Tube Pre's are bandaids.

ben62670

I have a real expensive one in my house. I only have it for a very short time, but I will elaborate on my statement later. All I have to say is between local Polkies(great friends) I have been able to listen to much gear on a lot of different gear. There are a few that really need to get on the ball and spend a little time. We don't need to make a big thing out of it. We have a lot of fun when it is only two or three of us.
Ben

F1nut

Is this going be like your "LSi's Suck" thread?

ben62670

F1nut wrote: »

Is this going be like your "LSi's Suck" thread?

Just to clarify for people that haven't read that thread I do not think LSI's suck. I think they are very hard to beat for there price.

Actually I just want to share my experiences with different gear. Hopefully others will join in with their experiences. I am having a hard time getting away from the tunes right now(I need some sleep). Some tunes sound better on some systems(cables, types of gear, manufactures of gear) than others. Too many people read reviews on gear that is tried in one system. I have heard gear that was supposed to sound great an it was a huge disappointment.

F1nut

ben62670 wrote: »

Just to clarify for people that haven't read that thread I do not think LSI's suck. I think they are very hard to beat for there price.

Yeah, I meant that the title wasn't indicative of the content.

engtaz

You two get some sleep. LOL

ben62670

Well most people that frequent here know I am not a very good writer. Getting thoughts from my mind to words isn't real easy for me(every notice how long it takes me to post sometimes?). I wish I could right like DK, and a few others. On the phone with you guys it is much easier to convey audio perception. The band-aid analogy is does actually hold true to what I am going to say about tubes. Recently I have been schooled on audio. I have been to some HiFi shops in the past, and have been very disappointed with the amount of coin some of these systems cost, and how they sound. Again the group of Polkies we have around here has helped all of us grow in knowledge. I should have held off on posting this thread. I am just very excited about what is going on around here. Friday or Saturday should be when I start posting serious stuff on what I have learned here.

ben62670

engtaz wrote: »

You two get some sleep. LOL

I can't sleep!

dorokusai

The title is full of crap.

tonyb

Please spell it out Ben.Throwing statements out like that is only going to entice others to jump all over you.The only other thing I can say is,synergy is a ****,ain't it?

Toolfan66

Ben i had the chance to hear a system yesterday that was all tubes, tube pre and 7 tube amps. I am "hooked" it sucked to come home and fire up my system. The guy has to have at least $100.000 wrapped up in his system.

reeltrouble1

tubes rule eff your friggen bandaid, big deal, some hi-fi shops told you something, how about the guys that have actually owned experimented and have been using the gear, you know kicking the tires, it's a dumb thread name, a reversion for you, I hope you had a good nights sleep and then remove the thing.

RT1

pearsall001

I don't know...the title seems to sum it up pretty good.

mhardy6647

One doesn't have to spend $100,000 (or even $10,000). One just has to listen (a lot) and choose -- and spend -- wisely.

dorokusai

mhardy6647 wrote: »

One doesn't have to spend $100,000 (or even $10,000). One just has to listen (a lot) and choose -- and spend -- wisely.

Really? Man, I need to rethink my recent loan.

I agree 100%.

reeltrouble1

who spent a hundred grand???? do they need someone to carry their suitecase????

besides this is not about money, CP has never really been about money, this is about tube pre's being so-called bandaids whether 10.00, 100.00, 1,000.00, 10,000.00 its dumb and ben is still sleeping it off.

There is also no reason to join the Race to the Bottom. spend wisely, but spend for the best you can get.

RT1

dorokusai

I've seen/heard magic for 100 bucks.

mhardy6647

Come over to our little town "dump" (transfer station) some fine summer Saturday... we can sometimes get pretty close to magic gratis.

The "Yankee swap" pile is a tradition of the New England town dump.

sorry for the aside.


EDIT: I should add that I've heard some pretty nice sounding $100k systems, too (e.g., at The Analog Room in San Jose and deja Vu Audio in McLean).

reeltrouble1

damm Doro, purple micro-dot used to cost alot less............

that first little Dodd you turned me on to back in the day was about 200.00, that was alot of nice little pre for that dough.

RT1

McLoki

dorokusai wrote: »

I've seen/heard magic for 100 bucks.

