Wheres the Beef?

[rollo]

  Is it me or is the majority of new tubed components of today loosing the body and soul of the music? The trend towards neutrality seems to have created a sterile and thin sound rather than capture the weight authority and essence of the performance.
     Any opinions on this?


rollo

[miklorsmith]

I thought the original Modwright 9.0SE preamp was toward the SS end of the spectrum and might be accused of that.  I think the new tube rectification is aimed at bringing the beef.  My Lamm LL2 Deluxe isn't lean or bleached at all.

There are several choices in octal tubed preamps around, like 6sn7 that should feed up some vintage fatness.

I do think generally the camps are growing together but some of that is solid state stuff getting better which some equate to tubeyness.  Glowing stuff is getting "faster" which some equate to being more SS.

I still think there are meaningful differences though.

[richidoo]

My Cary SLI-80 is very beefy, when happy. It has 6sn7 drivers, 6922 input, maybe that's why? My Snappers are neutral, just about right, they use 12at7 input and 7044 driver less beefy than 6sn7 for sure. An SET tube steak guy might think they are lean. I think they sound like AR or VTL, fast and clean. 

I wanna make an Aikido 6sn7 preamp for them someday. 
Rich

[rollo]

 richadoo,

                      That Aikido with 6NS7 sounds interesting. You may consider a TVC say the Bent or homemade with S&B trannies. In a direct comparison the Bent prevailed. Quite suprised as to the outcome. The Aikido actually sounded Hi Fi in comparison. Still don't believe it we were so looking forward to the Aikido. Go figure.


rollo

[richidoo]

Interesting rollo! Do you remember what tubes your buddy's Aikido was running?? It uses coupling caps on the output, so those will obviously have an effect on the sound, proportional to the budget.    I have not heard a TVC yet, other than the Russound inwall unit for my patio speakers My amps have high input impedance so TVC should work well. I already have the Aikido boards, one for octals and one for niners, so that project is inevitable. I was planning to make a Lightspeed type attenuator with the LDRs from Silonex. And use battery power or a couple Hynes regulators to power the Aikido. I hope to have that project done by years end. Lots of DIY projects on the list for this coming year...