Thanks B-Man,

At least someone understood the point I was trying make.

Those of you tube-a-holics or afficianados (whichever you prefer) enjoy your tube amps. They are nice sounding when well designed (as I have said many times previous in this thread).

Those of you that are wanting the best performance dollar for dollar, stick with the higher end solid-state unless you just prefer antiquated technology because it's pretty and glows.

Another New Owner,

If you think that tubes sound better then you are listening to the right amp because psycho-acoustics have alot to do with perception of good sound. However, if you truly believe they reproduce cleaner (or more musically as I believe the saying goes) and can tell the difference in a blind test. Well you really should take Richard Clark's amp challenge. Keep in mind though that every single golden ear that has taken it so far has failed misserably.

 

I went back to tubes following a thirty year absence. The turnabout came when I discovered that a $20 garage-sale HK from the early '60s could outperform my Luxman separates. The Luxman gear had been the "end of the road" for me and followed a long succession of equipment such as Hafler, Yamaha, GAS, Levinson (class A), McIntosh (solid state) and many other brands. I kept the tuner, but everything else hit the auction block within a month. Since then I've designed my own amplifiers, surpassing the HK in the process. If anyone here is insulted by my experience, I suggest professional help.

Incidentally, I have several CDs that exhibit a higher noise floor than their otherwise identical vinyl counterparts from the '60s and '70s. One also has the phase reversed between left and right channels and is nearly unlistenable. Apparently, the medium is very much secondary to production quality, and I can tell you that the latter has suffered a steady decline during the last two decades. Of course, most folks don't know that; they've been listening through solid state.

 

I very much enjoy LP listening if the correct cartridge is used in combination with a high quality turntable. You can also get some truly remarkable LP recordings from Mapleshade.

I will not get into the debate between CD vs. LP because there are way way way too many variables to be considered. I will say that you can have both audiophile quality and subpar quality with either media. I have had a few LP's that for some reason just were not as dynamic as their CD counterparts and vice versa. I think that with the introduction of SACD, LPs may soon be on their way out. However, I personally have not yet auditioned the new SACD players so I can't elaborate much on that.

AnotherNewOwner,

I still think you should take Richard Clark's amp challenge. At worst you walk away out $100 and at best you walk away $10k richer. Keep in mind the test is done blind so you factor out the Psycho-acoutic factor. The beauty of Richard Clark's challenge is that he will allow you to use any speakers, any amps, any source unit, and any recording format you want. The only stipulations are both amps must play through the same speakers, only using the amplification portion (no processors built in and if they are they will be bypassed) in other words comparing amplifier to amplifier. Anyway, you have such great ears I am sure you can win it.

 

Unless he's trying to perpetuate a big joke, the esteemed Steve Mantz of Zed Audio, undoubtedly one of the most knowledgeable and experienced people in audio, and who has designed some of the finest car audio amps ever, has tube amps in the works. It's posted on the Zed Audio site. I sure hope he doesn't insult anyone's intelligence in the process.

 

I just want to give a summary of my observations over the years.

When tube amp gurus are asked to take blind tests they dance around the issue with if's but's and how come. This again has been proven as my repeated request to take the amp challenge has just been so obviously ignored.

Audiophiles that actually have taken the solid-state vs tube amp blind listening tests to this point have been unable to discern which is which more than 50-60% of the time (which by scientific reason concludes there is no audible difference). In those tests some of these tube gurus have even chosen the solid state to sound better (but again the results are inconclusive).

All lab tests conducted thus far have proven distortion levels in solid-state amps are much lower than levels found in tube amps (assuming both amps are of equal quality).

Market research proves that tube amps are much more expensive than a solid-state amp (which just so happens to offer more output power than a tube).

Tubes can be made into very beautiful amps and make a very nice conversation piece (look at some of the Audio Art amps they are truly works of art).

In the price vs. performance category tubes will lose every time.

Am I mistaken on any of these statements? Not your opinion if I am mistaken but factually mistaken.