From tubes to solid state--your experiences?

Pianist1

Well-Known Member
I had solid state amps all my life until 2016 when I bought a PrimaLuna Premium Dialogue HP integrated, which replaced my Pass Labs INT 150. I thought I was in audio heaven until some tubes went bad (thermal noise, loud popping sound, etc.), and I felt frustrated in not being able to leave it on all day for fear of burning out more tubes, so I sold it and bought a McIntosh MA9000. I was worried that I'd miss the PL's warmth and richness, but that turned out not to be the case. I notice very little loss of warmth but a big gain in clarity and details. Plus, I'm not plagued by tube rolling (there's always a "better" tube combo--it's a lot harder to "transistor roll"!!) and I can leave it on all day without worry.

Who else has gone back and forth between the two designs?
 
If you don't mind slinging some solder, and if you don't mind waiting a bit, try building one of the single-ended soiled -- umm, I mean solid state "Amp Camp Amps". These, you likely know, were designed by Nelson Pass as teaching tools (more or less) and have recently been "upgraded" a bit. Full kits are available, but they're "campaigned" and tend to go really quickly... followed by a waiting list for the next campaign.

I have one (well, there is one at my house, due to the kindness of a generous benefactor), built by a talented fellow at the Polk Audio forums. This one was a bit nontraditional, built as a stereo amp with the "Bottlehead" kit amp footprint and active cooling.


DSC_2871 (2) by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

The "ACA" is very good sounding amplifier if one has sensitive loudspeakers. It does not quite have the flesh-and-blood thereness of my usual amplifier (single-ended 2A3), but it is in the ballpark.

Generally, though, by the time I get to solid state amplification that sounds really good to me -- it is not affordable.
 
i have both. tubes in the garage and living room, SS in the music room.

I have fisher, dynaco, lafayette, stromberg carlson, se84 console pulls, ... plus many tube guitar amps. I'm starting to get more into SS and enjoy bring dead stuff from the 70s back to life.

so far, i haven't missed the all tube set up in the music room. the extra power from the SS gear with the maggies.
 
I like both Tubes and Solid State for all the normally stated reasons. I use a (self designed) SS V-FET Unity Gain Transformer-Coupled Line stage with my SS Chip-amp. However my Pride and Joy set up is using an Aikido Pre-Amp with 6BL7 and 6SU7 tubes with a remote PS and a Hi-Bred Amplifier that uses a 45 SET input stage and a single Mosfet Class A output stage for about 17 or 18 watts of single-ended power. In the future, I'm thinking of a Push-Pull 2A3 amplifier for use in a Bi-Amped system.
 
Who else has gone back and forth between the two designs?
In 2003 i realized my dream of tubes with a used Pioneer SX-800 Tubereceiver build in 1966, 22 tubes in it. We had good times together until tubes must be replaced. Really not cheap and easy to get. Changing FM-Frontend-tubes and Stereodecoder-tubes means complete new adjustments of this units - time schedule 2 Days.
This tubes are running and burning out also when listening to CD or Phono - after 5 Years the same procedere.
The initial impulse to change to SS came in hot summers when i must cancel listening to music - 250 Watts tubeheat is to much in my appartement.
So in 2016 after some time of investigation i bought the Nakamichi Receiver 1, build around 1990, refurbished by me.
Since that day i am glad to listen to a fine and musical playing SS-amp.
Pioneer stays in the bedroom now - not used -
Energy bill decreased about 1/3.
 
Everytime I listen to a system with tube amps, there always seems to be a lack of dynamics and SPL that I need. When I went to buy the Magnepan 3.7 speakers yesterday, the guy had a new Macintosh 275 amp powering them and it was the worst sounding demo I've heard in a long time. I only bought them knowing that they will sound alot different in my system. I just don't get the dogma with tube amps.
 
i like both. i enjoy listening to my model 18 just as much as my model 9's or my 2245 as much as my 500C, there are differences for sure but they are all good and i enjoy trying different set ups. i use tube phono pres with SS and SS phono pres with tubes its all good. i have some favorite combinations that i think sound extra sweet and go back to regularly but its not about tubes/SS its about which cartridge/table, pre , amp/receiver speakers sound best together to me with certain genres of music.
 
I am going to home audition the PrimaLuna DiaLogue Premium HP next week sometime. My old Counterpoint NPS-400 died and I have wanted to go Integrated to consolidate.

It's a shame the OP had tube issues, they claim 10 years on the EL34s.
 
My McIntosh MC275V sounded like a solid state amp. It was surprisingly close to a MC2100. MC275V does not run tubes hard so there was never any concern about tube life but leaving it on all the time was not an option. Tube filaments like light bulbs have a lifespan. I sold my pair of V's and a 2300 preamp because I didn't want so much money tied up in them. I still like tubes...a lot. The tube rectified MC60 bends the signal a lot more than the MC275V (solid state rectified) and IMO separates the sound from SS. Tube rectifier is the main reason I like HH Scott integrateds so much. IMO and IME.
 
For years I had solid state (not good stuff) then I purchased a few Conrad Johnson pieces and wow what a difference.
As went along I received a few nice Fisher tube amps and really felt that tube heaven (with overhaul of course) sound
I was looking for. lately I've been getting in solid state, not new stuff but amps from the 70's and 80's and I'm going for
the ones that are known for their warmer sound and it's really good, haver to do a little work like caps and bias
reset maybe change a opamp or so.
 
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