This is all off-topic, of course, but so fascinating... Hopefully we'll all be
forgiven. :-) I once had the opportunity, at an audiophile friend's home, to
do a blindfolded side-by-side comparison of two audio amplifiers he was testing,
one a recent solid-state design that was very well-regarded in the audiophile
community, the other a hollow-state rig, also brand new and equally
well-regarded, producing approximately the same amount of power. Everything else
in the test was identical -- music (on virgin vinyl, of course), turntable,
preamp (tube, of course), and speakers.
And yes, I could hear the difference. The tube amplifier was better. It was very
subtle, but clearly identifiable: The solid-state amplifier produced a
beautiful, clear, warm, 2-D separation of the musicians on the "sound stage",
but the tube amplifier went one step better and produced a sense of 3-D depth
that I could actually hear. The drummer, for example, instead of being located
"there", could be heard to be located "there, and back about ten feet". I didn't
know which amplifier was producing which test until afterwards.
Is this a function of overtones, or harmonics, or what? I don't think anybody
really knows. But don't scoff at those who say they can hear a difference this
subtle. Been there, done that. :-)
Bill / W5WVO
Al N6TA wrote:
> I work for a guy who makes serious efforts trying to get the 'truest'
> audio.
> He talks of the 'infetesimal perceptible' that needs to be considered
> when
> evaluating the quality of an audio recording and its reproduction to
> sound
> waves. His CD player is a hybrid tube and solid state unit that
> costs over $5,000. Imagine the rest of the components in the chain...
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: towertalk-bounces@contesting.com
> [mailto:towertalk-bounces@contesting.com]On Behalf Of Gene Smar
> Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 2004 13:32
> To: Jim Miller; towertalk@contesting.com
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Vacuum tube 100 years old today
>
> TT:
>
> There was an interesting (to me) article in the August 1998
> issue of
> IEEE Spectrum magazine about the continued use of vacuum tubes in
> high-end
> audio equipment and musical instrument amplifiers. The article's main
> thesis is that tubes provide "better-sounding" audio at high levels
> than
> could (or still can) be achieved by solid-state audio processing
> circuitry.
> Apparently there are still some applications besides QRO microwaves
> for
> which such hollow-state devices are better suited.
>
> 73 de
> Gene Smar AD3F
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jim Miller" <JimMiller@STL-Online.Net>
> To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 2004 4:16 PM
> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Vacuum tube 100 years old today
>
>
>> I was in missile class in the Air Force in 1963 and the lab and
>> course was entirely in tubes even though the missile was entirely in
>> transistors.
> The
>> adaptation was very short (minutes, maybe and hour) and said that
>> transistors worked like tubes except at lower voltages and power
>> levels. That was all there was to transistors !!! Not bad really
>> for a class that hadn't been rewritten yet (and that may have been
>> all the instructor knew
> at
>> that time).
>>
>> 73, de Jim KG0KP
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Bob Nielsen" <nielsen@oz.net>
>> To: <towertalk@contesting.com>
>> Sent: Tuesday, November 16, 2004 12:10 PM
>> Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Vacuum tube 100 years old today
>>
>>
>>> On Tue, Nov 16, 2004 at 11:28:11AM -0500, Tom Rauch wrote:
>>>> On Nov. 16, 1904 Fleming patented the Fleming valve. The
>>>> vacuum tube is 100 years old today (exactly 46 years to the
>>>> day older than I am).
>>>>
>>>> I was an electrical engineering student in the late 60's.
>>>> The electronics lab stock room was full of tubes and
>>>> sockets, and our benches had 300 volt power supplies. About
>>>> 50% of our inventory and study was tube related. I built a
>>>> complete 500 watt HF station, receiver and transmitter, from
>>>> stock room parts in my spare time. Every component necessary
>>>> was in the stock room. From a textbook I still use,
>>>> "Electronic Amplifier Circuits" McGraw-Hill Electrical
>>>> Engineering Series 1961, comes the following quote:
>>>>
>>>> "For many applications a relative newcomer, the transistor,
>>>> is replacing vacuum tube types because of the greater
>>>> inherent reliability, lower power consumption, and smaller
>>>> size. However, the complete replacement of the tube by the
>>>> transistor does not seem likely, for the latter has
>>>> shortcomings at high temperatures and high radiation
>>>> intensities and in the production of high power at high
>>>> frequencies. "
>>>>
>>>> About ten years later I received a call asking if I wanted
>>>> any of those old tubes, tube related books, or HV bench
>>>> power supplies before they hit the dumpster.
>>>>
>>>
>>> I was taking a senior physics class in electronics at UCLA in 1962
>>> and we spent some time studying vacuum tube circuits. The
>>> professor was asked if we were going to learn anything about
>>> transistors and replied that he had never studied them himself,
>>> since he felt that they were a fad which wouldn't last.
>>>
>>> 73,
>>> Bob N7XY
>>> _______________________________________________
>>>
>>> See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers",
>>> "Wireless
>> Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041
>> with
> any
>> questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
>>>
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>>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>>
>> See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers",
>> "Wireless
> Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041
> with any
> questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> TowerTalk mailing list
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>> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers",
> "Wireless
> Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041
> with any
> questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
>
> _______________________________________________
>
> See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers",
> "Wireless Weather Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free,
> 1-800-333-9041 with any questions and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
>
> _______________________________________________
> TowerTalk mailing list
> TowerTalk@contesting.com
> http://lists.contesting.com/mailman/listinfo/towertalk
_______________________________________________
See: http://www.mscomputer.com for "Self Supporting Towers", "Wireless Weather
Stations", and lot's more. Call Toll Free, 1-800-333-9041 with any questions
and ask for Sherman, W2FLA.
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