joessportster Posted December 5, 2004 Share Posted December 5, 2004 hi i recently bought my first set of klipsch speakers (cornwall 1) and over the years i have heard alot of talk about tube equipment sounding better etc..., i have ouned a few systems but never a tube system and am interested in the diff in the sound quality, would also like to know if you have to run all tube equipment or can they be mixed with solid state. ie can you run a tube amp, a tube pre amd and a solid state tuner or cd i am currently running mostly phase linear gear aand am overall happy with the sound especially with vinyl or cass. cd seems to be a little harsh but thats why they have a volume knob. ive been considering buying a reasonable smaller tube set up just to see what all the fuss is. i am on a tight budget also that makes it hard to get very deep into the tube gear any info will be of help and will be appreciated Joe Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
76scalas Posted December 5, 2004 Share Posted December 5, 2004 ---------------- On 12/5/2004 8:27:55 PM joessportster wrote: hi i recently bought my first set of klipsch speakers (cornwall 1) and over the years i have heard alot of talk about tube equipment sounding better etc..., i have ouned a few systems but never a tube system and am interested in the diff in the sound quality, would also like to know if you have to run all tube equipment or can they be mixed with solid state. ie can you run a tube amp, a tube pre amd and a solid state tuner or cd i am currently running mostly phase linear gear aand am overall happy with the sound especially with vinyl or cass. cd seems to be a little harsh but thats why they have a volume knob. ive been considering buying a reasonable smaller tube set up just to see what all the fuss is. i am on a tight budget also that makes it hard to get very deep into the tube gear any info will be of help and will be appreciated Joe ---------------- Once You try tubes there is no going back. A SS Hafler 220 with a tube preamp sounds pretty darn good, not as good as all tubes. The "harsh' goes away with tubes and the bass is killer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddy Dee Posted December 5, 2004 Share Posted December 5, 2004 Joe, Welcome to the forum. You said it right about being overall happy with the sound. There are several options for checking out tubes for a reasonable amount of investment. One thing I'd mention first, is that by doing some careful shopping with used gear, you should be able to resell it, if you want to, and get back most or all of your investment. You are right in thinking that you can run a tube pre well with your system. Adding a tube preamp in your system would be preferable to running a tube power amp with an ss preamp. SS tuner or other gear no problem. I think there are very few people who listen to FM with much of a critical ear anyway. An integrated tube amp is always a possibility. After tasting some tube amplification, you might want to look at your CD if it still sounds edgy. There are some tubed CD players that are smooooooth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomski Posted December 5, 2004 Share Posted December 5, 2004 I think all tube guys have like 3-4 tesla coils in their house and also a couple of those supercharged v-rod stun gun things where the arc rides up the v. They often have a large cold stainless steel rectangular tables where they perform their "experiments". I bet on dark stormy nights if you sneek up to their windows and listen, you will hear the "mad scientists" upon powering up their "systems" cry out "IT IS ALIVE"!!! (Whisper- Also for a group that likes light bulbs,they often listen in the dark,they are a very odd bunch) Edit Also they do a lot of rolling,if you know what I mean. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lynnm Posted December 5, 2004 Share Posted December 5, 2004 LOL...You looking to start a riot ? AKA Solid State gear and tube gear can be used together and most of us who use tubes also use solid state devices such as CD players and tuners etc. Many find that solid state gear does not sound as smooth and warm as tube gear. Many solid state fans will tell you that solid state gear sounds more precise and accurate to them.In addition some solid state users maintain that they get better bottom end reproduction than is possible with tube equipment and some will go so far as to maintain that tube amps ( unless very expensive and powerful give mushy,muddy low end response). I disagree as the bass response from my Khorns is powerful and tight when driven by my 30 watt/channel tube amp. That said I believe that given that many solid state amps such as your Phase Linear are capable of producing prodigious amounts of power it is possible that you are able to generate extra slam in that region. The differences in sonic character which do in my opinion exist are likely related to differences in distortion products. Typically a tube amp produces its lowest distortion at low power output while the reverse is true of solid state equipment. In other words solid state amps ( within limits ) produce cleaner output when driven hard while tube amps deliver their cleanest sound at low power levels. I'll leave it to more technically knowledgeable folks