"Bret Ludwig" wrote in message
oups.com
wrote:
Let's say you have a tube amp without phono.
If you consider a phono preamp, would you more likely go
for tube phono preamp? Then, why?
What would you think is a best tube phono preamp at
under $400?
Or, a solid state phono preamp would be equally good? If
you think so, what would you think is a best solid state
phono preamp that would work well with a tube amp at
under $400?
There are two schools of thought or maybe three.
At least one of those so-called schools of thought is grotesquely flawed,
not to say a whole lot obsolete:
One is that the most necessary place for tubes is at the
mechanical/electrical interface
How wrong can one get? In Y2K tubes have only one technically-justified
role, and that is as a generator of EFX in production and musical instrument
applications.
and for the best pursuit
of that view, read the seminal and undefeated JAES paper,
Tubes or Transistors-Is There A Difference? by Russell O.
Hamm. It's readily avalable.
Hamm's paper is also readily debunkable. How this POS ever made the pages of
the JAES is one of those mysteries that has never been revealed to me. It
was a highly-biased, out-of-date work on the day it was submitted to the AES
review board, and it only gets worse with time.
Less readily available but
worth seeking for fairness is his follow up on solid
state.
Fairness? Hamm's paper is a classic example of why advocates of a
technology that has passed out of the mainstream should not be allowed to
control comparisons with new technology. The simplistic, poorly-chosen and
poorly-designed SS circuits that Hamm used in his paper as reference
standards were not representative of the best generally-accepted practice
for the use of SS devices, either then or now.
He later amended his views somewhat, but not completely.
Just another example of how intellectual honesty can be elusive once a small
man hits the big time.
Ignore bozos, especially automotive engineers
with nothing better to do, that advocate Hamm be thrown
out on the basis of later devices.
Note the gratuitous personal attack, which disqualifes its source as a
person who is interested in reasoned discussions.
Newer transistors have
better parameters but are still subject to the same laws
of physics.
Both tubes and transistors can still be misapplied and abused with a poor
choice of operational parameters, as Hamm did so many decades back.
The other is that the noise figure and precision of RIAA
performance is unequalled using modern solid state
devices,
A grain of truth shows through.
and for the best exploration of this view see
the relatively recent AudioXPress articles by Norman
Thagard, engineer and astronaut.
Here's Norman Thagard's resume
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/thagard.html resume. Note the absence
of relevant education and experience, except in the most general sense.
Note that Thagard's design credits mostly realate to tweaking some Nelson
Pass designs. Thagard's major contribution is his name.
My take on it is either works ok, but the best tube phono
section I have ever heard is the design published in
Elektor BV's magazine and in a book by the German author,
Rainer zur Linde. It will drive most any pre or most tube
and many solid state amps directly, and its sonic
qualities are unexcelled with certain cartridges at
least. It is a simple circuit. It is not expensive or
difficult to build.
Most modern high end preamps feature phono sections that
are quiet but in my opinion do not sound particularly
good.
Spoken like a true tube bigot.
I actually prefer the venerable Shure head amp,
used in every radio station for thirty years and
practically giveaway items today, to some VERY expensive
high end saloon offerings. Of the vintage ones the
marantz 7 and Mac C22, nearly identical, are best.
Note that there is no single device that can be called a "Shure head amp".
There are among others, the SE1, the M60, the M61, M64, etc. Some are tubed,
and some are solid state. There's even the M66 which is a passive RIAA
equalizer.
BTW, the Shure SE1 bears further investigation by tubophiles, on paper it
looks like a true high end device.
Try both and make your own decision.
First, try to find a well- informed source.