Do you prefer SS or tube? Why?

Solid State. Why? Although I have heard some nice tube set-ups I have never walked away saying "I wish I would own that".
 
Not to my knowledge, and would seem to be complex and expensive. However, if it happened, you could run SS until the amp warmed up then switch to tube. That may not work either if the tubes weren't glowing.

Cary Audio in some components offer a both tube or SS output. I think Peachtree did as well. Never heard of a power amp though. Then there are hybrids with tube areas and either transistor or Class D outputs.

Pearce Harrison said:
Are there any such amps?
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Randy Myers said:
I go back and forth. I don't need tons of power and I love amplifiers and preamps that suck you into the music. The little T+A amplifier is a great sounding SS amp; I really enjoy a good class A amplifier such as the First Watt. I will switch my SS in when I am in the mood... but... tubes have grabbed me...

The SET mono blocks are just magical... if you don't need to knock the walls down but want the most musical amplifiers SET is hard to beat. Whenever I put my SS in the system I fairly quickly get itching for that magic :).

The tubes themselves make huge differences, but there in lies the biggest issue with tubes... that rabbit hole of tube rolling... but there in also is where much of the magic happens.
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At those power levels you are really comparing Clipping characteristics of the amplifiers ...
 
Gene said:
I think its important to make the distinction between Class A and Class A/B (or any other class) when thinking about SS.
Class A SS can sound very tube like and still give one the qualities SS is well know for.
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All SS amps are a/ab very rare to have full class A and that ability is at 8 ohms only, if your speakers see 4 ohm and below your amp will transition to class B ..



Regards
 
Pearce Harrison said:
Good friend has the best of both worlds, a Jeff Rowland model 8 T that he had customized by Jeff himself, and a pair of the latest Jadis JA30mk2 mono blocks, utilizing the new KT150 tubes..for tube sound. His set up is extraordinary and the sound is amazing. Best of both worlds, ss and tube...needless to say, I am fairly envious!
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Why should you be envious? You are talking about your own system.
 
Pearce Harrison said:
Believe what you will.
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I believe in the truth. You are DaveyF. I read your other posts here and I know your writing style. It's too funny that you pretended to be a friend of yourself and bragged on your own system.
 
I'm a guy with a preference for tubes, but insist on the low noise and linearity of solid state. my reference from years past was the sound of Tenor 75 watt OTL mono blocks. which were a very linear tube amplifier. alas; the Tenor's tended to explode and were generally not reliable. then I happened on the darTZeel solid state amp which got close to tubes, but had the attributes of solid state I liked. I'd call them a very minimalist and natural sounding amplifier.

so for the last 15 years I've used solid state amps, but I would generally call myself a 'tube' guy.

a year ago I revisited some 'uber' tube amps to see once and for all where my direction should be. I just had to scratch this long term itch for tubes. so I purchased a set of Lamm ML3 mono blocks, and borrowed a set of VAC Statement 450's and spent 3 months comparing them to my dart 458 solid state mono blocks.

I found out that while I loved many great things about tubes, and these were 2 fantastic sets of tube amps for sure, for me the solid state darts get me closest to the music. they get out of the way. the big darts can excel on all the music. with those tube amps I'm always reminded that I'm listening to tubes......as beautiful as they can sound.

if I listed my 5 or 10 favorite amps most of them would be tube amps, but at the top would be the darTZeel solid state.

lastly; I think system context has it's place in this question. it's easier to add tubes to a system than to sort out all the nasty's of a room or gear. tubes can beautify and satisfy. going the solid state way can make more demands on the degree of refinement everywhere else in a system......to find that natural listen ability. horses for courses and all that. but when everything is really dialed in then solid state has the most upside to my ears.

YMMV, just my 2 cents, and all that stuff.
 
Mike Lavigne said:
I'm a guy with a preference for tubes, but insist on the low noise and linearity of solid state. my reference from years past was the sound of Tenor 75 watt OTL mono blocks. which were a very linear tube amplifier. alas; the Tenor's tended to explode and were generally not reliable. then I happened on the darTZeel solid state amp which got close to tubes, but had the attributes of solid state I liked. I'd call them a very minimalist and natural sounding amplifier.

so for the last 15 years I've used solid state amps, but I would generally call myself a 'tube' guy.

a year ago I revisited some 'uber' tube amps to see once and for all where my direction should be. I just had to scratch this long term itch for tubes. so I purchased a set of Lamm ML3 mono blocks, and borrowed a set of VAC Statement 450's and spent 3 months comparing them to my dart 458 solid state mono blocks.

I found out that while I loved many great things about tubes, and these were 2 fantastic sets of tube amps for sure, for me the solid state darts get me closest to the music. they get out of the way. the big darts can excel on all the music. with those tube amps I'm always reminded that I'm listening to tubes......as beautiful as they can sound.

if I listed my 5 or 10 favorite amps most of them would be tube amps, but at the top would be the darTZeel solid state.

lastly; I think system context has it's place in this question. it's easier to add tubes to a system than to sort out all the nasty's of a room or gear. tubes can beautify and satisfy. going the solid state way can make more demands on the degree of refinement everywhere else in a system......to find that natural listen ability. horses for courses and all that. but when everything is really dialed in then solid state has the most upside to my ears.

YMMV, just my 2 cents, and all that stuff.
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I don't agree with your inference that tubes allow you not to "sort out all of the nasty's of a room or gear." I have had all SS systems and all tube systems and the same amount of work is required to set up either of them. If SS gear doesn't sound good in a room where a tube system shines, it's not the room's fault.
 
mep said:
I don't agree with your inference that tubes allow you not to "sort out all of the nasty's of a room or gear." I have had all SS systems and all tube systems and the same amount of work is required to set up either of them. If SS gear doesn't sound good in a room where a tube system shines, it's not the room's fault.
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a room can be a factor in tube or solid state choice. not saying it's an absolute. no different than a tube or solid state phono stage or dac output stage. in all these situations tubes can allow greater listenability.

we don't have to agree.....as I said YMMV, just my 2 cents, and all that stuff.
 
Mike Lavigne said:
a room can be a factor in tube or solid state choice. not saying it's an absolute. no different than a tube or solid state phono stage or dac output stage. in all these situations tubes can allow greater listenability.

we don't have to agree.....as I said YMMV, just my 2 cents, and all that stuff.
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The room is always a determining factor in the ultimate sound quality you can achieve regardless of whether the system is SS or tube based. If your room sucks, it doesn't matter how much money you spend on gear or whether you buy SS or tube gear. I think we can agree on that.
 
mep said:
I believe in the truth. You are DaveyF. I read your other posts here and I know your writing style. It's too funny that you pretended to be a friend of yourself and bragged on your own system.
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Dude, I heard you had a fetish with this guy, what's up with that??
 
Why is it at 8 ohms only? I recently read a discussion on whether the Class A increase power into 4 ohms like A/B. Meaning if an amp was onl Class A up to 10 watts would it pproduce more than 10 watts into 4 ohms in Class A. Although I admit after reading I still don't know the answer, I got a bit lost, however, no mention of what you said that would have made their discussion moot.

a.wayne said:
All SS amps are a/ab very rare to have full class A and that ability is at 8 ohms only, if your speakers see 4 ohm and below your amp will transition to class B ..



Regards
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Mostly tubes, but always some tubes.
They add a dimension of depth and ambiance that I don't hear in SS gear.
Although some SS comes closer than others, they all fall short of the mark until a tube (or more) is added to the system.
I find that a mix of the two can provide superb results.
 
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