"Sander deWaal" wrote in message

"Arny Krueger" said:

First tell me why unmasked noise from the front (tubes, vinyl) is
somehow better.

Because it's not noticeable at the listening position.

Sorry to hear about your hearing disability. Sander.

My valve power amps have inaudible hiss and hum even if you put your
head right next to a 989.

My hybrids have 80 dB S/N at 20Veff out (1 x E288CC in SRPP, 2 x
SJ50/2 x SK135 per channel).

20 volts rms is AKA 50 wpc 8 ohm load if its well below (at least 1 dB)
clipping. Of course you didn't say whether the 20 volts is peak,
peak-to-peak, RMS and how far below clipping and at what range of
frequencies. IOW, its a meaningless claim as stated.

For reference purposes lets consider
http://www.pcavtech.com/pwramp/macrot-5000VZ/

Note the -114 dB zero signal noise below 400 watts @ 0.005% THD @ 1 Khz.

That is approximately 105 dB below 50 watts. 25 dB better, AKA *lots*.

My tube amps have 74 dB S/N at 12 Veff/4 ohms (2 x 6SN7 floating
paraphase + driver stage, 2 x KT88 in triode per channel).

Even worse than the hybrid.

That is with the preamp in place, gain fully open (1 x ECC82 CCS, no
cathode bypass).

Pretty grim.

Phono preamp has about 62 dB S/N (2 x CV4004/ECC83, passive RIAA
inbetween), mostly pink noise, so not annoying.

Insufficient data for a reasonable comparison.

In all cases without phono, noise and/or hum isn't noticeable with the
ears in the speakers.

Substandard power levels and/or lack of comparable statistics noted.

With the phono stage in place, noise and/or hum isn't noticeable at
the listening position, and some noise is audible with my ears in the
speakers.

Substandard power levels and/or lack of comparable statistics noted.

Hum is below 80 dB (can't measure better than that at this moment).

Get back when you have the stuff it takes to play, thank you.

Devil, next time try that with a power amp with more than 5 wpc, and
oh by the way turn it on BEFORE not after the listening test. Since
you admit to using "snake oil capacitors" it is therefore a proven
fact that you also use snake oil electrical power.

A KT88 push pull in triode will deliver more than 5 watts.

So will a cheap IC using a scrap power supply from a laptop.

The average wattage (voltage, actually) in an average room at average
listening volumes ( 75...80 dB SPL) will be mostly in the 1...5 watt
range with average sensitive speakers (88 dB/w/m).

Good for people who have zero interest in coming even vaguely close to live
music levels for an energetic string quartet... Next time I'm recording one,
I'll measure the SPL generated by a solo violin or flute. I bet they can top
90 dB @ 3 feet.