Tube , Solid State or Both ?

Tube, SS or Both ?

  • Tube

    Votes: 8 20.5%

  • Solid State

    Votes: 8 20.5%

  • Both

    Votes: 23 59.0%
  • Total voters
    39
Paul

Paul

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2013
Messages
4,977
Location
Toronto,Ontario
Just wondering what our members are using . :)

There is always pros and cons on either system....which system would you prefer ?
 
I need both, tubes for pure enjoyment, SS for all day music without the worry.
 
Have SS, looking for some tubes to try, mostly in the preamp area.
 
I have the McIntosh C1000 [solid state plus tube] and C2500 + 6 pairs of MC2301s. I am a fan of tubes mostly.
 
Paul.......My living room system has a tube preamplifier (C2300) and a pair of solid state power amplifiers (MC601). The studio system is the opposite. There I use a solid state preamplifier (C1000C/P) and a pair of tube power amplifiers (MC2301). Even my vintage system integrated amp uses a solid state preamplifier and a tube power amplifier (MA230). I like the way tubes and solid state compliment each other in the systems.
 
SS and digital. I want to listen to music, not mess with gear, at least at this point in my life.

However, when I was in the Navy, 69-73, I repaired a tube based airborne radar. I have to admit, I did get a kick out of troubleshooting a piece of gear on the bench and it would go up in flames. :)
 
Got a love the tube :)

LL
 
I used to have a mix of tubes and solid state in my first really high end system which comprised a Boulder 1060 amp & modified Ayon CD-5s with NOS tubes as my front end/linestage. That was an excellent combination as the bass and dynamics of the Ayon player matched well with the prodigious bass of my Boulder, whilst the Ayon added tube virtues of warmth, sweetness & tube holography. Though I was always conscious that the tubes needed time to warm up. In the end, I got a bit tired of counting tube hours and baby sitting spare NOS tubes. Tube amps as we know are not maintenance-free. But a chance audition at my Dealer's showroom where I heard a simple setup with a Vitus SIA-025, SCD-010, Magico Q1's & Siltech Royal Sig series cables changed all that. The sound was incredibly pure, coherent, tube-like and resolving. It sounded analogue-like in the way presented live music...very unlike any digital source i'd heard before (including my Ayon). I actually walked away from that audition with a bad gut feeling as I had the opportunity to buy a mint 2nd hand Vitus SIA-025 before I went for the Boulder. That audition directly led to me selling off my old system & building my current system around the S5's.
 
Here we have 3 x MC2301s amplifiers, a C1000T pre-amplifier, Denon AVPA1HDA pre-amplifier and Denon POAA1HDA multi-ch amplifier.

2-ch is tube driven, multi-ch is tube and SS, whereby the rear surrounds are driven by the SS amp.
 
Tube pre and SS power...because both kinds at once makes the listening experience a threesome!
 
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