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In short, Lynn, you are wrong to think tubes are better, because SM says so.

There is nothing here that is new, certainly not new on this asylum.

Certainly, tubes have their problems and certainly transistors allowed more powerful amplifiers and speaker designers could push speakers to be better in the bottom end but the cost was the loss of realism in the midrange and certainly in having the pace of music. Slow drivers in closed boxes means little resemblance to real music.

For those who prefer the "antiquated technology" represented by tubes, we are relegated to "niche markets." I am sure that those of us preferring tubes are happy to enjoy what others are neglecting given the hype in the market, but we might resent SM's condescension saying that we need to live with the limitations of sound reproduction available with solid state designs.

I may soon have solid state amps for the first time since I briefly enjoyed the 47 Labs 25 watt amp. I presently use a solid state line stage. All of this suggests that good designers can extract quality performance out of transistors. As with tube designs, it takes years for designers to learn enough to extract quality performance. The solutions do NOT rest on equalizing the sound or just being happy with what we can achieve in music reproduction rather than seeking to improve it.

Being cheap and unduly smug in his limited technical understanding, SM should just be allowed to go on his merry way.

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