On Sat, 11 Oct 2003 16:24:19 -0400, "Sugarite"
wrote:

However I would discourage you from going without a tube preamp, which
offers a lot of the tube saturation coloration, a big part of the tube
sound. Having had so much fun swapping preamp tubes and customizing it for
my tastes, I think it's daft to avoid that component. I'd be much more
inclined to have a tube preamp and solid state poweramp.

I'd rather hear what the artist(s) intended.

Please don't even start with that naive and over-debated point of view. You
going to buy a different stereo for each album? Or carry a variety of
studio monitors? Renovate your house to have a variety of sound rooms?

That's pretty much what *you* are suggesting, isn't it? You want to
lay the *same* coloured wash over *all* your music. It might suit
some, but it won't suit all of them. Seems like a no-brainer to keep
the reproduction system as neutral as possible, if high fidelity is
your aim.

Furthermore, if you're a proponent of "absolute accuracy", what the hell are
you here for? There is no tube circuit that doesn't put some flavor on the
sound. Go join your misguided friends on the class A solid-state forums.

Hey dip****, take a look at the header. 'Here' for me is
rec.audio.tech, not RAT. ON rec.audio.tech, maximum accuracy is pretty
much the name of the game. BTW, what happened to the generally
pleasant atmosphere of RAT? WTF are *you* doing here? :-)

Tube saturation coloration? I love it when people don't have a clue what
they are talking about... :-(

Guess that makes you a narcisist. Ask any mastering engineer how tube
saturation affects sound.

Well now, that's the point, isn't it? It *affects* the sound. A good
reproduction system does *not* affect the sound.
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering