I made the switch from an all tube system to a mostly SS system over 6 months ago. The only tubes remaining in my system are my Ampex 350s which are only used when I play back R2R tapes. As most of you are aware, I’m using all Krell electronics for phono, preamp, and power amp (KPE Reference phono stage, KBL preamp, and KSA-250 amp). I sent both the KBL and the KSA-250 back to Krell to be repaired and recapped and received them back in October 2011.
What I have gained in my switch from tubes to SS is less noise, more power, and much greater control and extension in the bottom two octaves. These are all highly desirable traits for any stereo system. The question is, what did I give up? As we all know, there are always tradeoffs in this hobby of ours and nothing comes “free.” Tubes have a certain gestalt and magic in the vital midrange and I find that somewhat lacking with my current electronics. Tubes seem to convey a sense of liveness in the midrange that is somewhat lacking with my current electronics. I don’t want to say the SS electronics sound *dead* by comparison, but maybe the patient is somewhat green around the gills.
And I say this as someone who would love to have it all, but I don’t think that is possible. Tube amps are pretty damn quiet, but they aren’t the last word in bass extension and control. Tube preamps can be very quiet until the tubes start going south which can be when the wind blows. Tube phono stages are another bag of worms and you can’t really use low output cartridges with them unless there are SUTs or FETs in front of the tubes. But, on a day when the moon, stars, and planets are all in alignment and hum and noise seems to have disappeared for the here and now, they sure can sound magical.
I wish I could do some type of surgical audio graft and have the best of both worlds. Some people thought that hybrid amps would be that graft, but I don’t think it has proven to be so. You would be hard-pressed though to find either a modern tube line stage or power amp that didn’t have SS devices driving the input tubes and/or power output tubes. Both VTL and ARC gear has mucho SS in the signal path of their tube gear. So even die-hard tube guys who would be sooner be caught cheating on their wives with the bearded lady from the freak show at the local state fair have to admit that they are most probably listening through SS before it hits their tubes.
It’s a conundrum said the King.
What I have gained in my switch from tubes to SS is less noise, more power, and much greater control and extension in the bottom two octaves. These are all highly desirable traits for any stereo system. The question is, what did I give up? As we all know, there are always tradeoffs in this hobby of ours and nothing comes “free.” Tubes have a certain gestalt and magic in the vital midrange and I find that somewhat lacking with my current electronics. Tubes seem to convey a sense of liveness in the midrange that is somewhat lacking with my current electronics. I don’t want to say the SS electronics sound *dead* by comparison, but maybe the patient is somewhat green around the gills.
And I say this as someone who would love to have it all, but I don’t think that is possible. Tube amps are pretty damn quiet, but they aren’t the last word in bass extension and control. Tube preamps can be very quiet until the tubes start going south which can be when the wind blows. Tube phono stages are another bag of worms and you can’t really use low output cartridges with them unless there are SUTs or FETs in front of the tubes. But, on a day when the moon, stars, and planets are all in alignment and hum and noise seems to have disappeared for the here and now, they sure can sound magical.
I wish I could do some type of surgical audio graft and have the best of both worlds. Some people thought that hybrid amps would be that graft, but I don’t think it has proven to be so. You would be hard-pressed though to find either a modern tube line stage or power amp that didn’t have SS devices driving the input tubes and/or power output tubes. Both VTL and ARC gear has mucho SS in the signal path of their tube gear. So even die-hard tube guys who would be sooner be caught cheating on their wives with the bearded lady from the freak show at the local state fair have to admit that they are most probably listening through SS before it hits their tubes.
It’s a conundrum said the King.
.
