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No- its all about distortion

Posted by Ralph (M) on August 6, 2012 at 10:39:06

In Reply to: Are tube liquidity/palpability and neutrality antithetical? posted by jazz251 on August 4, 2012 at 14:39:15:

The 'rich' sound of tubes is usually the 2nd order. But that is not something a tube *has* to do- its a product of the topology of the circuit.

For example, if you want neutrality and detail without artificial lushness, the circuit should be entirely differential and balanced from input to output. In this way all even orders will cancel with each succeeding stage. All that remains is the 3rd. If its fully differential, the 5th and above will not be showing up.

However, if you mix single-ended with balanced as in a Stereo 70 or similar, you will get a 5th harmonic. And of course in a single-ended circuit the 2nd predominates, followed by the 3rd and 4th (with the remaining harmonics showing up once the amp puts out power over about 25-33%).

Of course you can use feedback to reduce harmonic distortions, but you will find that it makes the amplifier brighter as it will add slight amounts of odd ordered harmonics. The ear uses these harmonics to determining how loud a sound is, so there is a good argument for finding a way to get rid of distortion without feedback.

So you can see that topology is the main thing that determines the distortion and the resulting tonal character (if you've not sorted it out by now, the ear hears distortion as tonality).

The simple fact is you can have a tube circuit that is neutral and musical, without being overly lush, unless the music itself is lush.

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Kimber Kable

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