Posted by Wayne Parham on January 22, 2003 at 16:21:25

In Reply to: Using Pi with SS gear... posted by ports on January 22, 2003 at 11:03:56:

I like to run powerful amps. For me, the tube amp deal is sort of retro and nostalgic. I have owned some tube radios for a long time, but I didn't consider vacuum tube technology for high-fidelity sound until relatively recently. There are those that have enjoyed high quality tube amps for quite some time; I suspect there are those that never stopped using the technology. But as to the recent "tube amp craze" - I am a newcomer. I've been using high-quality solid state amps for a long time.

I was surprised to find how good tube amps can sound. I expected bass and treble to be attenuated, and for what bass was there to sound bloated and underdamped. I expected the "midrange sweetness" that people talked about to be simply a result of lacking bass and treble. I wondered if "liquid vocals" might be a result of low-order harmonics. But what I found was that the little tube amps work quite well. A good tube amp sounds very nice, in my opinion.

I think that for what they are expected to do, tube amps do very well - surprisingly well, in my opinion. They are a hell of a lot of fun to play with, in the same sense that shortwave radio is fun to play with. And they really sound very nice too. I can easily see that's why they are so "addictive" with lots of audiophiles these days. But the high powered, high quality transistor amps are excellent too. That gives you the ability to have dynamic range that is impossible with less power. Having a good clean current source ensures that the rubber meets the road.