Taurus
02-15-2003, 12:10 PM
Don't everybody freakout-I'm not trolling with this question! Read on.........
Tube equipment generates even-order harmonic distortion, which supposedly sounds pleasant compared to solid-state gear's odd-order distortion (UNpleasant sounding supposedly).
I figure if you have to have distortion it might as well be nice sounding :) as long as it's inaudible (does that make any sense?). I noticed many tube power amps introduce-compared to solid-state amps-rather high amounts of distortion, sometimes up to 5% THD (3%THD is where the average ear begins to detect THD). Some people believe this is what generates that velvety/airy sound. IMO I'm not sure if I want this in my music, good sounding or not, so my question is:
Are there any tubed preamps that have inaudible amounts of distortion, i.e. are transparant sounding?
Also, a for-fun question: Could you combine a solid-state amp and a tubed preamp with equal but opposite amounts of THD where the final output would have NO distortion at all. In other words: +1 and -1 = 0?
Sorry, one last techie question! MOSFETs are supposed to behave like tubes (I think they are voltage-sensitive devices like tubes, instead of current-sensitive like "normal" transistors). My receiver uses these and was wondering if they also generate even-order THD like vacuum tubes do. MOSFETs seem to be popping up everywhere the last five years or so, so I was wondering if they were a "best of both worlds" device?
Thanks a lot.
[T]
Tube equipment generates even-order harmonic distortion, which supposedly sounds pleasant compared to solid-state gear's odd-order distortion (UNpleasant sounding supposedly).
I figure if you have to have distortion it might as well be nice sounding :) as long as it's inaudible (does that make any sense?). I noticed many tube power amps introduce-compared to solid-state amps-rather high amounts of distortion, sometimes up to 5% THD (3%THD is where the average ear begins to detect THD). Some people believe this is what generates that velvety/airy sound. IMO I'm not sure if I want this in my music, good sounding or not, so my question is:
Are there any tubed preamps that have inaudible amounts of distortion, i.e. are transparant sounding?
Also, a for-fun question: Could you combine a solid-state amp and a tubed preamp with equal but opposite amounts of THD where the final output would have NO distortion at all. In other words: +1 and -1 = 0?
Sorry, one last techie question! MOSFETs are supposed to behave like tubes (I think they are voltage-sensitive devices like tubes, instead of current-sensitive like "normal" transistors). My receiver uses these and was wondering if they also generate even-order THD like vacuum tubes do. MOSFETs seem to be popping up everywhere the last five years or so, so I was wondering if they were a "best of both worlds" device?
Thanks a lot.
[T]