It's also worth noting that two guys who have done very successful and well-reviewed commercial
transfer work, Doug Pomeroy and Seth Winner, use tubed disk preamps.
The big challenge with tubes and phono preamplification is keeping the noise floor low and the gain
staged in way to allow for multiple EQ curves. But, that's the same challenge for transistors.
Without entering the cultish tube vs. transistor battles of audiophile-land, in my experience just
about any audio job can be done well using either amplification device. My own ears prefer direct
drive of loudspeakers, so I'd give a slight edge to solid-state there, but only modern designs that
don't get "crackly" or "nasal" when stressed. I also admit not having the opportunity to experiment
with high-power OTL tube amplifiers.
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard L. Hess" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, April 18, 2015 3:25 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] "Best of both worlds" disk preamplifier
> On 2015-04-18 3:07 PM, Paul Stamler wrote:
>>
>> Well-designed tube circuits can have transient response as good as
>> transistor circuits, and incredibly low distortion as well (with the
>> application of negative feedback). I'm sorry, but the idea that
>> "euphonic distortion" is an inherent characteristic of tube circuits is
>> one that's been carefully nurtured by the purveyors of tube hi-fi gear.
>> I'll go on record as saying categorically that it ain't necessarily so.
>
> They key to this is circuit design/topology and paying attention to gain staging through the
> device as well as component selection.
>
> Tubes can handle rather large voltage swings and if the R/C rolloffs are properly controlled they
> may actually provide a cleaner representation of the transient--if the A-D converter can accept it
> without excessive noise. Again, gain-staging is of paramount concern.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Richard
>
> --
> Richard L. Hess email: [log in to unmask]
> Aurora, Ontario, Canada 647 479 2800
> http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
> Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.
>
>
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