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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