Ted Edwards wrote:
Tim Williams wrote:
Ya, because they have that fun little exponential Vbe curve. Beta is to
transistors what Gm is to tubes and FETs, and you know it...

I've seen your posts here and elsewhere. They all seem to be of similar
quality. I have been designing, building and _listening to_ audio
amplifiers for about 60 years and the plain fact is that tube amps just
don't do a good job especially at very low or very high frequencies.
Almost acceptable THD is possible at 1 KHz maybe even up to 5 or 10 but
then maybe you can't hear anything above that.

Bull**** on stilts. McIntosh, ARC, Julie Labs and many others have
made tube amps with THD and intermod specs comparable to any popular
solid state and bandwidth up to at least 25 or 30 kHz, surely you can't
hear above that. Tube amps do a good job from perhaps 16 Hz (they are
down some there usually) to 20-22 kHz (and if they are down a little
over 15 kHz that's OK as long as it is not too sudden a slope) and
because the type of distortioon differs. .1 THD is OK on tube amps
whereas .01 may NOT be on solid state. Subjectively tube amps of a
given specification often (not always) sound better than solid state
amps of better spec. Russ Hamm proved it in 1973 with his paper which
appeared in JAES and it has not been contradicted. Arny talks a lot but
he knows it's true and will be until they change the laws of physics.

We got Cal a copy of the book "An Evening with Marilyn" by Douglas
Kirkland for Christmas. There's a hi--fi system in the background in
the loft where the shoot takes place. (Looks like an Altec amp and a
big Altec bass driver-the horns are out of the picture. There's a big
dust cap-it's not a 604....but who would have cared?) You know when
Frank Sinatra, Arthur Miller, JFK, and DiMaggio were on top of THAT
situation the music was playing just fine with no silicon involved. You
know what? It still does. (The music. The people, they're dead.)