expect Jeff to use the very best components.

How am I going to know more about tube selection than ARC??? It's their life's work, it's only a hobby to me. In many fields, I pay experts to make decisions for me when I don't have the time, inclination or knowledge to do it myself.

I don't want "reasonbly sound" from ARC or C-J, I want the best the designers know how to give me at a price point.

Once again, my point is, tube rolling capacity is NOT an advantage of tubes over SS, IMHO.

Dave

Dcstep,

What is the "best"? You seem to think that there is one objective best and that the manufacturer, particularly of something expensive, should incorporate that in the gear. Perhaps the designer of cost is no object gear used tubes that meet your "best the designers know how to deliver" criteria, it still may be possible for a particular customer to better satisfy his own personal taste or better match the component with his particular system by making alternative choices. That is the reason for tube rolling.

Personally, I would not be spending big bucks on gear if I could not hear the difference and had to "pay experts" to make the choice. This is particularly the case for me because I hardly ever agree with the so called experts (e.g., reviewers).

One last OT response (this thread is about SS pre-amps).

I'm saying that most of us audiophiles don't know as much about the "best" sounding tubes as the designers of the equipment. It's their lifes' work.

When I look for answers to a question about mortgage banking I'll usually look inward, toward my own decades of experience in the industry. If I don't know it, I know who knows it. OTOH, when I'm trying to reach sonic nurvana, I look to someone like Jeff Rowland, because he's dedicated himself to pursuing sonic purity for decades and he's a leader in his field.

With most SS designs the only thing users are likely to change are the power cord and interconnects. I think that's a positive. OTOH, there's a tube culture that advocates tube rolling almost any piece of equipment that they purchase. I don't see tube rolling as an advantage of tubes over SS.

BTW, I do hear differences between gear and have used my ears to lead me to some of the best gear AND designers. Still, there's no shame in putting trust in an expert, such as Jeff Rowland for instance. My ears led me to the man and the man reinforced the trust and the relationship. There's nothing wrong with that.

Have fun playing with your tubes...;-)

Dave

I agee with Larry on this one. My latest preamp is Dodd and tubes that it cam with were JJs new stock that sound like crap. In contrast, Mullards or Amperex pumped new life into Dodd that out of the box was lacking soul and character. Since it is very sensetive to tube rolling it is a tweakers delight and an easy fix to fine tune the sound to taste or preferances that one might seek.
Gary's choice of tubes was driven by exactlly the same reasones that Larry point out in his post.