Valves or Transistors

[Jimbo]

As Analogue recording and vinyl is now back in fashion, I know some would say it has never gone out of fashion :lol

Which type of amplifier do you think sounds best in an all vinyl/analogue system, Valve, Transistor or both?

If this subject has been covered before please can someone direct me to the post - thanks.:)

[Radford Revival]

Either can sound perfectly good, it's just down to subjective taste.

[Gordon Steadman]

I'm sure the subject has been covered ad nauseum. However, you will find enough members of both camps to keep the discussions going for a few years yet:eyebrows:

Its valves and vinyl first choice for me but having said that, I get terrific enjoyment from the other systems in the house too. We have four transistor amps in operation and only two valve!!

[walpurgis]

As Gordon suggests, it's an eternal question. I hear differences, but I use both valves and solid state with enjoyable results. But equally, there are differences in sound between various valve amps and between different solid state amps, so there's no defining line.

[hifi_dave]

You get good and bad of both. All you can do is listen and go with the one you like best.

[Wakefield Turntables]

Do both.

[chris@panteg]

Do both.

Yes why not, if you can.

[Joe]

Depends what you mean by 'best'. What most people mean is 'what I like the sound of best', and this will vary considerably between individuals. So 'try both' is the only sensible answer.

[YNWaN]

As Joe says, what is best to one person is not to another. Having recently returned from the Scalford show I can attest that some clearly have a very different idea as to what constitutes best (or good) than I have.

Personally, I would say transistors, but there are a lot of very mediocre transistor amps. Valve amps can perform very well, but all the ones I have liked have cost a lot of money (Trilogy 990 & 968, PureSound M845 monos).

[Marco]

Unless you're a talented DIY-er, you can't 'do valves' properly on the cheap.

Unfortunately, the things that make valve amps work at a high-end level (top-notch output transformers and equally top-notch and heavy, over-specced, mains transformers) don't come cheap... It's all in the amount and quality of iron used!

I agree with your choices of valve amps that work well. To add to that list, anything made by Anthony Matthews, Nick Gorham and Glenn Croft :)

Marco.

P.S I still need to comment on the Scalford thread, but simply haven't had time yet (too many visitors to attend to at the moment), however, I will rectify that later... Where on earth were you hiding, anyway? ;)

[Firebottle]

Even if you go down the OTL route with valves to negate the expense of the output transformer, it is still relatively expensive as the power supply grows in complexity.
Superb sound though into electrostatics :eek:

:cool: Alan

[Marco]

Yup, although I don't think I could live with OTLs... I just wouldn't trust them not to take out my precious (irreplaceable) speakers, in the event of a fault! :eek:

However, you're right: the heart of any amplifier (valve or SS) is its power supply - and high-quality, well-executed, ones don't come cheap.

Marco.

[Oldpinkman]

I love the look, feel, and idea of valves, and have heard some nice sounding ones, but I have a couple of lovely trannies I prefer atm :)

[YNWaN]

Where on earth were you hiding, anyway? ;)

Do you mean me- where was I hiding? I was hiding in full sight :) - I was there most of the day, 10:30 to 4:30, went with my friends Si and Dave, did all the rooms except for Lindsay T and Puerile North - visited a few more than once.

[Marco]

Lol... Del and I got there at about 9.20am and stayed until 5.30pm. We went to most of the rooms. I think the only one we missed was the Naim/Neat room, which apparently was pretty good :)

Marco.

[Lee1976]

Have a look at J.Wood valve amps. Serious build and serious power supply's. My intergrated comes in at 33KG and will drive anything. 80wpc KT88 based and it kills most velve amps I have heard. It replaced a Audio analogue meastro in my system and beats it and this was a great amp. Ever over Nottingham pop over for a listen.

[nat8808]

P.S I still need to comment on the Scalford thread, but simply haven't had time yet (too many visitors to attend to at the moment), however, I will rectify that later... Where on earth were you hiding, anyway? ;)

:chainsaw:

Do NOT reveal yourself to Marco, stay hidden and I'll call the cops!!

[nat8808]

I think one should simply seek the best amp, regardless and ignore what they're made of.

With things like Ncores out there, maybe cost wise you'll get further sonically with some solid state.

[Yomanze]

Tubes can sound like solid state and solid state can sound like tubes. Am currently using a solid-state LFD PA0 SE in place of my usual PA2M SE and it has more than a touch of tube amp sound about it.

[Naughty Nigel]

Valves (and their output transformers) do tend to bring a unique sound and feel, which benefits certain types of music (especially organ, classical and choral). Ironically, this seems largely due to the third harmonic distortion generated by these devices.

However, I have always felt that digital sources such as CD benefit more from valve amplification, probably because of the inductive nature of output transformers, which I feel tends to 'smooth' unwanted artefacts from the DAC.

By the same token, it will be seen that it is the output circuit which defines the amplifier's 'sound' (if any), rather than the pre-amplifier stage, which is also much cheaper to build. If you are looking for a 'valve sound' it would probably make sense to concentrate on the output stages than the preamp. As an example, I am currently using Quad valve amps, but these are driven by a Quad 44 preamp and FM4 tuner.

However, I also have a Pioneer A-400 in a second system (driving Quad 11L's), which produces a remarkably valve-like sound to my ears.

Nigel.

[Andrei]

I have a couple of lovely trannies I prefer atm :)
Looks I completely misunderstood you Richard.

PS Apologies to the OP (Original Poster). Thread drift is alive and well on AOS.