I am curious to know what people opinion/experience has been in comparing the following scenarios:
A) Tube Pre-amp w/ Tube Power amp
B) Tube Pre-amp w/ Solid State Power amp
C) Solid State Pre-amp w/ Solid State Power amp
D) Solid State Pre-amp w/ Tube Power amp
I have always enjoyed Tubes but have been considering replacing my tube pre-amp and going w/ a solid state pre.
I am a fan of tubes. The least I will do in my own system is a tube pre with a solid state amp. I am a fan of tube amps as as well, Nick & I were discussing this earlier today. The sound of tubes is sweet but the real charm is the "intensity" of music. There is so much more energy from a tube amp, it's hard to explain but there seems to be more dynamics & impact from a really good tube amp IMO.
I've tried all the combinations and I think that the best for most people might be the tube preamp and a warm solid state amp simply because of the longevity of power tubes is limited. It can be expensive to routinely replace tubes in high power amplifiers. Soundwise, I like my current system the best of all the ones I've had - using tubes and SS amps together in a biamped system. But I find that I don't use my big system for backgound music now as much as when I had a big SS amp that didn't burn tube life. Preamp tubes are cheap and last a long time so I never worried about using them up.
What do you expect to improve by swapping to a solid state pre?
Quote from: Lil' Kim Jong-Il on January 08, 2007, 10:01:22 PM
What do you expect to improve by swapping to a solid state pre?
Less noise.
If you hear audible noise, you might need new tubes or have some other issue.
I know that some designs have noise. I had a CJ PV7 that had a very high noise floor and CJ said that it was a triat of that unit. In contrast the PV14 with mullards is silent with the gain all the way up.
Mike, what do you mean by stability?
Quote from: Lil' Kim Jong-Il on January 10, 2007, 10:16:42 PM
Mike, what do you mean by stability?
I was wondering the same thing. All my tube equipment has been very stable. Tubes can fail but the electronics are rarely affected.
"eh"
there are some aspects that are worth a trade off here and there Mike.
the tube pre > SS amp setup is pretty sweet. I especially enjoy the tube pre > class D amp sound. tube presentation w/SS "UMPH" and ultimate bass control of whatever fuzzy bottom comes off those tubes.
Good stuff.
I'm w/ya on the integrated amp approach though. Plinius and Krell have always been on my "sooner or later" list.
Nope, you should definitely turn tubes off but once they warm up they are stable. Plus if you have an auto bias amp they are even more stable & the bias is adjusted as the tube wears.