What is the number one reason you gave up on tube amplification, either integrated or power amplifier?
I had a H.H. Scott 299c which I inherited from my dad, who got in in 1961. I used it happily for many years. Not unexpectedly, it started to have issues. Basically, it needed a complete rebuild, which would have been expensive. Anyway, it did not have nearly enough power to drive my B&W speakers, which is what I voted in the poll. I sold it on ebay for a good price. I regret it now, because money is such a fleeting thing, and these amps are collectible, but, mainly for nostalgic reasons. My M-series NAD digital preamp and Parasound power amp have filled the void more than adequately for my music needs.
- Non-value added high costs to try and get closer to the equivalent fidelity levels of high end SS. - Tubes never hit me like a Mac truck (like higher end SS does) for the type of music I listen to. It is enjoyable weak sauce though for some weak sauce genres of music if I wanna fall asleep. - Tube degradation at varying rates... The same new tubes from the same manufacturer not sounding the same, etc, etc (all kinds of inconsistency and chaos in execution )...was never a good thing for my ocd. Sorry in advance to offend any members of tube tribes...I am sure it works great for you, just not for me. -
Mushy bass compared to my Class D and AB amps. My class D amps sound more tubey than the Rogue Atlas Magnum 2 I'm going to sell. I rolled in a variety of tubes which I have on hand thanks to my Dad who had a Fisher 500 and all the tubes he replaced and was given by our local audio fixer guy - great service, fast turnaround and he never cheated anyone - that's rare nowadays as we all know.
Voted other-I liked sound of my old Music Reference RM-9, but I grew weary of having to tote the beast over to the local tech’s workshop. Every year, some other cap and/or resistor would fail. It also required at least 20 minutes of warmup for good sound. Now have PS Audio M700 monoblocks that I leave on 24/7-better sound, IMO.
I'd been enjoying a '59 Fisher X-100 for many years. The last time it was out for repair, I bought (via this forum's classifieds) a gently used Rega io just to have something to listen to. In the past I'd owned a Brio-R, and it was pretty good but kind of thick sounding, but the newer io really surprised me with its quickness and imaging vividness. While the Fisher was out, I was totally not missing it, happily listening to the little Rega. When the Fisher came back, to my surprise I thought that the Rega sounded better. Sure, it doesn't do the holographic thing that tubes do so well, but the Rega was tonally more accurate and easier overall to listen to, not to mention the convenience of having a remote and not requiring warm-up. Comparing the two, I became aware that the Fisher sounded a bit shrill in the upper range, which is not what one would expect from vintage RCA 12AX7s. I am not yet at the point of selling the Fisher. For one thing, a new quad of JJ EL84s was installed while it was out for servicing (replacing a quad of reissue Mullards), and it's totally possible that the tech didn't properly re-bias it. In fact, this weekend I plan to open it up to take a bias reading, because it sounds "cooler" than I believe it should. At any rate, no matter the outcome, the Rega io is an excellent little amp.
I sold a tube amp early in my audiophile journey simply because it had an intolerable buzz/hum that was not ground loop related. I went SS for a little while until I found higher quality tube amps. Just love the organic, textured, impactful, and holographic sound/soundstage that I've found only tubes can deliver to my ears. I will never go back to SS, particularly because tubes work so well withy my speakers.
There are different possible answers to the thread title and the poll title. I can only answer the thread title question: >>>The Number One Reason you Sold your Tube Amplifier is...... .... to raise funds to buy another tube amplifier!
I chose “other,” because all the tube gear I’ve owned/tried had as many or more weaknesses as the SS gear. Ironically, of all the tube gear I’ve owned, the best was one of the cheapest to purchase, a pre-owned Cayin integrated. IMPO, I think you might be surprised if you try one of the SOTA “squeaky clean” SS preamps with your Parasound amp.
Afraid of grandchildren grabbing the exposed tubes. Couldn't put the tube gear out of reach so sold it off.
