Tubes.....and the Jerks that use them.

[ballstothewall 10+ year member]

Very true, 3kw in ~30lbs lol

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

What, something up with 8w in 40lbs?

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300B-based amps are like half the weight, because they don't need transformers quite as big...but then there's the whole tubes-cost-twice-as-much-to-replace thing. I'd rather grunt while putting them in the rack than pay an extra $200 every three years.

Thoriated tungsten cathodes = FTMFW

 

[ballstothewall 10+ year member]

For some reason that weight to power ratio reminds me of the Eniac computer... //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/wink.gif.608e3ea05f1a9f98611af0861652f8fb.gif

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

Physically, ENIAC was massive compared to modern PC standards. It contained 17,468 vacuum tubes, 7,200 crystal diodes, 1,500 relays, 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors and around 5 million hand-soldered joints. It weighed 30 short tons (27 t), was roughly 8 feet (2.4 m) by 3 feet (0.9 m) by 100 feet (30 m), took up 1800 square feet (167 m²), and consumed 150 kW of power.

Retubing 17 thousand tubes...hmm...ouch

By the simple (if expensive) expedient of never turning the machine off, the engineers reduced ENIAC's tube failures to the more acceptable rate of one tube every two days.

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[bdawson72 5,000+ posts]

Retubing 17 thousand tubes...hmm...


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dang

 

[ballstothewall 10+ year member]

That would **** being the ***** that had to replace tubes...

 

[Beat_Dominator 5,000+ posts]

Let's re-cap:

Toob owners are senile, SQ is a myth, and Corevette owners are still dicks //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

 

[fancynapkin 10+ year member]

What tubed setup have you heard?
Because if you haven't...what basis do you have to make any sort of judgement about this sort of thing? //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Ive heard plenty, and Ive built a millet hybrid tube headphone amp. I prefer that type of sound only with smaller jazz groups, where the added warmth doesnt muddy anything up.

Either way, spending a hefty amount of cash on an amp is worthless unless you have the speakers to match.

and measurments are the only truths we know in audio.

http://www.linkwitzlab.com/images/graphics/sd-qulty.gif

 

[JimJ 5,000+ posts]

Either way, spending a hefty amount of cash on an amp is worthless unless you have the speakers to match.

Totally agreed. Speaker selection makes or breaks a flea-powered setup //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

and measurments are the only truths we know in audio.

Is there a "put the test instruments away and listen to the music" truth as well? Maybe the only things we can quantify are the hard numbers, like the distortion characteristics, SNR, etc, etc...but what would be the point in reviewing equipment if that was the case?

I don't know, I just think the truth lies somewhere in the middle between lunatic subjectivity and blind objectivity. Or maybe Evan's right and lugging those heavy transformers around and listening to all that distortion has just made me senile and delusional.

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[JAZN 5,000+ posts]

Let's re-cap:
Toob owners are senile, SQ is a myth, and Corevette owners are still dicks //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

And I don't have the clap dammit //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/furious.gif.fc81ca146dbff91fede3ed290dbc4f4c.gif

 

[snoopdan 5,000+ posts]

Let's re-cap:
Toob owners are senile, SQ is a myth, and Corevette owners are still dicks //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/eyebrow.gif.fe2c18d8720fe8c7eaed347b21ea05a5.gif

ok, yeah we are. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/laugh.gif.48439b2acf2cfca21620f01e7f77d1e4.gif

 

[Beat_Dominator 5,000+ posts]

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/word.gif.64b12e39f936af3b4fff38a1c0bd0244.gif

Poor Jazn with his STD. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/thumbsdown.gif.d22f25895e9b40f2300c953691dacfa2.gif

 

[Chevyaudio 5,000+ posts]

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/word.gif.64b12e39f936af3b4fff38a1c0bd0244.gif

Poor Jazn with his STD. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/thumbsdown.gif.d22f25895e9b40f2300c953691dacfa2.gif

//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/woot.gif.aaa6090e619a97b6090d16dd863c5a69.gif For Dennis' STD

 

[fancynapkin 10+ year member]

Is there a "put the test instruments away and listen to the music" truth as well? Maybe the only things we can quantify are the hard numbers, like the distortion characteristics, SNR, etc, etc...but what would be the point in reviewing equipment if that was the case?

I don't know, I just think the truth lies somewhere in the middle between lunatic subjectivity and blind objectivity. Or maybe Evan's right and lugging those heavy transformers around and listening to all that distortion has just made me senile and delusional.

Most people can't really relate to graphs unless they are heavy into this hobby, hence why we need words like "warmth" or "gritty" as descriptors. I am pretty skeptical of reviews based on total empiricism, because none of us have the exact same hearing.

But, generally if something measures well, it will sound good.

It takes some time to know exactly what sound you want, and how to interpret graphs to identify what that sound looks like on paper.

Tubes have there place in audio just as harley davidson's have there place in motorcycles, obsolete as either are.

Good link: http://zaphaudio.com/evaluation.html

 

[Beat_Dominator 5,000+ posts]

You're an audio snob //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/fyi.gif.9f1f679348da7204ce960cfc74bca8e0.gif