Tubes are the way to go. Also a question about measuring distortion, anybody.

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Posted by phenderson on April 21, 2002 at 17:42:16

In Reply to: I'm very confused about mosfet vs bi polar transistors posted by Rudi on April 18, 2002 at 13:40:08:

I think tubes do sound different and better. Some say this is just because of their distortions, but I think we don't have sophisticated enough measurement techniques to make that judgement, and even if it is correct, who cares what the reason is -- they just sound better. Fuller, easier on the ears. You can get plenty loud and funky with tubes -- Jimi Hendrix could tell you if he were around. But I admit you are talking a lot of extra hardware and hassle to get the wattage you want.

The reason I question modern measurement techniques is we don't seem have a way to measure distortion on a complex musical signal. Maybe ten years ago I read an interview with an amplifier designer, Richard May, where he said that you can't predict the distortion on multiple tones from the distortion when only one or two frequencies are played. With today's digital signal analysis techniques perhaps you could, by sampling the output and spectrally decomposing the difference from the input, but I don't see where anyone has done this. Have they?

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - I'm very confused about mosfet vs bi polar transistors - Rudi 13:40:08 04/18/02 (11)

Tubes are the way to go. Also a question about measuring distortion, anybody. - phenderson 17:42:16 04/21/02 (4)

Re: Tubes are the way to go. Also a question about measuring distortion, anybody. - Dusty Chalk 21:03:29 04/25/02 (0)

AUDIO is the abused stepchild in Electronics - j.l.guillebeau@att.net 17:38:53 04/25/02 (0)

Distortion review article - Must Read ! - jcox 20:37:23 04/22/02 (1)

Re: Distortion review article - Must Read ! - Jon Risch 21:24:23 04/25/02 (0)

Re: mosfet vs bi polar - bdiament 10:36:30 04/19/02 (0)

No such thing as "perfect" amp - j.l.guillebeau@att.net 08:44:28 04/19/02 (4)

Bipolar also have problems - Ole Lund Christensen 11:24:59 04/21/02 (3)

Re: Bipolar also have problems - Chris M 07:16:28 04/22/02 (2)

Re: Bipolar also have problems - Ole Lund Christensen 13:09:40 04/23/02 (1)

Re: Bipolar also have problems - RBP 22:20:10 04/23/02 (0)

Follow Ups

Tubes are the way to go. Also a question about measuring distortion, anybody. - phenderson 17:42:16 04/21/02 (4)

Re: Tubes are the way to go. Also a question about measuring distortion, anybody. - Dusty Chalk 21:03:29 04/25/02 (0)

AUDIO is the abused stepchild in Electronics - j.l.guillebeau@att.net 17:38:53 04/25/02 (0)

Distortion review article - Must Read ! - jcox 20:37:23 04/22/02 (1)

Re: Distortion review article - Must Read ! - Jon Risch 21:24:23 04/25/02 (0)

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