Hi.
Unfortunately, I was born at the close of the tube era, and most of the
electronics in my life has been solid state. I've never owned tube hi-fi
equipment, so I can't really comment on tube vs. solid state stereo
equipment, and I suspect that you might get into some interesting issues
with modern CD players, etc.
Having said that, I recall one of my prized possessions as a teenager,
namely a used Hallicrafters S108 general coverage receiver that had very
pleasing sound, and was probably one of the nicest sounding radios that
I've ever used for medium wave listening. Sure, it wasn't as selective as
some of the newer solid state gear that I have, such as the Drake R8A, but
the audio section in that radio sounded like a million bucks, and when I
hear you guys talk about the rich sound from tube amplifiers, that receiver
is what I think of.
The one thing I will say is that I think that tube gear requires a good bit
more maintenance than the solid state stuff does. Tubes get weak after a
few years of use and have to be replaced, and the solid state stuff just
seems to keep going unless you have a catastrophic failure where the device
just fails altogether. I'll agree with the person who said that tubes will
take a lot more, though. The thing is that while solid state devices just
keep going and going if treated carefully, the other side of that is that
those catastrophic failures happen so much more easily if those devices
aren't treated with care. For example, I try not to ever push my solid
state amplifiers to more than 50% of their maximum output, becuse it is in
that upper 50% of the volume control where most amplifiers develop heat
problems or push that component that is a little marginal to the point of
failure.
73, de Lou K2LKK
Louis Kim Kline
A.R.S. K2LKK
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