Agree as I come back to Tubes Amps everytime I try a Solid State Amp. My oldest Tube Amp El82 SE is from end 50s begin 60s main Amp is now a Croft Phone Intergrated (8 x EL82)
pretty good discussion and comments. Hopefully more and more folks are realizing getting that magic is a combined effect of tubes, caps, transformers etc. Another suggestion for coupling caps are the Jupiter copper foil caps. Very organic sounding with all sorts of tube selections.
Great monologue, thank you. I agree with your opinion 100%. Tubes rule, solid-state drools! Seriously, I just cannot get that sound from solidstate alone. Some new solidstate designs use tube preamps. That sounds far better than just transistors alone. I don't know how tubes do it, well actually I do sort of, but the sound stage with tubes, the realism, the fidelity, is just incredible. With good tubes that is. I know people that think tube amps do not sound very good. I believe they just have not heard a good tube amp. Much less a great tube amp. Loving my tubes. The holographic, 3D effects of the sound stage, sound much like a live concert. If you have good reference speakers that is. Thanks for the video, keep up the good work.
Those who love music know and understand what you are talking about .... That's the magic of a good musical system..........all other is eternal searching for the holy grail and the impressive performance ( even measurements ) and never found the magic of satisfaction while spending huge amounts of illusions during a lifetime......as impressive as some high end can sound , often one ends up to lower the sound level or one stops listening after a given time exposed to the ( expensive ) system , only the magic without listening fatigue is wath satisfies the soul of your musical experience. ......... Besides the house sound of some good sounding ( mostly some vintage ) brands........SS has it's own veil and imprint on the music ( semi conducting and crystaline silicium signal path ) ......tubes have the "potential" to take you away on the flowing river of music. And by doing that , you forget the system and its electronics , only to listen and connect to the music.........one has not to be an expert or engineer to love and connect to the magic of music......... Thank you for the upload .
Hi Stephe, the age old question is always where to spend your money. And the most main stream answer is to put most of it in the speaker. How ever, there are many indicators against it. If you listen to some other niche you tubers with lots of experience in audio (real world audio, just recently or the German Snake Oil Audio, not to be confused with that other channel) they will tell you that if you have a good speaker (and then they typically refer to a full range driver, lets say a Fostex and up wards) you can keep going with upgrading and tuning a valve amp and the speaker will not gate you. So what they are saying is that once you have found a speaker you like, the gains will come from the amp and that speaker can almost be an instant end game component. It is kind of the gest from what I am getting from this monologue as well.
Presumably the live sound you've been searching for was a PA system that sounded real good. I don't doubt that at all and its great you're getting there but for me I've never even got close to my 'live sound' which was acoustic Chamber Music. Mind, I've never been able to afford 'hi-end gear but decent enough that I can enjoy the music without tears at bedtime.
@@ConorHanley there are som cheep 2 hand gear wich is realy good. Manny people like to go Bluetooth now and sell gear cheep. Maybe not tube amps,but there are some good sounding around 500$ used.
I also love tube amps , they are magical with reproduction of music. Tube amps bring the music into a live sound environment. As if the musical band is right in front of you live.
"you can't EQ soundstage into a system" - great comment Stephe! You are journeying down a wonderful and rewarding, but sometimes frustrating road and discovering that all is not snake oil. 'Enjoying the ride. Thanks.
I love tube amps too, Stephe, and for exactly the same reasons. I like point to point DIY assembly too. Messing around with SS boards leaves me rather cold
Did not know where you were going with the live sound. I hate the live concert sound from most concerts. But Steve Winwood, I get that. One of the greatest music artists. I am more of a live, un amplified concert sound chaser with hi-fi. So many recording let me down, and need massively amplified bass to get realistic live sound. That is were hifi leaves me behind, lack of bass in so many systems.
I agree those 600Ms are fantastic and if you love that live open sound with a deep sound stage it is the GR research crossover mods that get you there by fixing the phase issues.
I have reached the conclusion, my truth, I am a tube’s and horns guy. I recently installed a set of Gold Lion KT88’s in my R8 and viola! My amp now energizes my room and pounds me with sound , my Heresy’s deliver dynamic music reproduction with intensity that puts me into a live show. That’s where I want to be, at the show. Best sound I’ve ever had, and it didn’t cost more than a car to achieve.
I have been a long time fan and have to say this is one of your best videos ever ! This hobby is so subjectable from ear to ear. Finding that sound your after takes a great deal of research and experimentation. When I built my Elekit 300B I bought the WE 300B because of all the great reviews about them ! In fact I could not find one single bad review about them. Do you have any thoughts about those tubes ? Keep up the great work and Happy Thanksgiving !
