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<blockquote data-quote="GordonW" data-source="post: 2292829" data-attributes="member: 568981">A more linear device has less distortion in the first place.Low output impedence is NOT necessary for good design. Plenty of speakers were PURPOSE BUILT for higher-impedence amps (both tube and solid state), and can work JUST as well as those built for lower output impedence amps. It&#039;s a matter of TOTAL DAMPING, not just that of the amp. Speaker drivers CAN be built to DAMP THEMSELVES, very well... just look at most any modern TAD driver, for one example...Gain control isn&#039;t really an issue, when the amp is more LINEAR in the first place. And&nbsp; the ONLY place where solid-state amps have a distinct advantage in this area, is they &quot;variable gain cell mated to PWM&quot; methodology used by PS Audio (patented). NOBODY else builds amps this way yet... they&#039;re ALL either based on total-PWM (which has higher filtering requirements, ie noisier) or ALL class-AB/class A (which is NOT variable gain, and therefore has a compromised noise floor compared to the hybrid design above).&quot;Without many consequences&quot; is a polite way of saying &quot;it doesn&#039;t screw up TOO much&quot;. //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gifThe one thing that solid state amps CAN boast about, is DEFINITELY lower cost. It&#039;s impossible to build tube amps cheaply... no one will dispute that. BUT... that&#039;s not really the issue here... there&#039;s a claim&nbsp; that SS INHERENTLY sounds better than tubes... but except for the RARE EXCEPTION, there&#039;s pretty few&nbsp; inherent reasons for this to be so, and some VERY VALID reasons for the opposite to sometimes happen!And the more &quot;benign&quot; clipping behaviour of tubes? Part again, of the better linearity...Regards,Gordon.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="GordonW, post: 2292829, member: 568981"] A more linear device has less distortion in the first place. Low output impedence is NOT necessary for good design. Plenty of speakers were PURPOSE BUILT for higher-impedence amps (both tube and solid state), and can work JUST as well as those built for lower output impedence amps. It's a matter of TOTAL DAMPING, not just that of the amp. Speaker drivers CAN be built to DAMP THEMSELVES, very well... just look at most any modern TAD driver, for one example... Gain control isn't really an issue, when the amp is more LINEAR in the first place. And the ONLY place where solid-state amps have a distinct advantage in this area, is they "variable gain cell mated to PWM" methodology used by PS Audio (patented). NOBODY else builds amps this way yet... they're ALL either based on total-PWM (which has higher filtering requirements, ie noisier) or ALL class-AB/class A (which is NOT variable gain, and therefore has a compromised noise floor compared to the hybrid design above). "Without many consequences" is a polite way of saying "it doesn't screw up TOO much". [IMG]//content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/biggrin.gif.d71a5d36fcbab170f2364c9f2e3946cb.gif[/IMG] The one thing that solid state amps CAN boast about, is DEFINITELY lower cost. It's impossible to build tube amps cheaply... no one will dispute that. BUT... that's not really the issue here... there's a claim that SS INHERENTLY sounds better than tubes... but except for the RARE EXCEPTION, there's pretty few inherent reasons for this to be so, and some VERY VALID reasons for the opposite to sometimes happen! And the more "benign" clipping behaviour of tubes? Part again, of the better linearity... Regards, Gordon. [/QUOTE]

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