who needs tubes....

[zebra50]

when you can have one of these....



"s you can see from the photo's when the radio is switched on all three of the valves light up, very realistic look great in the dark"

[thermionic]

"Steepletone"? Is that a recognised audiophile brand? Fake tubes? Y'know I've a suspicion they could sell a few units, gimmicks can sell, just ask Dr Bose [img]graemlins/silly.gif[/img]

I had a funny experience yesterday... Part of my job involves demo-ing stuff to hi-fi dealers. So I go to a central London dealer. I'm sitting in the demo-room amongst the most outlandish gear I could imagine. Dealer starts wiring-up a turntable to demo the device I have and states: "This is the cheapest mc cartridge we sell, only Ģ1500". I say to him "Do you have any solid-state gear, everything here is valve-based", he replies "Our market prefers valves" and starts to recite cliches associated with valves vs solid-state. I reply "Tim de P has gone on record as stating that he can make valve gear that's just as linear as solid-state, he designs valve-gear for market factors and is equally happy designing in either medium". Dealer replies "Ah yes, our clients have complained that the EAR valve amps sound too clinical...".

I reckon T d P is doing his job too well, when have you heard a trans-coupled valve amp that's "too clinical"?

You can't win in the hi-fi market, you really can't [img]graemlins/silly.gif[/img]

Justin

[Mark Burnley]

>Insert shaking-of-head graemlin here<

Oh man, that's a worrying story. Well, I'm glad I do pro-audio design rather than hifi design. Even though I am rebuilding an old Armstrong hifi amp at the moment... but I'll keep hifi as a hobby!

How many audiophools own measuring equipment...oh never mind... [img]graemlins/silly.gif[/img]

Mark

[microx]

Some of them have tape measures.Some can even use them without a manual.
Steve

[clintrubber]

gimmicks can sell, just ask Dr Bose

Ain't that a big s up for their PR-dept ? ;)

[ March 11, 2004, 03:52 PM: Message edited by: Peter Vermeeren ]

[Bear's Gone Fission]

Y'know, I actually was thinking of having a tube warmer / space-heater on top of a rack with solid state gear inside, just some filament voltage to the tubes, just to get oohs and ahs about how "warm" a 5532 filled device was. In a commercial product it's a scam, in DIY it's a good joke on those who listen with their eyes.

Bear

[Mark Burnley]

Yea,

Keith did something like that years ago with a Pultec. The slow-turn-on convinced the user it was fully "tubular":

Solid State Pultes



Mark

[PRR]

> having a tube warmer / space-heater on top of a rack with solid state gear inside, just some filament voltage to the tubes, just to get oohs and ahs about how "warm" a 5532 filled device was. In a commercial product it's a scam, in DIY it's a good joke on those who listen with their eyes.

I run a pair of ART "Tube Channels" as preamps for a stereo-pair concert recording system. I tried and bypassed the EQ and limiter (good, but not right for my use). I futzed with the "tube sound" control a lot. When I was done, I had a tap wire soldered to an internal point and it sounded VERY good. I powered-down to put the rack back, and when I powered-up I got sound instantly. Yup, I'd bypassed the tubes and was happier that way, in semi-blind listening. (I wasn't quite sure where I was tapping-out my signal.)

[Ammitsboel]

I reckon T d P is doing his job too well, when have you heard a trans-coupled valve amp that's "too clinical"?

You are both right and wrong.
The most revealing tube amps on the marked serdently do not helps the sound in any way, but they cost a "shid load" of money!!
What we have with transistors and Tim de P's design is an attemp to achive this with lesser quality components and some redesign(compromises in design to compensate for the type of components used). I can understant by many reasons that a listener wouldn't wan't a system like that.

If i was "just" a listener to music(Hifi-nerd), I would most serdently choose a standart tube amp with a very simple circuit design and live with the warm color simply because it sounds more natural instead of buying an attemp to sound more "correct" witch those devices most serdently do not do.

This is just my experimence...

Best Regards,

[Kev]

Originally posted by thermionic:
... gimmicks can sell, just ask Dr Bose [img]graemlins/silly.gif[/img]

:D
No Highs No Lows ... must be BOSE

Beter
Off
Somwhere
Else