Originally posted by NiceGuyWithEars:
Tubes provide euphonious distortion which the brain often interprets as a desirable thing compared to the near-total lack of distortion from good SS electronics. Many folks fall in love with this sound and, being unwilling to acknowledge that they prefer sound that is distorted, come up with a wonderful array of reasons why tube sound is cleaner, airier, purer, more precise, more detailed, etc.
I'm afraid that is a gross over simplification. Things like the distortion sprectra, the relative phase of the original signal to the distortion components, and the signal level, and thus the distortion levels must be taken into account. It is not as simple as "tube amps distort more and that is the reason they sound euphonic".
True, a tube amp will enhibit more distortion approaching it's maximum output level than a solid state amplifier. But what if you run that tube amplifier at low power levels and don't ask it to reach anywhere near the maximum output? As an example, because of the extremely high sensitivity of my horns at 106db/watt, at the levels my tube amps are run (well under 1 watt, and probably more in the milliwatt range), they actually have distortion amounts similar to a solid state amp.
It is not informed analysis to make a sweeping generalization about anything - tube amps or cars or whatever, without addressing all the possible implementations.
It is all in the details! It is just as easy to make a solid state system sound good or bad as it is with a tube system.
[This message has been edited by soundhound (edited April 13, 2004).]
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