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Should I get Tubes or SS?


Jeff Matthews

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0908170926.jpgI'm using a Sherwood S-8900a receiver(ss) presently with my Cornwall II's, and the sound is every bit as rich and satisfying as the sound from my Dynaco MKIII's, or previous adventures that I've taken with tube gear from Fisher, Heathkit, Eico, etc, not to mention lots of other more expensive ss gear, including a McIntosh MC250 that I presently use. I do use the phono and tuner out of a Mac MX110 tube pre just to keep things honest. My point is that quality is quality, whether tube or ss, and it doesn't have to cost a lot.  Of course, I have yet to find anything that actually sounds "bad" with my Cornwalls. That helps. 

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Maybe, but don't forget the real limitations of Class A.  Granted we run efficient speakers but not everyday else does, and some of those SS Class A designs put out more heat than a tube amplifier, can be noisy and are woefully inefficient.

 

If you are going to get into amplifier topologies why not Class D?  Quiet, efficient, neutral, and cheap.

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Didn't PWK run a Brooks tube amp?   I think he and many other "audio giants"also longed for  solid state to finally arrive and get rid of the downfalls of tubes.  Now we are chasing modern tube topo's that sound like tubes, yet fight the inaccuracies of them?    

 

Value to me is not something cheap, its something that is going to hold that value when Im ready to move on to something else, which is what this hobby is all about.

 

In that case, buy a set of MC 30's or a MC 225.  I would lean towards the 30's.    Then when you want to sell, you get what you paid and then can go after that uber McIntosh SS amp.

 

 

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goof friend of mine has top of the line Alnic equipment (every piece phono pre to premp to dac to 300 b mono blocks) Pre amp is 10K amps are 10K each. Fit finish and build are all state of the art. system sounds really good but costs an arm and a leg. All the tubes are aftermarket sota tubes over 10K in tubes on had. He still has problems and so far as I can see tubes were and are and always will be a pita. So far as I am concerned my new Benchmark AHB2 eats his stuff up at a tiny fraction of the cost. I doubt I will bother to ever buy another amplifier. If you like to piddle around tubes are great. The wrote a song about tubes. Roll roll roll your tubes every other week spending a lot for all that you got listening's just a dream.

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On ‎9‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 4:09 PM, thebes said:

Maybe, but don't forget the real limitations of Class A.  Granted we run efficient speakers but not everyday else does, and some of those SS Class A designs put out more heat than a tube amplifier, can be noisy and are woefully inefficient.

 

If you are going to get into amplifier topologies why not Class D?  Quiet, efficient, neutral, and cheap.

 

There are Class D tube amps? Guess I missed that one.:D

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