Dear Rodents,
If you could only have either one Tube preamp or one Tube Power Amp (pick
one) and the other has to be solid state. Which would you pick and why? I
may have to make that decision shortly and I'll explain in a subsequent
post.
Cordially,
west

"west" wrote in message
. ..
Dear Rodents,
If you could only have either one Tube preamp or one Tube Power Amp (pick
one) and the other has to be solid state. Which would you pick and why? I
may have to make that decision shortly and I'll explain in a subsequent
post.
Cordially,
west


The question didn't include enough detail to be answered.
What is the primary soucre, digital or Vinyl? If Vinyl, what kind of
cartridge, high or low output?
What are the speakers? Are they efficent or not?
The answer would be dependent on where you wanted to spend your money (I am
assuming that you are limiting your choices due to budget constraints).

--
Alan Gallacher
Born to Tinker!

IMHO the "real" advantage of tube units comes out when they are interfaced
with an electro-mechanic device (loudspeaker). These are definitely not a
resistive load, and probably ALL amps operate at awful phase angles in the
real world, but tubed ones seem to behave better (or at least to produce
less annoying distortion byproducts). A pre-amp is not loaded by
mechanical work, and the ease of implementing all gizmos and obtaining good
S/N provided by solid-state is a plus.
BTW, my pre is a tubed one: a single ECC81, cathode-follower, which acts
just as an impedance buffer, just to add something to a simple rotary input
switch and a volume knob.
It is so easy and cheap that it should be easy to add it later on.

Let us know about the success of Your hybrid solution

Ciao

Fabio



"west" ha scritto nel messaggio
. ..
Dear Rodents,
If you could only have either one Tube preamp or one Tube Power Amp (pick
one) and the other has to be solid state. Which would you pick and why? I
may have to make that decision shortly and I'll explain in a subsequent
post.
Cordially,
west

west wrote:

Dear Rodents,
If you could only have either one Tube preamp or one Tube Power Amp (pick
one) and the other has to be solid state. Which would you pick and why? I
may have to make that decision shortly and I'll explain in a subsequent
post.
Cordially,
west

Nobody has yet forced me into the longboat to sail away
after a mutiny and after forcing me to choose amps before
I depart the captain's cabin.

I'd grab a tube power amp, and grab a SS preamp.
At least that way I'd know the sound would be basically tubatious, and a
product
of mainly class A action, since that's my main prefered choice.
The SS preamp forced on me would also be class A, even if it has decent
opamps.
and perhaps be listenable.

I might steal the ships soldering iron and a parts bin, and
work on the SS amp during calm windless days when my sails fail
to take me to a port where I could inform the authorities of the imfamy I
have befallen.

Its possible I might come to a desert isle with a lone babe who is a good
cook,
and of tolerable disposition, and as long as there's a power point, we
wouldn't have to
rely on singing to each other, which might be a relief to us both.

Patrick Turner.

On Tue, 12 Apr 2005 16:55:57 GMT, "Fabio Berutti"
wrote:

IMHO the "real" advantage of tube units comes out when they are interfaced
with an electro-mechanic device (loudspeaker). These are definitely not a
resistive load, and probably ALL amps operate at awful phase angles in the
real world, but tubed ones seem to behave better (or at least to produce
less annoying distortion byproducts). A pre-amp is not loaded by
mechanical work, and the ease of implementing all gizmos and obtaining good
S/N provided by solid-state is a plus.
BTW, my pre is a tubed one: a single ECC81, cathode-follower, which acts
just as an impedance buffer, just to add something to a simple rotary input
switch and a volume knob.
It is so easy and cheap that it should be easy to add it later on.

Interestingly, I would go exactly the opposite route, but for the same
quoted reasons! SS power amps are much more likely to behave like good
voltage sources, regeradless of the horrible dips and twists of the
impedance curve of the speakers, whereas a preamp has a relatively
easy life loadwise, and tubes have good overload capacity in preamps.

There have been many excellent hybrid power amps using tubed input and
voltage amp stages with SS output sections, but AFAIK there have been
*no* top-class hybrids with SS input stages and tubed outputs.

--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering

Stewart Pinkerton wrote:

There have been many excellent hybrid power amps using tubed input and
voltage amp stages with SS output sections, but AFAIK there have been
*no* top-class hybrids with SS input stages and tubed outputs.

How would you rate an ARC M300 then? ( http://www.arcdb.ws/M300/M300.html )

Regards,
Kimjand

in article , west at
wrote on 4/12/05 8:08 AM:

Dear Rodents,
If you could only have either one Tube preamp or one Tube Power Amp (pick
one) and the other has to be solid state. Which would you pick and why? I
may have to make that decision shortly and I'll explain in a subsequent
post.
Cordially,
west


It's hard to address this kind of question without having more info (from
you) & (me) making a lot of qualifications.

Under the circumstances, I can offer a vague and indirect response based
upon my listening experience.

I've tested a variety of tubed power amps. Some sounded good; others
didn't. The choice of preamp I used didn't make a bad power amp better.

Some tubed preamps I tested sounded lousy, such as the a Dynaco PAS (both
before and after a Van Alstine mod).

I didn't particularly like the sound of an early SS Mcintosh preamp with any
tube amp I used. It was mediocre, so I sold it.

A Hafler 100 or 110 preamp sounded good with any tubed final amplifier I
tried. The Hafler seemed the most neutral compared to the other preamps.

Comparing my impressions of a tubed McIntosh MX110 vs. a SS Hafler 110, the
Hafler was more versatile and perhaps drier and more "accurate" - like a gin
martini. The Mac was less tight and somewhat "warmer" - like a martini with
a good dash of vermouth.

Hiccup . . . . .


Jon

On Tue, 12 Apr 2005 18:17:37 +0000 (UTC), Stewart Pinkerton
wrote:

There have been many excellent hybrid power amps using tubed input and
voltage amp stages with SS output sections,

I like my Counterpoint SA-220 - tube voltage gain, MOSFET outputs.

AFAIK there have been *no* top-class hybrids with SS input stages and
tubed outputs

McIntosh MA230. I used to have one - sounded great into stacked Quad 57s

Reduced to the minimum: I'd say if using CD as the source, tube power
amp (the CD player being the preamp): if vinyl, tube pre. Although
both solid state and tube units work well or poorly for either, the
tube advantage is in the electromechanical interface, per Hamm.