edwardre Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 Generally speaking, is the "tube sound" more the province of the preamp or the amp? (When they are seperate components) If I were to focus upon one or the other to upgeade/enhance in an effort to achieve 'the ultimate tube experience', which one would that be? Within a tube based unit, are the tubes themselves the item most responsible for affecting sound quality? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prodj101 Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 the amp provides more of the tube sound than the pre amp. Think of it this way, the pre amp only sends the signals, so if you send a transistor sound from a pre amp to a tube power amp, the tube amp will give it the tube sound. But if you send a tube sound from a pre amp to a transistor amp, the amp will give it the transistor sound. You'll retain some of the tube sound in both cases, but having a tube amp will help more, just because it's the final stage in the amplifing process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile homeless Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 On the other hand, I would rather have a tube preamp into a good solid state amp then a solid state preamp that is mediocre into a good tube amp. The preamp is one of the most important components and people forget this time and time again. I cant stress this enough yet I will. Preamps deal with the signal at very low levels and it is easy to corrupt in a power gain stage in a preamp. I have liked VERY few solid state preamps in my life. I find the tube preamp to solid state amp an acceptable compromise as it will impart a bit of tube warmth to the SS amp. I ran this configuration in one of my systems for quite awhile. Ultimately, BOTH are very important, but I honestly have to admit, if I had to pick which was the better partnership, I would take a top flight tube preamp with a VERY good solid state amp. Once the signal is fouled in a poor preamp, the amplifier can not pull a magical act. The first tube component I got, besides a guitar amp, was a tube preamp and I never turned back, only flirting with passives as an alternative. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manuel Delaflor Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 I agree with Mobile. In fact, I have an Hybrid Integrated which uses a Tube preamp and in a separated circuity a SS amp (the only connection between them is a piece of metal connected as a cable between the pre outs to the amplifier inputs). I falled in love with this unit within the first minute. In the same room the manufacturer have both tube preamps and tube amps and I can sincerely say that the sound of my much cheaper Hybrid is not far behind. There was another Integrated in the room, a pure SS Harman Kardon, and I couldn't stand it after listening to tube gear. http://www.margules.com.mx/magenta/acrh1.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mobile homeless Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 Manuel, a quick bit of advice here. IF you are running some metal u connector ala the same type on NAD etc integrated amps to connect with pre to the power stage, then you will get a MAJOR increase in performance by get some high quality interconnects (only a small jumper is required or at the most, a .5 meter pair). Those solid metal connectors REALLY degrade the signal. IS this what you are running? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyKubicki Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 I am not sure if I have this right, but from what I've heard from techs, SS amplifies the original signal with the least distortion. If this is true, then what Mobile said makes the most sense. You should be able to have the warmth effect of the tube preamp amplified faithfully by the SS amp. But from the recent article, about the type of distortion that takes place with tubes vs. SS, additional stages of tubes produce more of the (was it?) even harmonics distortion, which is desirable to most ears as compared to odd harmonic distortion of SS. So, if it is true that most ears would find tube's distortion desirable, then the best would be tube amp mated with tube preamp. Second choice would be tube pre with SS amp, and least desirable would be the SS/SS combo. This is simplified and assumes like quality for amps and preamps. Disclaimer: I am not a tech and don't play one on forums! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manuel Delaflor Posted October 3, 2002 Share Posted October 3, 2002 Wow! I wasn't aware of that. Yes, this is what I have, a solid metal (don't know how to say it but think on it as a stubby clip). I will definitely try some interconnects! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edwardre Posted October 4, 2002 Author Share Posted October 4, 2002 Hmmmm.....ok then, what the majority of you have said makes sense. While 're-capping' my tube preamp and prior to starting on the tube amp, I was testing each 'enhancement' prior to going on to the next set of caps to replace. As the tube amp was partially disassembled and inop, I ran the preamp into my ss Bryston 2B-LP 'test bed' amp to gauge the effects each set of caps changed made. Then when I finally moved over to the tube amp, I noticed that the difference between it and the ss Bryston were very subtle as compared to the difference between the ss pre and the tube pre. I just thought that the Bryston ss amp was 'warm and tubelike', or that the ST70 was a little 'raw' where tube amps are concerned. Thanks for the insight. Ed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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