That may be true - but only a lucky few, for that same $100, have seen magic AND a white tiger attack.

nspindel

I've moved up the tube pre-amp chain a bit from that Little Dot MKIVSE to the LD MKVI balanced. Sorry Ben, I'm usually with you on most topics but I have to disagree here. I just love what tubes do to my system. I have a quad of Svetlana "Winged C" 6H13C's for power tubes, and I have a pair of Brimar CV1985's and a pair of Valvo JAN 6SL7GT's for drivers. Just mint sound.

As a headphone amp, this thing puts me in the clouds dude. I was listening to a Joshua Bell violin cd last night on balanced Senn 650's, and I was completely floating. What was going on in my head is impossible for me to even begin to try and write down. I've never been overly impressed with SDA's for classical, I tried listening to the same cd through my 1C's and found it relatively uninvolving. But the balanced tube headamp through the Senn cans was just mind blowing.

ben62670

reeltrouble1 wrote: »

tubes rule eff your friggen bandaid, big deal, some hi-fi shops told you something, how about the guys that have actually owned experimented and have been using the gear, you know kicking the tires, it's a dumb thread name, a reversion for you, I hope you had a good nights sleep and then remove the thing.

RT1

Teddy you are way way off. Have you not read a word I have said? Till recently (the last year)I have been very limited to what I have heard in the way of tubes. I haven't let store employees tell me crap in a long time. If my ears don't like I don't care what people say. Who says band-aids are a bad thing? Did I say anything bad about tubes? On my budget it is hard to even try to keep what I have. I have been fortunate enough to have a chance to really sit down and spend some time with many systems in home, and even the same systems in different homes. I don't piss on your threads. Please don't piss on mine.
Thanks
Ben

tonyb wrote: »

Please spell it out Ben.Throwing statements out like that is only going to entice others to jump all over you.The only other thing I can say is,synergy is a ****,ain't it?

Yes synergy is a ****, but a few pieces of gear get along with many things. I have heard two pieces of tube gear that seem to play nice with many different system. One of the pre's is here on my not even close to up to snuff according to Teddy the great. Even though I have sub par equipment in the eyes of a few members here the tubes are doing some magic that I thought was imposable.

Pauly

mhardy6647 wrote: »

One doesn't have to spend $100,000 (or even $10,000). One just has to listen (a lot) and choose -- and spend -- wisely.

Agreed!


On my short stent on tubes few years back i agree a tubed pre did make a difference IMO. Im too poor now adays to get back in them. Everyone has their own set of ears though....


Pauly

dorokusai

Mark is no stranger to tubes Pauly...I believe it was a cost comment.

Face

Replace Pre's with Buffers.

Pauly

dorokusai wrote: »

Mark is no stranger to tubes Pauly...I believe it was a cost comment.

I was agreeing with him....

Pauly

ben62670

Face wrote: »

Replace Pre's with Buffers.

I would like to see a selectable Pre out there like the one I have been working on. Tube/passive/SS. You could have your cake and it it too.

heiney9

dorokusai wrote: »

I've seen/heard magic for 100 bucks.

+1 to that. My office rig amazes me and I have about $350 invested in a very basic rig.

amp w/tubes
dac
speakers/rdo's/solens
home brew speaker cables
signal cable I/C's

Also the title is a bunch of crap and Ben you should know better than to make blanket statements like that.

heiney9

ben62670 wrote: »

I would like to see a selectable Pre out there like the one I have been working on. Tube/passive/SS. You could have your cake and it it too.

Monarchy makes one, can't run in passive however and no remote

heiney9

So where's the review? What gear have you listened to recently? You can't make a statement like that and then go to sleep!

reeltrouble1

He got drunk and posted this stupid thread title that much is obvious.

RT1

ben62670

heiney9 wrote: »

So where's the review? What gear have you listened to recently? You can't make a statement like that and then go to sleep!

Well I just got off the phone. I have been holding back on the name of the pre that I have here for a reason. I can not disclose the name of this pre. I will however share what tubes can do. The other Pre I have grown to love is George's Belles 20. I have my daughter with me today. So chasing a 3 year old is very distracting. I will say that these two Pre's are like MIT shotgun's. They might not be perfect for every system, but they will be very sweet in most.

reeltrouble1 wrote: »

He got drunk and posted this stupid thread title that much is obvious.

RT1

Way off again Teddy. I was up late working on things here and taking care of my daughter. Again I do not piss on your threads. Don't piss on mine. Don't like my threads then don't post. I am try to share and listen to others experiences.