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I Recently Became An Audiophile.

Also, I've come to discover that tubes are best enjoyed in moderation. If you go full tube-crazy on your setup (ex; tube phono pre, tube preamp, and then a proper amp) you're going to end up with a lot more distortion than you want. Its better to tube one part of your setup and leave the rest solid state.
 
Also, I've come to discover that tubes are best enjoyed in moderation. If you go full tube-crazy on your setup (ex; tube phono pre, tube preamp, and then a proper amp) you're going to end up with a lot more distortion than you want. Its better to tube one part of your setup and leave the rest solid state.
I don't understand why people say this? You've obviously never heard an all tube system. I have multiple integrated amps from the early 1960's and they sound incredible. With tubes in the entire path.
 
Also, I've come to discover that tubes are best enjoyed in moderation.
How did you discover this?
If you go full tube-crazy on your setup (ex; tube phono pre, tube preamp, and then a proper amp) you're going to end up with a lot more distortion than you want. Its better to tube one part of your setup and leave the rest solid state.
There are way too many variables to make generalizations like that
 
Passion Audio Kit PAK-L11, from 2000. The cathode followers warming up would put out a big pulse which was harmless with low power tube amps, but not friendly at all with bigger power amps.

Many tube preamps have a mute/delay circuit at turn on (plug it into a manually switched power outage device if no delay) that allow them to be (safely) used with a dc coupled ss amps.
Not really the tube preamp's fault.
 
Many tube preamps have a mute/delay circuit at turn on (plug it into a manually switched power outage device if no delay) that allow them to be (safely) used with a dc coupled ss amps.
Not really the tube preamp's fault.

I'd say a tube preamp which requires an external device in order to be safely used with a DC coupled amp is at fault, unless this issue is clearly identified in the owner's manual. I'm certainly not condemning all tube amps, or suggesting this issue has no solution, just identifying that this warm up DC pulse is a problem one can face with certain tube preamps.
 
11.
What do you mean by control?

Speaker and amplifiers designs vary, with a given combination bass can be better, worse, or just different.

I had a 15 watt PSE tube amp that showed a couple of 100 watt ss amps the door with hard to drive dual 10 woofer speakers and with speakers that are designed to be favorably used with tube amps the bass can sound too lean with some ss amps.
 
I don't understand why people say this? You've obviously never heard an all tube system.

He's probably just parroting something he read online, if not hopefully he'll stop back and explain where he came up with that or if he has actually listened to an all tube system he can explain how long he listened to it to come up with his "discovery"
 
I just recently became an audiophile a couple months ago, so I'm pretty new to the whole deal. What are the benefits of using a tube amplifier over a solid state or a digital amp?
Condolences! But congrats too. :) Depends on your ears, your age, and your wallet. Until you listen to a few different combinations, it will be very hard to judge. I'm enjoying a combo of vintage solid state and some modern components (vintage pre-amps and power amps, modern amps, and both vintage and modern speakers.) Can also be very dependent on the space your are trying to fill. Enjoy the journey....
 
Also, I've come to discover that tubes are best enjoyed in moderation. If you go full tube-crazy on your setup (ex; tube phono pre, tube preamp, and then a proper amp) you're going to end up with a lot more distortion than you want. Its better to tube one part of your setup and leave the rest solid state.
Interesting point. I'm getting a new CD spinner for the Holidays for my living room rig. That's means my old Ah! Njoe Tjoeb 4000 CD player (tubed output stage) is going to the my media room headphone rig. For a good many years I've been running an OG Schiit Vali (microtube) headphone amp with an old Cambridge Audio CD player (solid state) in my media room headphone rig. So I put the old CA in the closet and hooked up the 4000 to the Vali .. :no: too muddy .. that combo did not work out.
I figured tube amp w/ tubed output stage CD spinner would be cool beans but :thumbsdown:. I had an old spare OG Schiit Magni in storage and hooked that up instead .. :music: .. now we're cooking with gas. Was not expecting that. Previously I always preferred the sound of OG Vali to OG Magni on my headphone rig CD spinner.

Note: Just my experience with audio equipment I have on hand at this time.
 
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First impressions of the Schiit Vali (using Beyerdynamic dt990 headphones)

I would give this amp an 8.5 out of 10, with the default tube. Everything is crisp and clear, except for the bass control, which I find a bit fuzzy and sloppy. This can be rectified if I use my HK-235 as a preamp. Doing this also helps with the background noise, and provides extra settings for me. It is a gratifying listening experience, and I look forward to listening to more music on the Vali.
 
Well, I got some bad news... The doukmall amp broke. This is unfortunate
When I say broke, I mean that it makes a really loud buzzing noise when I switch it over to the Phono input. I tried the turntable on the internal amplifier, and there is no noise like that. I also checked, and the tubes seem fine as well. Oh well, I guess I ought to find another phono amp that uses 5670 tubes.
 
When I say broke, I mean that it makes a really loud buzzing noise when I switch it over to the Phono input. I tried the turntable on the internal amplifier, and there is no noise like that. I also checked, and the tubes seem fine as well. Oh well, I guess I ought to find another phono amp that uses 5670 tubes.
have you wiggled the RCA or ground connections to see if the problem goes away?
 
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