to explain why this is the case. The tube amp when it distorts produces a type of distortion that is less jarring to the ear than is produced by solid state gear again I must defer to the more technically skilled for an explanation. None of the above should be taken to mean that all tube amps are superior to all solid state amps. That would be nonsense. Some of the best sounding gear I have ever heard is solid state. Only you can ultimately determine what sounds best to you. Given that you are accustomed to running very high powered solid state equipment I would strongly advise you to carefully audition any tube gear you are considering before spending any significant sum on a purchase. You might well find that the increased sweetness in the midrange that you will likely hear from tube gear does not compensate for the less powerful bass output. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meuge Posted December 5, 2004 Share Posted December 5, 2004 I think that if you have to turn the volume down from your preferred level because you think that hte gear is too harsh-sounding, then there is a problem. I am not familiar with phase linear equipment, but what I do know is that many inexpensive CD players, and particularly many DVD players can sound harsh through solid-state equipment. If you have a chance to try other equipment before committing yourself to the purchase, then by all means do it. However, you may realize after upgrading your amp/preamp that the problem was the source all along. Instead of relying on a CD player to do the decoding, I (and many others) run a separate Digital-to-Analog converter. It goes a long way towards uncovering detail and eliminating harshness. Still, the most common cause of harshness is the front-end equipment. But it's not necessarily an inherent quality of solid-state gear. I run an Aragon 28k preamp, with a B&K amplifier, and it sounds smooth as silk, regardless of what I am playing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fini Posted December 5, 2004 Share Posted December 5, 2004 Joe, I've been around this joint for 4+ years, and I'm in the same place as you, in terms of discerning the difference between SS & tubes, ESPECIALLY on a budget that disallows wild buying sprees in order to have the luxury of trying out a variety of equipment. I myself just bought some Dynaco amps that are in need of some TLC (rebuilding!), for the bargain price of $150. Now, I still need a replacement power transformer (which a forum member has offered to supply, thank you binkt!), and all the resistors, capacitors and driver boards, but I'm looking forward to my first project (abot time. at age 49, eh?). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted December 5, 2004 Share Posted December 5, 2004 ---------------- On 12/5/2004 9:00:33 PM tomski wrote: I bet on dark stormy nights if you sneek up to their windows and listen, you will hear the "mad scientists" apon powering up their "systems" cry out "IT IS ALIVE"!!! ---------------- To bad they muted they next line in that movie "now I know what it feels like to be God" : ) (Whisper- Also for a group that likes light bulbs,they often listen in the dark,their a very odd bunch) Hadn't thought about that LOL how true. I ran my Belles with solid state gear for a while and it sounded alright but my Belles really came alive with tubes and I am glad I gave them a try. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomski Posted December 5, 2004 Share Posted December 5, 2004 joessportster Just kidding around,I sure these guys can give you all kinds of good advice.Someday I would like to get a entry level tube combo (triode?)but that is a couple years away. Good luck in your choice. Tomski Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klipsch RF7 Posted December 6, 2004 Share Posted December 6, 2004 You know the old addage, "Once you get tubed, there is no going back" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gilbert Posted December 6, 2004 Share Posted December 6, 2004 Is that comming from Feddy Mercury? Whoa! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klipsch RF7 Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 ---------------- On 12/6/2004 8:50:41 PM Gilbert wrote: Is that comming from Feddy Mercury? Whoa! ---------------- Yup Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovemyhorns Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 I use a FET preamp with tube monoblocks. The soundstage with tubes is amazing and the instruments sound like instruments, vs. SS(the 200w/ch McIntosh I had) which sounds like a reproduction now that I can compare. One thing I will admit is the SS had more punch and slam, especially for R&R. I am not saying the sound is bad with SS, it is just my opinion the sound is sooo much better with tubes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Audio Flynn Posted December 7, 2004 Share Posted December 7, 2004 SS is not bad i was working on a project in the family room and spent 5 hours with the RB-5s and SS last night. My tube amp implementations have better: -soundstage -realism of instruments -attack and decay of notes -less fatigueing for long listeneing sessions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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