[BlackTalon]

Originally Posted by Charlie Stylianos

The sound of a tube is all subjective and highly depends on the circuit, speakers, etc.

Blasphamy! An amp is an amp -- all they do is amplify signal, and that cannot change the sound! A $59 JVC is just as good as a $8,000 Levinson! If the high $ amp 'sounds' better, it's probably because it is introducing inaccurate distortions and colorations that some people find pleasing. I wanna see the charts/ graphs, as only by examining the measurements can we determine if the amp isn't crap! And single-end triodes are famous for their bad measurements!

[APKhaos]

OK, I have to agree that hollow state triodes are not the most linear devices in the universe. That said, tube amps do sound big, full & mellow. What's wrong with that?? Some even go up to 11.

[BeerBurner]

I haven't read this thread but I'll interject (sp?) anyway...

My brother is one of those people who'll spend an insane about of money on good speakers for his home stereo. And I have no problems with that as well all have our hobbies.

A few years back he bought new speakers for his house. Two of them. For $14k. I couldn't help but comment "That's an awesome 914 for me..."

Fortunately, he understood where I was coming from...

BB.

[BlackTalon]

Sad thing is when have a car/ track hobby as well as an audio hobby... $7k doesn't buy a whole lot of speaker these days!

[}{arlequin]

LOL, yeah... some of my ahemm... 'friends'... have speaker cables that cost more than my entire system...

at the same time, good luck explaining to them how you can spend $1500 on tires to have them last a total of 8 hours of use ...at least they will still HAVE their cables after our tires are long gone

(i'm also pretty sure i could sqeeze myself into a 993gt2 as long as i didn't mind driving barefoot )

[BlackTalon]

Yeah, I dumped most of my $ into my audio system 10 - 20 years ago. My only recent 'upgrade' was a new CD player last summer (yep -- upgraded to another Redbook player instead of 'converting' to a 24-bit setup. Bottom of the line Audionote CD player, and man does it sound nice!). The next step will likely be a newer preamp -- mine is well over 20 years old!

[edevinney]

Heh, I did the same, Dave, but longer ago - bought B&W matrix 2s and adcom amplification when I left college and that's served me well since. I might keep the amp (GFA-555) and just replace the preamp. Ages ago I tested an audible illusions tube preamp that sounded nice. What are you thinking of moving to?

Fair warning: I'm an infidel - I mostly feed it with MP3s. I'll hook up my turntable when we move.

I'm most impressed with Charlie's work and I bet it'll sound sweet. But any more I spend my $$ on my family & my cars, in that order. Maybe I should see someone about that last part. I've got a priority problem.

[BlackTalon]

Has an Adcom GFA-555, but it crapped out ~9 or 10 years ago. I spent a little bit of time 'testing' some tube amps (borrowed from Deja Vu Audio in Mclean), but decided to go solid state and got a good deal on the Bryston. Not sure what I will try our WRT preamps -- I have 5 or 6 unready issues of Stereophile to catch up on now that track season has ended But I will probably stay in the tube arena, as I think it's a good counterbalance for the solid state amp. I came close to pulling the trigger on a C-J some years back; I still love their stuff. Just can't afford their really good ones...

Fired up my turntable last summer, and had a horrible hum -- think it's a bad connection in the preamp. Been too lazy to open it up and check things out... Circuits for tuner and CD work fine, and that's what I mainly use for source material anyway. Don't have too many albums that I don't also have on CD

[MatP]

Originally Posted by BlackTalon

Has an Adcom GFA-555, b

Heh - I see a pattern forming. I have one of these guys too. Its my sub amp.

[Dr K]

Originally Posted by BlackTalon

Blasphamy! An amp is an amp -- all they do is amplify signal, and that cannot change the sound! A $59 JVC is just as good as a $8,000 Levinson! If the high $ amp 'sounds' better, it's probably because it is introducing inaccurate distortions and colorations that some people find pleasing. I wanna see the charts/ graphs, as only by examining the measurements can we determine if the amp isn't crap! And single-end triodes are famous for their bad measurements!

David, I hope your tongue is in your cheek. The idea of a "straight wire with gain" is a dream, and all amps color the sound a fair amount--the hope being to color it as little as possible. Sometimes the quality of the coloration is more important than the quantity - hense, tubes. I use solid state because I can't afford tubes (and Porsches, and ski equipment, and a wife, and private school...). Digital sound, at least CDs and especially MP3s, loose some of the information, while it is hard to reproduce all the sound on an analog system. That said, listening to a vinyl record (Rega Planar 3 turntable) through my solid state system almost always sounds better than listening to a CD, but it's enough more work that I rarely do it.