I believe that tubes have the same principals of operation but are made by hands or they are assembled in semiautomatic ways with montage tolerances , Even those of the same type have individual chrarcteristic while the optimum operation conditions sholud be publiced with their real tolerances which I suspect could be surprising . Depending on producer and technology this tolerances may be inclined in this or other way. . The outcome is that they may vary in amplification. How much different it may be is difficult to know. Because in real amplifier it is equalized by significant feedback. (The same situation BTW is with transistors - they are measured and grouped accordingly, sometime descrined by last letter. For tubes it was never practiced because differences were smaller. In ICs they are covered by feedback by application or internally.). Feedback always defines amplification, it is not amplification of tube responsible . May be to notice real differences would be necesary to open feedback in amplifier? Then it is open question is bigger amplification better than smaller?. In my opinion operation of feedback governs the sound and it involves also transformer and speaker properties .
yes slow start i prerfer switch the high voltage after 2 minutes on the tubes it mean long life for the tubes and adjust the 6.3v on tubes with resistors if nescessary this is mean long life for tube also.
just folks stay away from tinitus, to much hig music and you can be there, the fact is that most people are happy with blutoot divises.I also think there must be mood inflicting this.somtimes it just not sound great,anotherday it does,I also have the ability to snap tubes, but don't putt to much to it,a tube amp is fine when it works well,ewen with regular tubes.and I have jbl l100 and don't want to play to much loud, so it dossent sound topp all the time, cause it has to be played loud to do.
@ with the 300 b amp its no isue,its after a long life with to manny conserts i figured out to wear protectjon on conserts and my ears still fine,but not all my frends.
Bye. Done with opinion sites. Looking for a site to enjoy rather than watching noise. Slap a tube on that to see if the harmonics come out rather rhan noise.
Agree as I come back to Tubes Amps everytime I try a Solid State Amp. My oldest Tube Amp El82 SE is from end 50s begin 60s main Amp is now a Croft Phone Intergrated (8 x EL82)
Searching for the sound is the fun of the whole hobby
pretty good discussion and comments. Hopefully more and more folks are realizing getting that magic is a combined effect of tubes, caps, transformers etc. Another suggestion for coupling caps are the Jupiter copper foil caps. Very organic sounding with all sorts of tube selections.
Great monologue, thank you. I agree with your opinion 100%. Tubes rule, solid-state drools! Seriously, I just cannot get that sound from solidstate alone. Some new solidstate designs use tube preamps. That sounds far better than just transistors alone. I don't know how tubes do it, well actually I do sort of, but the sound stage with tubes, the realism, the fidelity, is just incredible. With good tubes that is. I know people that think tube amps do not sound very good. I believe they just have not heard a good tube amp. Much less a great tube amp. Loving my tubes. The holographic, 3D effects of the sound stage, sound much like a live concert. If you have good reference speakers that is. Thanks for the video, keep up the good work.
Preaching to the choir. Tubes, caps, op-amps, cables; all different spices. You can make adjustments to get the flavor of sound that you want.
Those who love music know and understand what you are talking about ....
That's the magic of a good musical system..........all other is eternal searching for the holy grail and the impressive performance ( even measurements ) and never found the magic of satisfaction while spending huge amounts of illusions during a lifetime......as impressive as some high end can sound , often one ends up to lower the sound level or one stops listening after a given time exposed to the ( expensive ) system , only the magic without listening fatigue is wath satisfies the soul of your musical experience. .........
Besides the house sound of some good sounding ( mostly some vintage ) brands........SS has it's own veil and imprint on the music ( semi conducting and crystaline silicium signal path ) ......tubes have the "potential" to take you away on the flowing river of music. And by doing that , you forget the system and its electronics , only to listen and connect to the music.........one has not to be an expert or engineer to love and connect to the magic of music.........
Thank you for the upload .
I enjoy watching Your Tube knowledge and Danny's crossover knowledge for improving synergy, soundstage, and overall enjoyment.
Hi Stephe, the age old question is always where to spend your money. And the most main stream answer is to put most of it in the speaker. How ever, there are many indicators against it. If you listen to some other niche you tubers with lots of experience in audio (real world audio, just recently or the German Snake Oil Audio, not to be confused with that other channel) they will tell you that if you have a good speaker (and then they typically refer to a full range driver, lets say a Fostex and up wards) you can keep going with upgrading and tuning a valve amp and the speaker will not gate you. So what they are saying is that once you have found a speaker you like, the gains will come from the amp and that speaker can almost be an instant end game component. It is kind of the gest from what I am getting from this monologue as well.
Yup!
Definitely.
Presumably the live sound you've been searching for was a PA system that sounded real good. I don't doubt that at all and its great you're getting there but for me I've never even got close to my 'live sound' which was acoustic Chamber Music. Mind, I've never been able to afford 'hi-end gear but decent enough that I can enjoy the music without tears at bedtime.
@@ConorHanley there are som cheep 2 hand gear wich is realy good. Manny people like to go Bluetooth now and sell gear cheep. Maybe not tube amps,but there are some good sounding around 500$ used.
Tube passion .... sounds like pretty innocent fun to me ...........
And is legal!!
I also love tube amps , they are magical with reproduction of music. Tube amps bring the music into a live sound environment. As if the musical band is right in front of you live.
