#16 Re: Basics of valve amplifiers
Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2020 9:44 pm
I have a question: have you listened to the amplifier at length? Are you "intimately" familiar with how it sounds? Is their anything about it that you really like or really dislike? Have you tried it with different speakers?
There are many paths to bliss. For some, it is changing something because they can. For others, it is changing something based on a process that starts with identifying issues and planning a strategy based on those issues to get to a different, desired result. Either path is fine.
My experience is that it takes a long time to figure stuff out to be sure that we are actually improving instead of just changing something. I like living with stuff for a couple of months to get acclimated. If at that time I have no issues AND no specific reason to use a particular solution, I just leave it as it is.
Recently (over the past year) I changed my tonearm, which lead to a new cartridge, then a new phono preamp and now a beefier power supply for my bass amplifiers. At each step, I was able to identify specific issues that very clearly called for the next step.
When pimping a valve amp, my first step is to check the capacitors in the power supply and signal path. That can clean a lot of sins up with a very moderate investment. The next step after that would be new valves. Then for sure an extended audition time. Getting knowledgable friend to help listen is a very useful thing at this stage.
There are many paths to bliss. For some, it is changing something because they can. For others, it is changing something based on a process that starts with identifying issues and planning a strategy based on those issues to get to a different, desired result. Either path is fine.
My experience is that it takes a long time to figure stuff out to be sure that we are actually improving instead of just changing something. I like living with stuff for a couple of months to get acclimated. If at that time I have no issues AND no specific reason to use a particular solution, I just leave it as it is.
Recently (over the past year) I changed my tonearm, which lead to a new cartridge, then a new phono preamp and now a beefier power supply for my bass amplifiers. At each step, I was able to identify specific issues that very clearly called for the next step.
When pimping a valve amp, my first step is to check the capacitors in the power supply and signal path. That can clean a lot of sins up with a very moderate investment. The next step after that would be new valves. Then for sure an extended audition time. Getting knowledgable friend to help listen is a very useful thing at this stage.