Hi qguy,
That is the kind of question that would make me sweat.
And you have to ask a passionate tube lover at that, double strike.
Are SS amps the best??? I feel like the lyching mob is very near
my house. And as to 'not' evade the question, imho, they are not. ( I
can feel the first tomato thrown at my window )
Most probably there has been a similar thread re SS vs tube amp
somewhere here, and I would have evaded that debate thread. Anyway,
here is my thoughts as to why I think it is not.
It would be safe to say that the terms 'tunog transistor' and 'tunog
tubo' connote a certain unarguable understanding that the former means
sound quality with very extended highs ( some call it bright ), very punchy, powerful and tight bass, and a 'neutral' midrange ( neither fat
nor thin, but some actually call it thin ). Now, the latter means rolled off
highs, flabby bass which is is the opposite of tight bass, BUT a glorious,
lush, warm, full bodied midrange that users call 'ang taba tumunog na
walang ka-fatigue fatigue'.
Now, depending on which side of the fence you sit on, both terms
can be derogatory to one and high heaps of praise to the other. In the
end, the choice is mainly determined by the TYPE OF MUSIC the hobbyist
listens to a lot. A lover of sweet soft music mostly chooses tubes and
the lover of powerful, fast, and dynamic music chooses SS. As in most
cases, there will be exceptions. The second consideration is the maintenance factor. SS electronics, unlike tube gear, need no biasing,
replacement of tubes, and even better, saves you a lot of money from
being an NOS addict. Which makes me come nearer to a specfic point
in the 7 super system owner having SS amps. The owners of the IRSII
and the Gen101 used to have tube amps, both Jadis JA 500s. Both of
them experienced breakdowns of some sorts that led them to give up
the tube amps and they went the SS way mainly for the so called lower
maintenance problem. Which is not to say the SS amps will not break
down, only, the perception of the owners is that they are 'lesser prone'
to break-downs. A lot of them, imo, chose the brands of their SS amps
because they are the 'best' in its class, meaning SS, and not because
they have the best sound of all. Most owners will admit they want no more
of tube biasing and replacements. And secondly, I observed that the owners have 'big speaker systems' - multi drivers and huge woofers.
They love to play music with huge dynamic contrasts, and the SS amps
are a sound choice because they have the 'controlled' power that most
tube amps do not possess. Controlled in the sense that it provides the
tight bass I talked about, and given the fact that SS amp even doubles
its power as the impedance drops down, the users of 4 ohm speakers actually have some advantage in using SS amps, and this, I feel is
another factor why the owners chose SS amps.