"you can't EQ soundstage into a system" - great comment Stephe! You are journeying down a wonderful and rewarding, but sometimes frustrating road and discovering that all is not snake oil.
'Enjoying the ride. Thanks.
OK my mind has been blow when I put some EML 300B tubes in my amp....
I agree with everything you experienced 🎶
I love tube amps too, Stephe, and for exactly the same reasons.
I like point to point DIY assembly too.
Messing around with SS boards leaves me rather cold
Morning. I must have missed that you have decided on the S2’s. They are lovely, gratulations.
They really are!!!
Have a great week
Did not know where you were going with the live sound. I hate the live concert sound from most concerts. But Steve Winwood, I get that. One of the greatest music artists. I am more of a live, un amplified concert sound chaser with hi-fi. So many recording let me down, and need massively amplified bass to get realistic live sound. That is were hifi leaves me behind, lack of bass in so many systems.
That's where the EAR834 phono pre shines, killer bass!
I agree those 600Ms are fantastic and if you love that live open sound with a deep sound stage it is the GR research crossover mods that get you there by fixing the phase issues.
Soundstage and imaging…tubes rule!
That being said …I helps if the recordings (the software that makes the hardware work) has that same care taken .
I have reached the conclusion, my truth, I am a tube’s and horns guy. I recently installed a set of Gold Lion KT88’s in my R8 and viola! My amp now energizes my room and pounds me with sound , my Heresy’s deliver dynamic music reproduction with intensity that puts me into a live show. That’s where I want to be, at the show. Best sound I’ve ever had, and it didn’t cost more than a car to achieve.
I have been a long time fan and have to say this is one of your best videos ever ! This hobby is so subjectable from ear to ear. Finding that sound your after takes a great deal of research and experimentation. When I built my Elekit 300B I bought the WE 300B because of all the great reviews about them ! In fact I could not find one single bad review about them. Do you have any thoughts about those tubes ? Keep up the great work and Happy Thanksgiving !
Yeah, buy the EML 300B tubes instead. You will thank me and I promise you will put the WE tubes up for sale.
I believe that tubes have the same principals of operation but are made by hands or they are assembled in semiautomatic ways with montage tolerances , Even those of the same type have individual chrarcteristic while the optimum operation conditions sholud be publiced with their real tolerances which I suspect could be surprising .
Depending on producer and technology this tolerances may be inclined in this or other way. . The outcome is that they may vary in amplification. How much different it may be is difficult to know. Because in real amplifier it is equalized by significant feedback. (The same situation BTW is with transistors - they are measured and grouped accordingly, sometime descrined by last letter. For tubes it was never practiced because differences were smaller. In ICs they are covered by feedback by application or internally.). Feedback always defines amplification, it is not amplification of tube responsible . May be to notice real differences would be necesary to open feedback in amplifier? Then it is open question is bigger amplification better than smaller?. In my opinion operation of feedback governs the sound and it involves also transformer and speaker properties .
What kind of speakers did you hear the concert thru?
Didn't ask what speakers the band was using.
Professional speakers, probably... That's what we used, with tube amps.
hi,i suggest to you ,try the 5u4 gb rectifier its better that 5ar4 and you can hear the difference,cheers
Needs to be a slow start tube as well.
yes slow start i prerfer switch the high voltage after 2 minutes on the tubes it mean long life for the tubes and adjust the 6.3v on tubes with resistors if nescessary this is mean long life for tube also.
@@SkunkieDesignsElectronics 5Z4 has a slower warmup than a 5U4
Interesting Monday monologue... just to say, how one perceive sound, is subjective but please listen.
What are you going to do when your favorite tubes vanish?
Find another combo :)
I plan to find more favorites 😊.
just folks stay away from tinitus, to much hig music and you can be there, the fact is that most people are happy with blutoot divises.I also think there must be mood inflicting this.somtimes it just not sound great,anotherday it does,I also have the ability to snap tubes, but don't putt to much to it,a tube amp is fine when it works well,ewen with regular tubes.and I have jbl l100 and don't want to play to much loud, so it dossent sound topp all the time, cause it has to be played loud to do.
Some speakers only sound good at high in room SPL, which can lead to tinitus.
It's why I returned those JBL L82 speakers.
@ with the 300 b amp its no isue,its after a long life with to manny conserts i figured out to wear protectjon on conserts and my ears still fine,but not all my frends.
analog can give you goosebumbs....digital doesnt
Depends on the gear.
Anyone who does not like to use particle accelerators for audio amplification, is just dull, boring, lacks imagination and a soul. 😅
Bye. Done with opinion sites. Looking for a site to enjoy rather than watching noise. Slap a tube on that to see if the harmonics come out rather rhan noise.
👋 Bye
"Done with opinion sites."? In this hobby it's only about opinions. If you want only objective information you are in the wrong place, so buh-bye.
Hmm the title of the video, "monolog", maybe should be a clue that the video you were about to watch is an opinion video and not a technical one? :P
Proceeds to give own opinion ......... LOL