What type of amps do you use? Tube? Solid State? Both? Hybrid?

[Mike]

Tube
Solid State
Both
Hybrid

Vote above.

 

[Garth]

I have both I use soild state

 

[joeinid]

Every few weeks to a month, I rotate through my amps.

 

[bzr]

Tubes on the mids & treble, ss on the generators

 

[Mike]

One of our members asked me to run a poll....so please vote!

 

[FlexibleAudio]

Hybrid gets better gas mileage.

 

[PMCH]

I prefer solid state.

 

[Dpod4]

Solid State. Tubes threw too much heat, couldn't grip my Magicos well enough, and many great SS exist now that have delicacy and spaciousness of tubes.

 

[cmalak]

Tubes

 

[jdandy]

> Tube preamp on solid state power amps

> Solid state preamp on tube power amps

> Solid state preamp/tube power amp integrated amp

> Solid state pre/pro on solid state amps

 

[dlb2]

Tubes Rule!

 

[a.wayne]

Tube rule or tube drool.

 

[XV-1]

Both T and S

 

[dan31]

Straight SS Spectral in the main system. Tube OTL for headphones and old pre is tube with SS amp for 2 channel HT.

 

[MusicDirector]

All I have is solid state, but I would like to try a hybrid or even just a tube someday.

 

[FlexibleAudio]

To my ears even-order harmonic distortion (tubes) is overall more musical than odd-order (SS) but tubes are limited in damping and the grunt required by many of todays modern speaker designs.

Therefore my plan has been to use tubes for the itty-bitty phono signal and turn it over to SS for the heavy lifting.

If I ever were to do a second system it would be all SET with the required high efficiency box speakers. (At the speed I put together systems don't hold your breath.)

 

[Golucid]

Mike, as you know, huge tube fan. I own six McIntosh MC2301s.

BUT!

I recently also purchased the McIntosh MC402 Solid State for fun.

 

[Audio 1]

Solid state amp w/tube pre.

 

[asindc]

Tube pre
SS amps

 

[Mike Lavigne]

I use solid state.....but prefer tubes mostly.

just saying 'solid state' leaves a very incomplete picture.

over a 20 year period I went from mega solid state -> OTL mid powered tubes -> mega watt tube/ss hybrid -> minimalist modest powered solid state with zero global feedback and minimal parts count that sounded 'like tubes' -> to mega watt solid state with zero global feedback and even lower parts count in the signal path.

my experience with OTL tube amps showed me that tubes can be linear throughout the frequency range and not rolled off or rounded. but the right solid state could also do that and yet have a lower noise floor and greater dynamic grip....given the right speaker to drive.

if I listed my top 10 favorite amps 8 of them would be tube amps.

I like solid state amps that have tube attributes. and that is what I use.

I use a solid state pre with those same perspectives. and low noise floor is particularly advantageous with a preamp.