I love the tube sound but problem for me is, I find an absolutely killer tube for my pre (Pope Holland 6SN7's) and know that in a few years I will never be able to dublicate the sound I'm hearing from these NOS, 1948 tubes. BUT!! I sure enjoy it while I have them.
Too Many Tubes?
More as a thought experiment than as a description of an actual problem that may or may not exist...
Has anyone ever considred if there might be a problem with too many tubes in a given system? How many tubes is too many, and what might be some issues that could have a detrimental effect on system sound quality?
What do I mean by too many tubes?
1- too many physical tubes (by quantity). Consider an example where you have (let's say) 20 or more physical tubes distributed in your power amp, pre-amp, phono stage and DAC. Besides the obvious potential issues with heat and the cost of rolling and replacing so many tubes, what are the disadvantages (if any) of utilizing so many tubes?
2- Same question, but this time the concern is not the physical number of tubes but the variety of tube types used in a given system. Can anyone make an argument against (or for) using a large variety of tube types in a single system?
For years I used a system with a SS amp (Krell, then McCormack) and ARC tube pre and phono stage. The ARC gear used the same 6922 tubes, and it there was a well-defined (not necessarily great) sonic signature. It was also very easy to tell when a given tube was microphonic or going bad.
Lately, I have been swapping a lot of new (to me) used gear in and out, and the all-tube setups have varied from SET to integrated tube amps w/ phono to all CJ tube seperates. All good... well, mostly, but I have noticed that in the setups with many tubes and/or many tube types it is can be hard to pick out the characteristics of a single tube or tube type. I am not saying that that is good or bad - it just is what it is.
Comments?
Has anyone ever considred if there might be a problem with too many tubes in a given system? How many tubes is too many, and what might be some issues that could have a detrimental effect on system sound quality?
What do I mean by too many tubes?
1- too many physical tubes (by quantity). Consider an example where you have (let's say) 20 or more physical tubes distributed in your power amp, pre-amp, phono stage and DAC. Besides the obvious potential issues with heat and the cost of rolling and replacing so many tubes, what are the disadvantages (if any) of utilizing so many tubes?
2- Same question, but this time the concern is not the physical number of tubes but the variety of tube types used in a given system. Can anyone make an argument against (or for) using a large variety of tube types in a single system?
For years I used a system with a SS amp (Krell, then McCormack) and ARC tube pre and phono stage. The ARC gear used the same 6922 tubes, and it there was a well-defined (not necessarily great) sonic signature. It was also very easy to tell when a given tube was microphonic or going bad.
Lately, I have been swapping a lot of new (to me) used gear in and out, and the all-tube setups have varied from SET to integrated tube amps w/ phono to all CJ tube seperates. All good... well, mostly, but I have noticed that in the setups with many tubes and/or many tube types it is can be hard to pick out the characteristics of a single tube or tube type. I am not saying that that is good or bad - it just is what it is.
Comments?
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- 21 posts total
- 21 posts total