what do I miss

[kev313]

Speaking of Manley, what does that Rick Rubin guy know anyway. Uhh, maybe a thing or two about making a record: http://www.musicangle.com/feat.php?id=38

[kev313]

For those who don't want to cut and paste and read let me ruin the surprise. He uses Manley tube monoblocks and a Hovland tube preamp in his home system.

[ZAKO]

Yes ,,, But,,, Tube mics are still being used.

[Marvel]

This is not completely tubed, but more than just added on. All internal busses are balanced as well. Pro studio only, as it costs too much otherwise. THey make a lot of other nice gear as well. Their less expensive M-4 16 channel mixer runs about $10k.

http://www.tlaudio.co.uk/docs_07/product_07/VTC.shtml

And you could check out all the Manley labs pro gear.

http://www.manleylabs.com/promain99.html

Bruce

[Audio Flynn]

For those who don't want to cut and paste and read let me ruin the surprise. He uses Manley tube monoblocks and a Hovland tube preamp in his home system.

Only because he never heard VRDs....[]

[Don Richard]

I had bad luck with tubes. They toasted out routinely and that ticked me and the spouse off.

There's a story in one of the magazines, either TAS or Stereophile, this or last month by one of the reviewers concerning a failure on a piece of Audio Research equipment. A tube shorted out and smoked the cathode resistor. The equipment was fairly new and Audio Research sent all new tubes and whatever else necessary to repair the problem. The represenative from Audio Research told the reviewer something like " Well. it's tubes and things like this happen sometimes."

Note that I am not slamming Audio Research or tube gear here, but compared to solid state they are high maintenance items. Many people shy away from tubes for exactly that reason. If you are interested in using tube gear it is good to consider the ownership costs of tubes vs. solid state. If you want to just buy a piece of equipment, plug it in, and forget it then tubes probably aren't for you.

I built and used tube equipment for 12 years or so for amateur radio and audio use. The plates on my transmitter tubes would glow dull red because I was really squeezing the watts out. Despite that I never had a catastrophic tube failure. I worked for the State Police for a year in radio maintence and out of the 500 or so radios in cars I did not once see a tube short out and smoke things. But I replaced many tubes simply because they weakened and could no longer meet specs.

I wonder just how good these Russian and Chinese tubes being sold today really are compared to the tubes that I used back then?

Edit: The article that I read was actually on the Stereophile website in the equipment review section and was a review of the Audio Research VS110 amp and SP16L preamp from the August 2003 issue.

[oscarsear]

I had bad luck with tubes. They toasted out routinely and that ticked me and the spouse off.

 

There's a story in one of the magazines, either TAS or Stereophile, this or last month by one of the reviewers concerning a failure on a piece of  Audio Research equipment. A tube shorted out and smoked the cathode resistor. The equipment was fairly new and Audio Research sent all new tubes and whatever else necessary to repair the problem. The represenative from Audio Research told the reviewer something like " Well. it's tubes and things like this happen sometimes."

Note that I am not slamming Audio Research or tube gear here, but compared to solid state they are high maintenance items. Many people shy away from tubes for exactly that reason. If you are interested in using tube gear it is good to consider the ownership costs of tubes vs. solid state. If you want to just buy a piece of equipment, plug it in, and forget it then tubes probably aren't for you.

I built and used tube equipment for 12 years or so for amateur radio and audio use. The plates on my transmitter tubes would glow dull red because I was really squeezing the watts out. Despite that I never had a catastrophic tube failure. I worked for the State Police for a year in radio maintence and out of the 500 or so radios in cars I did not once see a tube short out and smoke things. But I replaced many tubes simply because they weakened and could no longer meet specs.

I wonder just how good these Russian and Chinese tubes being sold today really are compared to the tubes that I used back then?

The crux of my problem with tubes is the fact that they are all in some stage of wear. One tube from the many in a system not up to par will impact the quality of the reproduced sound. I had at least 5 tubes of all types fail on a Cary integrated. The tubes came from reputable sources and the unit checked out Okay from Cary. They blew out when first purchased and after usage. I was told it was "bad tube karma". But I became afraid to fire up the system. I fretted over every crackle and pop or variance in performance. The much vaunted Jolida tubed CD player comes with a stock Russian tube. But it sounds much better with a vintage Sylvania tube. Where does the tube rolling end? What is the best sound any tube system can give? As stated earlier my Accuphase does sound better than any tubes I've heard and it is reliable and consistent.. I do not want my stereo experience to be a daily adventure in testing my troubleshooting skills.

[Don Richard]

Cable trestles? If you mean the "cable lifts" that are supposed to "improve soundstaging" and all sorts of wonderful things, then those people would be the lawful prey of the snake oil salesmen who sell such garbage.

[Invidiosulus]

Cable trestles? If you mean the "cable lifts" that are supposed to "improve soundstaging" and all sorts of wonderful things, then those people would be the lawful prey of the snake oil salesmen who sell such garbage.

I prefer my FAT (Free Air Tension)method.

The speakers and amplifier are positioned such that the only thing the cables touch are the connectors on the amp and speaker.

The speakers are far enough from the amp that the speaker wires are held up off the ground by their own tension.

By changing the distance from the speakers to the amp it changes the arc of the cable which allows me to tune the dynamic range/volume response(like boosting a waveform) that is output from the speakers.

All my stereo gear is SS but I have done a bit of tube rolling in my tube guitar amps.

It's amazing how different tubes of the same type can sound.

My current preamp tubes of choice in my Mesa/Boogie MKIII (hand wired booteek amp class A 15w or Class AB 70w ) are vintage RCA blackplate 12ax7's.

-Josh

[mike stehr]

Cable trestles? If you mean the "cable lifts" that are supposed to "improve soundstaging" and all sorts of wonderful things, then those people would be the lawful prey of the snake oil salesmen who sell such garbage.

A guy could go find a old telephone pole with glass or ceramic insulators, and pinch them for "Cable Trestles". It would only cost him the effort to do it. I just don't understand the theory, or if it would even matter in a audible sense.

[phutho]

Thanks much for the information.

There are several used tube amps are onsale that I can pick up:

• Antique Sound Labs AQ1001DT for $895
• Aronov LS9100 Tube Power Amplifier for $1600.00 (fot two mono blocks)
• Scott 200B unit, $350 and a 222D, $400
• Margules U280 SC Class A Tube for $1250.00

Which one do you think I should pick. They are in my range. But I don't want to spend money if I don't need to.

Thanks very much