Well, you see, what your amp does (like the tubes), is to make their respective signature of sound reproduction. The NAD on the too soft and laid back, the Denon on the too laid back, the marantz on slightly laid back, the yamaha on the accurate, the pioneer on the bright, the tubes on its own coloration. So whats new to listen about. Again, the sound you listen in the tube is part of the tube technicalities, and technicalities we will not avoid. But in the end, as you said, as you listen, whether you want the sound it produced, and if you did, then you are one happy person to own one. so do I in my SS amp. I hope we will not spend so much time to defend our respective subjectivity in selecting our respective music sound.
First of all such cool site guys, never really thought this site has an audio page. Next, re this issue about tubes and SS.
I can not help but correct you about tubes and SS. Being an SS designer for a two years in a research center. strings like used in guitars and to a certain extent other instruments generate even ordered harmonics. Meaning the tone that I hear from an instrument is both the fundamental notes and its haromic derivatives all even ordered. Now what do I use to reproduce that sound, the options are....
a device where quantum mechanics rule (which screws typical thermodynamic universe) or thermodynamic universe where laws of complex physics is just turned into random heat. SS are devices that follows the rules of quantum physics where all its idiosyncracies are amplified a thousand fold. So if I use an SS amp to reproduce a tone bed of a musical piece, I get the fundamental notes, the even order harmonics plus the odd order harmonics, hey wait a minute odd order harmonics is not suppose to be there it is not part of the sound I want. Tubes on the other hand do not follow these rules of physics, they say yup there is odd order harmonics in there, but i just convert to heat, way novel approach just like life, it should be simple and pragmatic.
Being a tube afficionado and ex SS designer, I say I like tube's approach to music and tones, don't get me wrong I can still design an SS 8th order negative feedback amp with a wide loop gain bandwidth.
Now on coloration, it is a subjective description of constructive distortion across time. An ideal device either SS or tube does not create distortion so has no coloration, and can amplify across several frequencies but not true on a practical non linear device tube or SS. So coloration is a fact of life can't get away from it, just listen to the ones you prefer and that will be your ultimate compromise. Problem is, lotsa people think they hear coloration but actually they are hearing odd ordered distortion, just try this experiment with a passive preamp(which by the has no coloration) and a high output CD player into a tube and SS amp then A/B the two you will know what I mean.
There is no argument here really, if you wanna hear odd order harmonics, then so be it but please accept the fact that what you hear is not part of the original material and do not blame it on coloration, ignorance is bliss.
It just like this guy choosing a stripper to go to bed with one guy wants a girl with perfect skin while the other wants to screw a lady with body paint all over. Its each to his own posion. Really!
JM
