Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

What types of vacuum tubes affect audio quality? I take it that power tubes do not? What about rectifiers etc?

6 Answers

Relevance
  • Anonymous
    4 years ago
    Favorite Answer

    As you see from the "above" answers - it will depend on whom you ask ;-)

    In theory, none should. In practice, all will, to a greater or lesser degree. Yes, even the rectifiers. Otherwise, why use rectifier tubes at all if a silicon diode can do the same job? Whether you will hear the difference, and whether you would hear the difference in a double-blind test, are two other, different, matters.

    In my opinion, all these things will have some influence:

    - source material (type of source, recording/mixing quality, ...)

    - speakers

    - listening room

    - output transformer

    - preamp tubes

    - power tubes

    - coupling capacitors, if applicable

    - supply tubes

    - supply capacitors

    - power transformer

    I somewhat tried to sort them by importance, assuming a decent design. Of course, with a bad design or unsuitable parts, you could use any of these parts to create a badly performing reproduction. And things aren't made easier by the different components influencing each other.

    I left out speaker cables, signal cables and power cables on purpose - I don't believe they have any influene on the reproduction (except for RCA being the second worst type of connector you cold possibly use...), assuming they comply to some minimal requirements (like not having a broken connection somewhere inside the sleeve).

  • 4 years ago

    Some guitarists say the sound of a valve amplifier with a rectifier valve is "warmer" than the sound with a diode rectifier. I don't use valve amps so I can't speak from experience. If you are a guitarist, trust your ears to tell you if there is a difference. Amplifier valves do have a different response than transistors though, and many rock guitarists will only play valve amps.

  • 4 years ago

    ELECTRONIC TUBE HAS ITS DEAD ZONE THAT EVER BEING IMPROVED, LIKE NOISE, AC HAMMING AND SHORT OF LIFE. THAT WAS WHY IT WAS FADED OUT FROM MARKET AFTER THE REPLACEMENT INVENTION OF SEMI CONDUCTOR. SO FAR, ELECTRONIC TUBE DOES NOT THE MAJOR PARTS AFFECT AUDIO REPRODUCTION QUALITY, IT IS THE CIRCUIT TO DETERMINE HOW GOOD THE AUDIO QUALITY CAN BE OBTAINED.

    RECTIFIER HAS NOTHING TO DO IN AUDIO AMPLIFICATION, YOU ARE TOTALLY LOST ON AF AMPLIFIER CONCEPT.

  • Anonymous
    4 years ago

    Many.

  • How do you think about the answers? You can sign in to vote the answer.
  • 4 years ago

    All tubes in the entire Amp Affect the Audio Quality, even the Power supply tubes.

    The power tubes affect the power supply quality and noise in the supply of the signal stages.

  • 4 years ago

    If you are talking about the characteristic sound of a tube amp, then all the tubes in the signal handling chain would affect the final output. Output tubes in particular add to the warmth of the sound.

    The rectifier is not in the signal path, and unless it is just plain defective, will not have an effect on the signal.

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.