Tube buffer?

disneyjoe7

Can someone explain what this is, and what it does?

disneyjoe7

Wait I think I answered my own question a tube amp which is in line with a SS source to make it sound tubey?

Right correct me if wrong.

dorokusai

Hmmmmmm

disneyjoe7

Lol:)

Face

Band aid.

disneyjoe7

Ok I'm not interested in buy one, I just wondered WTF that was?

Systems

disneyjoe7 wrote: »

Wait I think I answered my own question a tube unity gain buffer which is in line with a SS source to raise the noise floor and add lots of second order harmonic distortion to the signal path.

Fixed it for ya;)

disneyjoe7

Yes I can't see a tube buffer adding anything to a sound system, vs. using a pre amp to remove some SS processing all together.

Dawgfish

Hey not so fast there. I've actually have had great results with my Grant Fidelity B-283 Tube Buffer. Yes I would rather have a tube pre, or better yet a quality tube amp, but right now most of them are beyond my budget. I am using mine in conjunction with a Parasound P/FET 900II pre and an Adcom GFA-555, Denon CD Player, Technics SL-1200 with Denon DL-160 cart, and SDA-1C speakers with RDO tweets. I am using AQ diamondack ICs and Anticable speaker wire. The results are fantastic with my setup. My rig was a little on the forward side before. With the tube bufer it is warmer and has a much wider soundstage. It made a pretty substantial difference for the better with my set-up. I am using the tube buffer in line between the pre and the amp.

I have had the pleasure to listen to some first class tube setups before (Reel Trouble 1's especially), and that's definitely the sound I am looking for. I have no doubt that an actual tube pre or tube amp would make a much bigger difference, but right now I don't have the coin to afford a quality tube pre or amp. The tube buffer gives me a taste of tubes at a price I can afford. BTW, RT1 acutally uses a tube buffer (Music Fidelity in his case) between one of his cd sources and his pre. If he is using one in his setup, well to me that says a lot. I say if you are interested in one try it out. It may not do much for your system, then again it may. I know it did for mine. You can always sell it if you don't like it.

CoolJazz

The real use for a buffer stage is provide a low impedance source to drive long lines.

If your physical set up causes a need to run a line from one room to the next or across from one side of a room to the other, then you may well run into a high frequency roll off. Particularly, this can be the case with a high impedance output or if you have a cable design that is higher in capacitance. By introducing a low driving impedance, you can help avoid this HF roll off.

The idea of introducing a low cost tube stage to modify a SS sound should be an obvious dubious idea. :eek: You might like the result, but you would certainly be a little better off with a better built buffer (more $$$ than most of the cheap buffers) and even better off yet with a really good sounding preceding stage. Or avoid the need for a buffer at all by selecting a piece that already has a low impedance output.

The notion that you can improve upon a poor or unpleasing sonic presentation by adding cheap electronics should be approached with care!

CoolJazz

Dawgfish

Look, I already said if I could afford a better pre or amp I would have it in the system. The bottom line is it works for my system and before you start accusing me of being a newbie or whatever, I've been in this game a lot longer than I've been posting in this forum. I've heard a lot of outstanding systems out there. I'm not saying I'm an expert, I'm not and welcome all of the great experience and knowledge this forum has to offer, but I've heard some great systems out there and have that as a basis of comparison. The bottom line is the tube buffer made a great improvement in my system. There are others on this board who have had similiar results. I don't think for a moment that everybody on here would see the same kind of improvements in their system that I and others have saw (especially as you go higher up in the audio food chain). I will say this, you never know unless you try. For $150 bucks it was worth trying if you are wandering about it. If not than don't worry about it. I also added some Mullard 8100 tubes, Herbies tube dampners, and an aftermarket powercord all with slight, but noticable improvments. Not everybody can spend $1500 on a pre and $4500 on an amp ( I wish I could, but I can't, I guess that's what i get for being a lowly geologist). Until then I will make do with what I got and be happy, much to the dismay of the audio gods.