Tube , Solid State or Both ?
- Thread starter Paul
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Toobs
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Tubes. McIntosh Mc275VI + c220
mep
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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.
Bud-You are a hoot! So before the days when you were blowing up your own stereo gear, you used to blow up radar gear?
Which plane are you talking about?
BlueFox
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cmalak
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Cyril, Have you ever post your system pic yet ?
Paul...here you go...I am waiting for the day when I can have a dedicated room but for now this will have to do:
jdandy
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Cyril.......Very attractive sound system. That's the first time I have ever seen a photo of it. Looking good.
So I see lot of people prefers mixes in their system. ( Tube pre plus SS amp ) What about the hybrid gear ? any thought ? ( e.g : Tenor , Pathos ..etc)
Hi Paul,
I really like how the hybrid preamps I've owned have worked with SS power amps. Both the ARC SP-11 that I ran for five years and now the Aesthetix Calypso Signature provide just the right amount of tube goodness / richness for me when paired with a variety of SS power amps. Would love to hear how the Aesthetix Atlas hybrid power amp would sound in my setup. Maybe one day.
Nice Cyril! Does the 110 get enough ventilation? Those Thiel's are a great speaker.
cmalak
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Thanks Mike and Mike...
MikeCh...The gear rack is Salamander's Synergy line of racks. I just did the framing and shelving. It's highly customizable. You can add panels to the sides and back and doors to the fronts, as well as lighting, media storage drawers for CDs, and many other accessories.
Mike...the Ref110 gets plenty of ventilation. There's a good 3 inches above it and the casing of the Ref 110 is perforated on the top and sides so it's getting ventilated from all sides.
MikeCh...The gear rack is Salamander's Synergy line of racks. I just did the framing and shelving. It's highly customizable. You can add panels to the sides and back and doors to the fronts, as well as lighting, media storage drawers for CDs, and many other accessories.
Mike...the Ref110 gets plenty of ventilation. There's a good 3 inches above it and the casing of the Ref 110 is perforated on the top and sides so it's getting ventilated from all sides.
Definitely both, some hybrids too. Tube SS hybrids (Lamm and Aesthetix) and SS Tube hybrids (KR as in That's a toob! KR). I have amps that I decided never to sell. There's my old BAT VK-150s and my old Lamm ML1.1, both 6c33 based. I have DIY set amps too. 300B w mercy rectifiers, used to have a 2a3, now still own 300B parallels which I use on my 95dB sensitive Ambiance ribbon speakers. Lots of preamps and phono stages but I've never had a DAC with a tube output stage. The Lampis look tasty especially since I do have WE 300Bs, RCA 2a3s and have easy access to 45s and 50s since my cousin has a stash but no longer has amps for them. I'm a KR dealer too so ditto their DHTs. Conversely, I've never had a serious solid state phono stage. I've had a couple of very basic, wall wart powered units from Dynavector and Clearaudio. They disappeared the day the VK-P10 arrived then the LP2, then the Valvet Soulphono then the LP2.1. The CH Precision P1 will be the first.
For my HT I use a VK 31 SE (tube) S-pack and a VK-6200. In the upstairs family area surround sound amps are some ancient Proceed BPAs.
Currently I'm running all SS in the main system. CH D1,C1, L1, M1s with X1s for the D1,C1, L1 and a module ready for the future P1. In a sense I've come full circle. a little over a decade ago I was all SS. A full Levinson 3 series system and even a 4 series amp anchored that system. I moved away from SS because there were things particularly with regard to natural texture of low level notes that tubes simply did better. 3 years ago something started happening in SS land and that gap got narrowed, narrowed A LOT. It's not just CH. Before I went with CH I had already noticed this with newer class A amps but more surprisingly I was hearing it in big A/B amps from the likes of DAG, Esoteric, Luxman and Constellation more or less busting up my bias (pun intended) for Class A ZFNB designs. I was agonized between Viola's Bravo and CH's M1 for a long time. I felt these two both hit all my buttons. I went with CH because they had a number of things non-SQ related that resonated and fit my personality more. When you've been a bottle head for so long, flexibility is a hard thing to give up. Tube roll anyone? The CH allows me to do quite a bit of tailoring and I like that!
Call me greedy but I love them all in their own ways. What's more accurate? I don't really care. Following musical lines with ease from the highest notes to the lowest, including ambience and long reverberation, that to me is more important. IMO if one is to follow this criteria it is a recipe for natural, realistic, balanced sound. Masking for me is a huge no-no. When you can't follow that soft violin sustain while everything is going on it is a sign that the system is not tracking voltage swings like they should. The good examples of both now do so extremely well at low wattage which is what most of our listening time requires.
Like having a car with a good engine however, it's always comforting to know that you'll have enough power should you need it.
For my HT I use a VK 31 SE (tube) S-pack and a VK-6200. In the upstairs family area surround sound amps are some ancient Proceed BPAs.
Currently I'm running all SS in the main system. CH D1,C1, L1, M1s with X1s for the D1,C1, L1 and a module ready for the future P1. In a sense I've come full circle. a little over a decade ago I was all SS. A full Levinson 3 series system and even a 4 series amp anchored that system. I moved away from SS because there were things particularly with regard to natural texture of low level notes that tubes simply did better. 3 years ago something started happening in SS land and that gap got narrowed, narrowed A LOT. It's not just CH. Before I went with CH I had already noticed this with newer class A amps but more surprisingly I was hearing it in big A/B amps from the likes of DAG, Esoteric, Luxman and Constellation more or less busting up my bias (pun intended) for Class A ZFNB designs. I was agonized between Viola's Bravo and CH's M1 for a long time. I felt these two both hit all my buttons. I went with CH because they had a number of things non-SQ related that resonated and fit my personality more. When you've been a bottle head for so long, flexibility is a hard thing to give up. Tube roll anyone? The CH allows me to do quite a bit of tailoring and I like that!
Call me greedy but I love them all in their own ways. What's more accurate? I don't really care. Following musical lines with ease from the highest notes to the lowest, including ambience and long reverberation, that to me is more important. IMO if one is to follow this criteria it is a recipe for natural, realistic, balanced sound. Masking for me is a huge no-no. When you can't follow that soft violin sustain while everything is going on it is a sign that the system is not tracking voltage swings like they should. The good examples of both now do so extremely well at low wattage which is what most of our listening time requires.
Like having a car with a good engine however, it's always comforting to know that you'll have enough power should you need it.