Surround Sound Systems

[BlindedByScience]

Yea, you gotta love those pretty blue meters staring back at ya. I'm envious, but I'm a tube o phobe. I can tolerate them in my pre, but output tubes scare the bejesus out of me. BTW, if you don't mind me asking, what's it cost to re-tube?
 
Doc

 
Mine are all solid state, Doc.  After 30 years of use, however, they did require maintenance.  
 
A few years ago, I went through them and replaced all the pots, cleaned all the switches, and replaced all the pretty lights.  Damn if they weren't all grain of wheat bulbs on pigtails, soldered in.  What a pain in the butt....

 

[Christo]

Yea, you gotta love those pretty blue meters staring back at ya. I'm envious, but I'm a tube o phobe. I can tolerate them in my pre, but output tubes scare the bejesus out of me. BTW, if you don't mind me asking, what's it cost to re-tube?
 
Doc

 
Have a solid demo I'm selling -  Mc pre, amp, cd, & tuner so you could stare away at lots of pretty blue gauges 

 

[MadMonk]

 

Yea, you gotta love those pretty blue meters staring back at ya. I'm envious, but I'm a tube o phobe. I can tolerate them in my pre, but output tubes scare the bejesus out of me. BTW, if you don't mind me asking, what's it cost to re-tube?
 
Doc

 
Mine are all solid state, Doc.  After 30 years of use, however, they did require maintenance.  
 
A few years ago, I went through them and replaced all the pots, cleaned all the switches, and replaced all the pretty lights.  Damn if they weren't all grain of wheat bulbs on pigtails, soldered in.  What a pain in the butt....
 

 
I'm a tube-o-phile, but I have to say that the Solid State ML gear, that I heard, is exceptional.  VERY smooth and musical, and I dare say that I could live with it. They are one of the very few Solid State Pre & Amps set ups, I have actually auditioned, that I would even consider. Tubelike some would say, because the Highs are so velvety, but it manhandles bass drivers with the best of them. If I ever get some sort of windfall, you bet I'd have ML Pre and Amp on my very short list.  INVU too, Tom. 

 

[broblues]

Tubes are great for say......Hammond B3s with Leslie 122's but good digital amps dance around them with their responsiveness.  New digital gear is amazing.  I have a set of Klipsch Chorus II's that I drive with Denon gear that I would put up against pretty much any home gear.  I used to lose all the trinkets on shelves when "Get Ready"  Or "In a godda di vida" or God forbid "Whole lot a love" was on...........Wow was that ever fun. :laugh:

 

[Devil Doc]

Are you talking about class D amps? I'm not aware of any "digital" amps.

Doc

 

[broblues]

As in digital logic in the amplification process rather than vacuum tubes.

 

[BlindedByScience]

As in digital logic in the amplification process rather than vacuum tubes.

 
There's nothing digital about an analog amplifier.....;-)

 

[MadMonk]

For home theater, Solid State is good. Digital processing is handy, but, to me, it sounds like crap if the signal has to go through it. There is a reason Audiophiles
came up with the term "digital glare". I've converted many folks to at least a tubed preamp when they HEAR the increased musicality and improvements in staging and imaging. This is pretty well known in the recording industry. One of the most successful manufacturers of Class D amplifiers incorporates tubes in the preamp stage.
 
Class D has made some nice improvements recently, and the sound quality is better than it was, but still not anything like a Class A or Class AB solid state and certainly not tubes. The price is good though, and it seems to be fairly reliable with good resilience to demanding loads. 

 

[broblues]

Oops.....sorry! Solid state.

 

[Nimrod]

Tubes are nice but do you need more heat in your home right now?
 
BIg, bulky and heavy.   Ummm no.  I'm happy with my DAC

 

[MadMonk]

Tubes are nice but do you need more heat in your home right now?
 
BIg, bulky and heavy.   Ummm no.  I'm happy with my DAC

 
I have a Meridian Explorer DAC which is lovely. I have it on my computer. Cost was $300 bucks, and it is better than some $2K units i've heard. Also, for the computer System, I have a Emotiva Mini XA-100 ($189 right now) a nice 50wpc with a built in somewhat passive pre/volume control. Speakers are Peachtree Audio DS 4.5 speakers (on clearance for $300 down from $600). Small, optimized for nearfield listening, and musical as hell. Best little speaker I've ever heard. I watch movies on my computer quite a lot, and this is totally immersive. Didn't even really need the DAC, but you know, Audiophilia Nervosa, sort of like Tobacciana Nervosa...you can't help yourself, sometimes...As doc says, you get what you pay for, and for a few hundred more, I cried once, but damn it is enjoyable as hell.

 

[Nimrod]

 
I have a Meridian Explorer DAC which is lovely. I have it on my computer. 
 

 
That is a pretty nice little unit.  I went the DIY route. USB  Gamma1 y1.  Holy smokes, what a huge difference than listening from the PCI sound card.