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Tube amps often do sound different.

You've been listening to too many subjectivists giving their take on what audio rationalists say, to wit, "All amplifiers sound the same." But that characterization is a rhetorical device made up to discredit opponents who in fact hold no such thing. In fact, no sensible person says that, particularly comparing tube and solid state amplifiers, which are quite likely to sound different.

I'll give a fairly extreme example of a tube amplifier that very likely will sound different with most speakers. It depends a great deal on the output impedance of the amplifier (which varies with frequency) and the impedance curve of the speakers. Check the green curve in Figure 1 in the link below. This one is from Soundstage.com, but Stereophile does a similar measurement into a standard simulated speaker load. In many cases, the measurements provide very good reasons why they are likely to sound different.


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---Heraclitus of Ephesus (trans. Wheelwright)

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  • Tube amps often do sound different. - Pat D 17:22:17 06/02/06 (0)
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