Tube v/s SS

Yes it is a tube amp

And the last time you heard this LP it was on a different system?

Last time I had listened to it was about 2-3 months back. Now the tube amp is the only change in setup. The reason why I made the post is to bring to light that any system will have to be a compromise.

My preference don't take me much to heavier style of music, so I dont mind compromising a bit of slam if I gain in other areas like better midrange and most of all being able to relate more to the music being played.

Radiance is far superior amp compared to Primaluna 1 but the tube amp allows me to enjoy my music collection better!!. The majority of them are not the so called audiophile pressings, they are common mans EMI, Polydor, HMV, Decca etc and some of discs that I treasure are produced so badly and they sound horrible through Radiance.

The best quality of Primaluna is cover up for these dry recordings without colouring the Telarc,FIM or JVC XRCDs. You have to listen to it once to belive it ! I never though so until I did

Hello all,

I believe we are all getting hung up on listening to equipment. That way this debate will never be resolved.

How many of you go out to listen to live music? And music that is acoustic in nature - so that all the ills of electronic equipment are not there at all. Listen to the sonority of a violin, or the percussive nature of a piano. Or listen to the rhythmic drive of a jazz quartet.

Go listen to live music, to people expressing their emotions in their playing - and then come back to our home audio systems and try and get some of that feeling back!

And then debate whether the solid-state sytems, or the valve based ones, communicate more of this feeling to you.

After a lifetime of listening to "live" music, I vouch for the valve camp. Valve amps just take you there, to the performance, involve you right into the music. And that's good enough for me!

Viren.

Yes Ani, Paradoxical isnt it?

The more revealing gear we buy, the less it makes us want to hear some of our old and treasured recordings.

Too bad, we have to live with it

Cheers

I'm with you viren....
but then again some people have a different scale on which they rate/judge amps and get very clinical on specs, distortion figures, slew rates, damping factor, etc(measured parameters). Others lay stress on tonality, "PRAT", staging and imaging qualities etc.

Either way as viren says, whatever makes you connect to the musical event......for viren and I its tubes, for other SS..so be it.

Manek.

I make sure I at least catch 2 live gigs every month jazz or rock, I guess we only get involved in this hobby because we all understand what music is and the various emotions it triggers in us. All we try and do it get replicate it in our home enviourment with equipment its fun and frustrating. It’s a crazy hobby for the love of music with the equipment being the bridge between you and the music.

Satyam

viren schrieb:

Go listen to live music, to people expressing their emotions in their playing - and then come back to our home audio systems and try and get some of that feeling back!

Viren, I presume you mean the live music where you have the band actually in front on you..no loudspeakers and no amplifiers..
yes that used to be very good, dont think any music system can match that.

But moment you move into amplified music in a closed space, it all again depends on where you are sitting which amp, which speaker, what room..basically like another audio system where the source is a live person but microphone(s) used to capture the sounds

Viren, I do agree with you. Live unamplified music is something different from amplified shows. You listen to a trumpet player on the street same player in an auditorium will be adifferent guy

I had mentioned Valve gear help me relate more to the music and that is my preference. Since you are here and is the right person to throw more light on my LZ's Moby Dick experience. Why was the Low toms, Kick drums and Electric Bass sounding so mixed up ?

Ani,

I can only guess. One compromise you do make with valve amplifiers is control over low bass. Also, the output transformers have to be sized large enough that they don't saturate at low frequencies. Solid-state amplifiers have a much higher damping factor which tightens the grip on woofers producing low bass frequencies. It's not that valve amplifiers don't have the resolution in the low frequencies - I think that resolution is still superior to most solid-state amps.

It's a system thing - when played with speakers that have an under-damped bass response, the valve-speaker combination might tend to get a bit boomy. Then all the detail in the bass and mid-bass frequencies gets clouded over, and you can't differentiate between the skins of the drum kit.

However, if you play the same valve amp with speakers with an over-damped bass response, that is, absolutely no hump as the bass response rolls off, all the detail will be there to hear.

Valve amps give a more rounded bass, with all the resonances that come with a large diaphragm being struck. Closer to real instruments. Solid-state amps give an artificially tighter bass, but a bit sterile in feel. The resonances get lost.

Which do you prefer - it's for you to judge!

Viren.