I came across this on the HUG forum…he was responding to discussions on tube amp matching with Harbeth speakers.
I am a bit mystified as the Tube push pull amp I use (20 WPC) sounds wonderful with the P3ES. (As does the SS, in a different way)
“ You can drive your Harbeths with any brand, technology, feature set, price, cosmetics and power output that you like and according to your taste and budget. The more you spend, the longer there will be a hifi dealer on your high street.
Tube amplifiers as a class provide a very loose coupling to the speakers that they drive, rather like having a manual car stuck in third gear regardless of whether it is being driven in town, down a steep gradient or up a mountain. This is principally because the output transformer between the tubes and the speakers invokes a two-stage power conversion in the amplifier output transformer as it plays music and delivers energy to the speakers: current to magnetism in the primary from the tubes and then magnetism back to current in the secondary which drives the speakers. Solid state amps do not have this two-step conversion and perform power to the speakers at all frequencies like a silky smooth 10-gear automatic gearbox constantly and invisibly adapting to the impedance of the speaker load i.e. the musical gradient.
This two-step tube drive matter is not at all ideal and introduces numerous insoluble technical limitations, all of which manifest themselves in an unpredictable "suck it and see" relationship between the music, the amplifier and the speakers which I as the speaker designer cannot be expected to know about or even compensate for. You are on your own, in the audio wilderness. I hope that you have time to play and a suitable budget because tinkering over (tube) amps will get in the way of the music - which may be what motivates you anyway.
It seems a pity for the consumer to invest serious money in decent speakers designed patiently and over many long hours for maximum fidelity and then to introduce such massive uncertainty at the point of listening at home about which the manufacturer is powerless to advise.
Of course, our transaction with the consumer is ended - he's paid - and how he subsequently choses to use or misuse the product is of no concern to us excepting that we rely on word of mouth for sales, and demonstrating a system which is below, possibly far below the standard that we have built in does us no favours at all.
If the music is your thing and the equipment (incl. the speakers) just an inconvenient necessity, then you would do very well to take note of the gear that we associate ourselves with at UK hifi shows to demonstrate our speakers and consider that to be an apolitical, pragmatic, cost-conscious solution - and clone it into your own homes. Actually, we are obliged to 'put on a decent show' to minimise know-it-all visitors who about turn when they see what they consider to be ludicrously offensive sub-fi equipment in a demo room; if we could keep those nuisances away we'd be happy to assemble an entire electronic package for the price of a decent suit and a pair of Barkers shoes just to prove a point. There would be zero pride of ownership, it could go bang! at a moment's notice, but it would make music.
Come to think of it: damn them. Let's do just that at the next Bristol show!
”
Alan Shaw
Designer, owner
Harbeth Audio UK
I am a bit mystified as the Tube push pull amp I use (20 WPC) sounds wonderful with the P3ES. (As does the SS, in a different way)
“ You can drive your Harbeths with any brand, technology, feature set, price, cosmetics and power output that you like and according to your taste and budget. The more you spend, the longer there will be a hifi dealer on your high street.
Tube amplifiers as a class provide a very loose coupling to the speakers that they drive, rather like having a manual car stuck in third gear regardless of whether it is being driven in town, down a steep gradient or up a mountain. This is principally because the output transformer between the tubes and the speakers invokes a two-stage power conversion in the amplifier output transformer as it plays music and delivers energy to the speakers: current to magnetism in the primary from the tubes and then magnetism back to current in the secondary which drives the speakers. Solid state amps do not have this two-step conversion and perform power to the speakers at all frequencies like a silky smooth 10-gear automatic gearbox constantly and invisibly adapting to the impedance of the speaker load i.e. the musical gradient.
This two-step tube drive matter is not at all ideal and introduces numerous insoluble technical limitations, all of which manifest themselves in an unpredictable "suck it and see" relationship between the music, the amplifier and the speakers which I as the speaker designer cannot be expected to know about or even compensate for. You are on your own, in the audio wilderness. I hope that you have time to play and a suitable budget because tinkering over (tube) amps will get in the way of the music - which may be what motivates you anyway.
It seems a pity for the consumer to invest serious money in decent speakers designed patiently and over many long hours for maximum fidelity and then to introduce such massive uncertainty at the point of listening at home about which the manufacturer is powerless to advise.
Of course, our transaction with the consumer is ended - he's paid - and how he subsequently choses to use or misuse the product is of no concern to us excepting that we rely on word of mouth for sales, and demonstrating a system which is below, possibly far below the standard that we have built in does us no favours at all.
If the music is your thing and the equipment (incl. the speakers) just an inconvenient necessity, then you would do very well to take note of the gear that we associate ourselves with at UK hifi shows to demonstrate our speakers and consider that to be an apolitical, pragmatic, cost-conscious solution - and clone it into your own homes. Actually, we are obliged to 'put on a decent show' to minimise know-it-all visitors who about turn when they see what they consider to be ludicrously offensive sub-fi equipment in a demo room; if we could keep those nuisances away we'd be happy to assemble an entire electronic package for the price of a decent suit and a pair of Barkers shoes just to prove a point. There would be zero pride of ownership, it could go bang! at a moment's notice, but it would make music.
Come to think of it: damn them. Let's do just that at the next Bristol show!
”Alan Shaw
Designer, owner
Harbeth Audio UK
