[gene9p]

Ever thought about it or tried it James?

You have a TT now, what about a Tube pre amp or tube Phono stage?

[CanadianMaestro]

some people are just slow to catch on.... 

[redbook]

 Is there really any need ?

[James Tanner]

Ever thought about it or tried it James?

You have a TT now, what about a Tube pre amp or tube Phono stage?

Hi

We looked at tubes many years ago and decided if we wanted to maintain as linear a signal path as current technology would allow that was Solid State.

james

[CanadianMaestro]

Is there really any need ?

That depends on what you want. In my experience, no SS preamp has reproduced massed strings (i.e. orchestra) and piano bass as naturally as some tubed preamps.
Also, the tubed pre that I use (LS27) manages to fill out the far corners of the soundstage better than the SS amps I have heard/owned (B100, BP17). And that's with tubes on the input stage only.

cheers

[gene9p]

Is there really any need ?

definitely....

[PierreB]

If Bryston built a tube pre-amp, count on me to buy one. 

[redbook]

definitely....

  Well it's a matter of taste really. Both types have  good ,bad , and ugly.

[gene9p]

If Bryston built a tube pre-amp, count on me to buy one. 

 

[James Tanner]

If Bryston built a tube pre-amp, count on me to buy one. 

Hi Pierre

No I think you have to draw the line somewhere in this life and so far for me it's MQA and Tubes !!! 

james

[PierreB]

Hi Pierre

No I think you have to draw the line somewhere in this life and so far for me it's MQA and Tubes !!! 

james

Hi M.Tanner,
Well like we said in french « c’est dommage ». 

[TomS]

And then there's that 20 year warranty to think about

[CanadianMaestro]

Dogma does not serve audio imo. The misguided notion that tubes "distort" music reproduction is plain unwarranted.

As we all know, vinyl is distortion. So the argument that "neutrality" and "accuracy" and "linearity" (???) need to be preserved at any price, is just plain hogwash imo, when it comes to TTs and vinyl. And yet, no tubed gear. Hmmmm

OK Bryston's TTs preserve the distortion inherent in vinyl.

Nice.

cheers

[Calypte]

Bryston has made a business decision not to design and produce tube gear.  What's wrong with that?  As good as Bryston gear may be, they are not the only people capable of producing high quality equipment.  If you want tubes, numerous manufacturers await your dollars.

[CanadianMaestro]

It's not so much the business decision. So was producing speakers. And TTs. Business decisions...and yes, there are plenty of specialist mfrs that make better speakers and TTs.

It's the implicit claim that SS amps are the "best" for "linearity" and zero-distortion repro. Not always true. What about reproducing the natural sound of a musical instrument like a violin, guitar, or piano? May tubies do that better than SS amps.

cheers

[James Tanner]

Hi Folks,

It’s an interesting topic – ‘Accuracy or Preference’ – when it comes to audio equipment. But I think ‘Linearity’ is the important one.

As you know Bryston has always sided on the accuracy aspect of audio gear design or what I like to call ‘linearity to the incoming signal’. There are a number of reasons why I feel this is the best option but one story I will tell you happened many years ago but still holds true today in my opinion.

I was involved in a number of recordings with Jack Renner and Michael Bishop of Telarc Records with Oscar Peterson and one recording session that stands out was a recording done in a Toronto studio called Manta Sound.  Lorne Lofsky (a jazz guitarist) showed up for a session and he had his guitar of course but he also had a beat-up TUBE amplifier with built in speaker. He ask us to ‘mic’ the tube amp/speaker for the recording session rather than the guitar. Of course my next question was ‘why’?

His answer reinforced by belief that linearity was the critical component when designing audio gear. He loved the sound of his guitar playing through this tube amp and wanted as accurate a rendition of that sound as possible.  So when you think about it you do not want the recording chain to add any ‘colouration’ or ‘preference’ to what is coming out of his playback system.  The same holds true for any instrument though – violin, piano, saxophone etc. So here we have an example where the accurate sound of the guitar through the speaker/amp box was very important to the artist.  So the job of the recording engineer was to try and capture this particular sound as close as possible while the intent of the artist was to produce a specific sound he found pleasing.

I think the same principle is valid in a home system as well. If you want to hear what the recording artist or audio engineer wanted you to experience the only true rendition is one that maintains as close as possible the linearity of the incoming signal. I have no issue with people deciding they what a particular 'kind of sound’ in their system but in my opinion the job of our electronics is to provide the most accurate rendition of the input as current technology allows.

James

[redbook]

Hi Folks,

It’s an interesting topic – ‘Accuracy or Preference’ – when it comes to audio equipment. But I think ‘Linearity’ is the important one.

As you know Bryston has always sided on the accuracy aspect of audio gear design or what I like to call ‘linearity to the incoming signal’. There are a number of reasons why I feel this is the best option but one story I will tell you happened many years ago but still holds true today in my opinion.

I was involved in a number of recordings with Jack Renner and Michael Bishop of Telarc Records with Oscar Peterson and one recording session that stands out was a recording done in a Toronto studio called Manta Sound.  Lorne Lofsky (a jazz guitarist) showed up for a session and he had his guitar of course but he also had a beat-up TUBE amplifier with built in speaker. He ask us to ‘mic’ the tube amp/speaker for the recording session rather than the guitar. Of course my next question was ‘why’?

His answer reinforced by belief that linearity was the critical component when designing audio gear. He loved the sound of his guitar playing through this tube amp and wanted as accurate a rendition of that sound as possible.  So when you think about it you do not want the recording chain to add any ‘colouration’ or ‘preference’ to what is coming out of his playback system.  The same holds true for any instrument though – violin, piano, saxophone etc. So here we have an example where the accurate sound of the guitar through the speaker/amp box was very important to the artist.  So the job of the recording engineer was to try and capture this particular sound as close as possible while the intent of the artist was to produce a specific sound he found pleasing.

I think the same principle is valid in a home system as well. If you want to hear what the recording artist or audio engineer wanted you to experience the only true rendition is one that maintains as close as possible the linearity of the incoming signal. I have no issue with people deciding they what a particular 'kind of sound’ in their system but in my opinion the job of our electronics is to provide the most accurate rendition of the input as current technology allows.

James   Well said  James....thanks.

[Pundamilia]

in my opinion the job of our electronics is to provide the most accurate rendition of the input as current technology allows

+1 Here is one Bryston owner who wholeheartedly agrees with that philosophy! Maintain the strategy of focusing on what Bryston does best (SS electronics) and partnering with specialists for other products.

[redbook]

+1 Here is one Bryston owner who wholeheartedly agrees with that philosophy! Maintain the strategy of focusing on what Bryston does best (SS electronics) and partnering with specialists for other products.

.....exactly

[dB Cooper]

I've never owned Bryston but am familiar with their well-known warranty; unless it has changed, it's the best warranty out there but would probably be impossible to offer on hot-running tube equipment.