Are tubes that much of a pain?

[Believe High Fidelity]

Well so far no one really left because of issues with dealing with tubes. So why does no one refer back to SS as wishing they had a more SS I wonder?

 

[Solypsa]

While there are lots of angles to this topic, I believe one of the main ones, in my opinion, is:

It's not only about tubes or ss. It's also about speaker topology and how that affects amplifier choice.

If you don't want big speakers, or you don't have room for big speakers, you will need more power. Small high efficiency speakers don't really exist, at least not full bandwidth ones.

Those using moderate sized cone or planar speakers need more power than those using big horns. If tube topology this will be 'Big Tube Power' which brings a lot of heat and occasionally less reliability.

Alternately for those into big high-efficiency speakers (horn mostly) then tube amps are far more common. Sure there are some with ss horn systems but the ratio is much less tilted that way it would seem.

 

[Atmasphere]

I don't find tubes to be a pain. I've run the same set in my amps for the last 5 years with no failures. But tubes are usually mounted in sockets which allows them to be user-replaceable. Heaven help you if a transistor fails... when they go, they often take other parts of the circuit with them. The secret to long tube life is really the same as getting good sound: use the amp with a speaker with which the amp does not have to work hard! If any amplifier has to work hard, it will make more distortion and usually that distortion is audible as 'harsher and less detailed'.

To this end lower impedance speakers with odd phase angles should be avoided. Especially if you run tubes- your tube amplifier investment dollar is best served by a loudspeaker that is higher impedance (8 ohms and above) and easy to drive. But this is true even if you run solid state- and its something not only audible as I mentioned but you can see it in the specs.

A customer of ours contacted us just last week- he bought his MA-2s from us about 20 years ago and claims he's had no tube failures in that entire time (so he has a spare set of tubes available for them). He's been using them to drive Infinity Betas which means the amps are seeing an easy load only from 80Hz and up. His setup is a good example of what to do- set up your amp so its loafing and it will treat you well.

 

[JackD201]

I can't add more to what Ralph, Solypsa and Microstrip said.

 

[mulveling]

Preference of one sound vs another is one thing. But I can't imagine anyone being happy in this hobby if they think tubes are just too much a pain. Most well engineered tube gear, and most tubes, are extremely reliable and low maintenance. Vinyl & its gear is more of a pain (though frankly, one that I quite enjoy). Good tape is more of a pain. Hell, even digital sources are more of a pain too. Arguing on forums is more of a pain. Running SS gear 24/7 so it sounds "good" is more of a pain. I'm hard pressed to think of anything less of a pain than tubes?!

 

[Ron Resnick]

I love tube electronics, but I still suffer from a bit of tube amp blow-up PTSD from the time many years ago when I came back into the living room from the kitchen to find flames leaping out of the cage of one of my Manley 150 monoblocks.

Since then I’ve never been comfortable leaving tube amplifiers on and walking away for longer than a short time.

 

[c1ferrari]

Tubes are glorious...what's a pain is sourcing the glorious ones!

 

[cjfrbw]

I have found ecstasy with a combination of directly heated triode gain stages with various particular SS amps, namely VFET amps and First Watt.

This surprised even me, because I spent decades occasionally popping in numerous SS amps and never getting them to work out, returning to tubes. I just could not use any of those previous SS in a way that made me uninterested in listening to my system at length.

Now, I really shouldn't make the system any more addictive than it is or I am in danger of too much chair time and not enough 'life pursuits and exercise' time.

I am using a 300b amplifier for my tweeters right now, but I am going to 'try' a small, 8 watt class A amp instead with a tube gain stage just for sheiss and giggles and see how it works out. It probably won't, but it might be worth a try because of the sloppy square waves of amp tubes at high frequencies.

I never fault anyone who goes 'all tubes', and I always look forward to hearing tubed systems. However, I wince a little in anticipation of SS systems still, even if they turn out to be pretty good.
I think that is from a lifetime of aversion training caused by SS PTSD.

 

[Zero000]

Why use old, obsolete technology when new, better technology exists? Sure, some people are nostalgic for the past, but I personally prefer the future. To each their own.

Isn't the future a more planet saving, energy efficient, polically correct class D amp rather than a gas guzzling, luddite, transistor based Pass X600?

 

[gian60]

I spent a lot of money in 30 years for change tube on my tube amp buying the best tube possible.
Now with CH solid state i was happy to stop to spend money for tube,but at the end change nothing because instead to buy tube,now i will spend money to buy capacitors,changing from M1 to M1.1

 

[Atmasphere]

I love tube electronics, but I still suffer from a bit of tube amp blow-up PTSD from the time many years ago when I came back into the living room from the kitchen to find flames leaping out of the cage of one of my Manley 150 monoblocks.

Since then I’ve never been comfortable leaving tube amplifiers on and walking away for longer than a short time.

That's too bad! If I felt that was an issue, as a manufacturer I'd never get any sleep at night. QC isn't a tube or solid state thing.

 

[MtnHam]

Are tubes that much of a pain?

It depends a lot on the design. I have owned numerous tube amps since 1960 without issues, including a HK Citation II tube amp I built from a kit in 1965 which was fantastic. Shouldn't have sold it! Later I moved onto SS, but then in the 80's came to my senses, bought a used Audio Research D-115 stereo amp that was based on 6550's. It sounded great, but when a tube failed, it was a catastrophic and traumatic event. I've never gotten over the shell shock. However, I believe modern tube gear doesn't necessarily behave that way. And, small tubes found in preamps and other low power gear have long lives compared to high power amplifiers.

I love music in my life, many hours a day. I prefer to be able to come and go throughout the day. Thus, I turn on my amps early, and off late in the evening. With tubes, this means I come to the end of their life too frequently. If my life were more programmed for concise, intense listening sessions, that wouldn't be an issue. But my Pass Lab SS amps provide a very tube like quality without the downsides (other than heat!); they fit my lifestyle and sonic preferences perfectly.

I do have an Audio Research tube phono preamp, but it only gets switched on when I'm prepared to make the effort to play vinyl. Digital is my main source, so the 5,000 hour tube life will last a long time. Thus, there is no pain.

 

[BlueFox]

Isn't the future a more planet saving, energy efficient, polically correct class D amp rather than a gas guzzling, luddite, transistor based Pass X600?

After seeing my electric bill for three weeks of using the Pass amps I had solar installed. LOL.

 

[MtnHam]

After seeing my electric bill for three weeks of using the Pass amps I had solar installed. LOL.

And, I too have solar (6.5Kw installed 6 years ago), so I don't have any guilt!