Advantages & Disadvantages of a Tube amplifier vs. a Solid State amplifier.
Yankee
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 3,599
I heard some Focal Poly-Kevlar’s being driven by Tube Driver Blue stuff and thought it was bright and edgy today I discovered that is how the Focal test disc sounds!! So the Focal drivers and the Butler were very accurate!
Yea, I fondly remember Stereophile being a Readers Digest size publication. But in the defense of the mumbo and the jumbo there are a lot of flat earthers out there that believe 'all amps sound the same' or 'amps have no SQ' (if only it were so I could have saved thousands). To have a graph that actually predicts or explains the sound of a product is very valuable to quiet the flat earthers. But yea I set up and buy my stuff by the only reliable source I know (my ears) and I should probably get an O-scope!
But back to the thread:
Tube amps have: simple circuits, tubes are failure prone, longish warm up times, microphonics, high distortion levels, thermal issues (they make too much darn heat), and neg feedback makes them behave better while sometimes making them sound worse, tend to be pricey.
Transistors: hate heat but need to be isothermal, need complex correction circuits to be linear (except Pass Labs), too much neg feedback is the norm, tend to be made cheaper than they should be to meet their price point.
Yea, I fondly remember Stereophile being a Readers Digest size publication. But in the defense of the mumbo and the jumbo there are a lot of flat earthers out there that believe 'all amps sound the same' or 'amps have no SQ' (if only it were so I could have saved thousands). To have a graph that actually predicts or explains the sound of a product is very valuable to quiet the flat earthers. But yea I set up and buy my stuff by the only reliable source I know (my ears) and I should probably get an O-scope!
But back to the thread:
Tube amps have: simple circuits, tubes are failure prone, longish warm up times, microphonics, high distortion levels, thermal issues (they make too much darn heat), and neg feedback makes them behave better while sometimes making them sound worse, tend to be pricey.
Transistors: hate heat but need to be isothermal, need complex correction circuits to be linear (except Pass Labs), too much neg feedback is the norm, tend to be made cheaper than they should be to meet their price point.
Thread Starter
500 Watt CAFz'r
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 871
Dereck, Audio Concepts will be doing my car installation. How are things in Medicine Hat??? Are you keeping super busy with lots of installs???
JohnVroom, what does your home audio system consist of???
JohnVroom, what does your home audio system consist of???
Thread Starter
500 Watt CAFz'r
Joined: May 2000
Posts: 871
Is the "corrections circuit" and "negative feedback" the same thing with 2 different names???
And if the negative feedback circuitry is too slow, then some of the new leading edge of the signal will pass through without being checked and corrected. This in turn will cause phase shift errors and transient intermodulation???
Am I right in saying this???
Tube amps have higher distortion figures than their transistor counterparts, but I have heard many people say that they are much more musical. But, I guess that all depends on the build quality of the amp. Even a transistor amp will sound very musical if attention to detail has been provided by its engineer.
JohnVroom, or anyone else, what does RIAA stand for???
And if the negative feedback circuitry is too slow, then some of the new leading edge of the signal will pass through without being checked and corrected. This in turn will cause phase shift errors and transient intermodulation???
Am I right in saying this???
Tube amps have higher distortion figures than their transistor counterparts, but I have heard many people say that they are much more musical. But, I guess that all depends on the build quality of the amp. Even a transistor amp will sound very musical if attention to detail has been provided by its engineer.
JohnVroom, or anyone else, what does RIAA stand for???
Yankee
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 3,599
Recording Industry Association of America-http://www.riaa.com these are the empty suits who control the industry. They decide music formats (CD,DVD-A, SACD) I dont like a lot of what they do but they also protect the industry. Basically business majors controlling artists and engineers.
Transistors transfer function by their nature is non linear over the broad audio range, whereas tubes are fairly linear over the audio range (they tend to roll off the freq extremes). I am not saying that tubes always sound better but they do have a head start. Transistor products usually have thermal sensing and other protective circuits associated with the output stage that can affect the sound. You have to remember car audio is 10 pounds of stuff crammed into a 7 pound bag, compromises must be made! The list of companies that make cost-no-object car amps is 1 (Milbert) everyone else meets a very low price point. Basically something has to give to keep it affordable. There is nothing new in amplifier topology, there are refinements and rethinks.
Neg feedback is another correction circuit that can be applied by the gain stage or globally
Transistors transfer function by their nature is non linear over the broad audio range, whereas tubes are fairly linear over the audio range (they tend to roll off the freq extremes). I am not saying that tubes always sound better but they do have a head start. Transistor products usually have thermal sensing and other protective circuits associated with the output stage that can affect the sound. You have to remember car audio is 10 pounds of stuff crammed into a 7 pound bag, compromises must be made! The list of companies that make cost-no-object car amps is 1 (Milbert) everyone else meets a very low price point. Basically something has to give to keep it affordable. There is nothing new in amplifier topology, there are refinements and rethinks.
Neg feedback is another correction circuit that can be applied by the gain stage or globally
Guest
Posts: n/a
Sorry for the delay in getting back in here, who knew things would pick up.
The review of the Tube Driver Blue is the property of the magazine, so I can't do much with it. That being said, it lays to shame the previous generations of Tube Drivers, and I owned the first three of the four. The new amps are MUCH tighter and still feature phenominal tonal balance, and excellent spacial characteristics.
Other than that, here's some comments from some of the rest of the conversation:
Cables: Very seriously check out the Audioquest products. I use them and the results are excellent. i really like their design concept.
High end home speakers: Don't forget Totem Acoustic. Very nice Canadian Made stuff.
Home vs Car comparison. Would be neat to do, sadly it's harder to move things around adequately at home to get it sounding 100% (While keeping the wife happy).. hahaha..
US Amps Tube Amp: I reviewed it last year I think. Very much nothing special. A good amp, but there are LOTS that are better for a LOT less money. Check out Kicker or Audison for that department.
Dukk: I spent an hour talking with Mark Eldridge about the Amp Test, and it was extremely enlightening. I am not going to get into it here though, I'll save that bashing for PRINT!!! hahahah And it's SO easy...
The review of the Tube Driver Blue is the property of the magazine, so I can't do much with it. That being said, it lays to shame the previous generations of Tube Drivers, and I owned the first three of the four. The new amps are MUCH tighter and still feature phenominal tonal balance, and excellent spacial characteristics.
Other than that, here's some comments from some of the rest of the conversation:
Cables: Very seriously check out the Audioquest products. I use them and the results are excellent. i really like their design concept.
High end home speakers: Don't forget Totem Acoustic. Very nice Canadian Made stuff.
Home vs Car comparison. Would be neat to do, sadly it's harder to move things around adequately at home to get it sounding 100% (While keeping the wife happy).. hahaha..
US Amps Tube Amp: I reviewed it last year I think. Very much nothing special. A good amp, but there are LOTS that are better for a LOT less money. Check out Kicker or Audison for that department.
Dukk: I spent an hour talking with Mark Eldridge about the Amp Test, and it was extremely enlightening. I am not going to get into it here though, I'll save that bashing for PRINT!!! hahahah And it's SO easy...
Guest
Posts: n/a
Originally posted by Dave_MacKinnon:
Dukk: I spent an hour talking with Mark Eldridge about the Amp Test, and it was extremely enlightening. I am not going to get into it here though, I'll save that bashing for PRINT!!! hahahah And it's SO easy...
Dukk: I spent an hour talking with Mark Eldridge about the Amp Test, and it was extremely enlightening. I am not going to get into it here though, I'll save that bashing for PRINT!!! hahahah And it's SO easy...
