On 13 Jun 2004 17:29:31 GMT, ohawker (Andy
Evans) wrote:

The performance of an amplifier comes from the way all the components work in
conjunction. Just replacing one item with a 'better' one might simply make the
performance worse...

I think there's a difference between using better componants and 'voicing' an
amp. My experience has been that better componants - caps, resistors etc -
almost always improve the sound - better tone, detail, transparancy etc. Only
at the very end, when the componants are all audiophile quality, do you start
voicing by substituting different tubes, trying different coupling caps (oil v
teflon for instance) and juggling PSU values and componants. With a bit of DIY
experience you learn certain synergies, like using a tube with thin mids like
the 6N30 with a tube with fat mids like the 6N1P, or a warm round plate 6J5G
with a cooler 12B4. All being equal in terms of detail and transparancy, you
can then tune the 'tone' to your preference.

=== Andy Evans ===
Visit our Website:- http://www.artsandmedia.com
Audio, music and health pages and interesting links.

I think you need to be a little careful here. In guitar amplifiers,
with minimal to no feedback, the effect of changing tube manufacturer
is subtle, but well enough documented.

But music reproduction amplifiers with any sort of pretension to high
fidelity are a very different thing. If you can change component types
in a hi fi amp and hear differences, that speaks of quite staggering
incompetence in the design of the amp - it certainly isn't a fit
starting point for any kind of audio project. The must be sufficient
margin in the design of the amp that it can accommodate any make of
valve - any Gm, in other words, without changing its transfer
characteristics. Think of the consequences if it can't achieve that.
As it warms up the sound will change, as the valves age the sound will
change. I guess you just have to hope that somewhere during that
ever-changing cycle the darned thing will hit your favourite tone -
what do you do then? Measure all the valves and try and find more that
perform just the same when you need to change them? Ludicrous.

Add to this, of course the basic inconsistency here of the very idea
of "voicing" an amplifier. An amplifier should not have a voice. It
should be totally self-effacing. Anything less simply gets in the way
of the music. Of course you may actually be into sound effects - in
which case ignore me and go right ahead.

d
Pearce Consulting
http://www.pearce.uk.com