My Dad bought a console stereo for my Mom for Christmas in 1961. Westinghouse, mahogany, Italian Provincial. It sounded fantastic. The loudness control (not volume) went up to 10, but we never put it up past 5 because the plates would rattle in the china cabinet and the pictures would dance on the wall.

EXCELLENT video! As a 50 year audio enthusiast, I enjoyed it very much. It is good to revisit ones history sometime, thank you.

My first tube amps were a pair of Quicksilver V4 monoblocks. I purchased them along with an entire stereo system (I had nothing at the time). When the store first played me a candidate system in my budget's range, I was not pleased with the sound quality. It was good, but not good enough. The store's owner asked his salesperson to swap out one of the smaller tubes in the middle of each amp (I do not remember the specifics, because it was in 2006 and I no longer have those amps). The improvement to the sound quality was dramatic. It made those amps (and the stereo) sing, and the store sold me that stereo system. If they did not have those tubes handy, he would not have sold me that stereo. By the way, I used to have a CD player that had a tube stage and a solid-state stage. You picked one, and listened. The solid-state stage sounded better. I almost never used the tube stage. Would a different set of tubes have helped that CD player? Probably. But I'll never know. I never tried other tubes. My pre-amp is tube based, and I am very happy with its sound quality. But there is always an upgrade just itching to be scratched. ;-)

Great video! I went from a Bellari twin tube to a Bellari solid state. I even tried tube rolling and I found the only thing I enjoyed was the warm glow of the tubes. I couldn't tell much difference from the sound, to be honest. It was fun to try out though to see if it was something I could get more enjoyment out of.

Thanks great video 70 years old and just getting into tube preamps will give it a try ,it sounds like fun and what the hell my hearing is still very good.

This is a great introductory video to the tube amp. Thanks!

Great overview !

My dad worked for English ealectric which then became GEC I remember the book about value's he won as a prize at school at 15 in 1957 . And ge hated value 's and refused to make me anything with them in and said the hay day of electronics was the 80's early 90's before circuit board tracks became to thin/small he said he put a soldering iron on a board once a the copper track lifted off the board . He also said people forget how often they were electrocuted when vales aged

Wonderful, down to earth presentation without pretentiousness. This audio journey is a neverending one. We need to learn to control ourselves LOL. "This is it, I'm done upgrading". Two months later..... Waiting to get a used Schiit Freya soon. Pairing with the Peachtree GaN400 to drive my Magnepans 1.7i. If you've never contemplated getting one, find a dealer near you and listen to them. Vinyl and Maggies are wonderful together!

Verry nice and comprehensive presentation. Can you make one related to subtle details affected by different tube preamp models? Also, would be nice if you reveal the model from this video :)

Thank you again ! 🎩✌️

No one can still explain why tubes sound distinctly different from solid state particularly in the preamp section. This mystique is well deserved and a vacuum tube is the most analogue gain device there is. The only difference really is where current is made to flow. In solid state, it is through silicone and in tubes, electrons flow in a vacuum space, no physical contact between two points, cathode to anode. To my mind, this momentary absence of physical contact subjects the signal to the unexplained realm of quantum physics, the behavior of exotic sub atomic particles science is still trying to unravel. Whatever is happening to the signal under cosmic laws, tubes are here to stay and will never cease to audibly amaze.

In my long search for a preamp I took the leap and got the Pro Ject Phono Tube Box S2 like yours. After only playing about 5 records I knew it was a keeper and it's not broke in yet. In all honesty when I was listening to a 30 year old Ricky Scaggs record it sounded so good I got a bit emotional 😢 But to my frustration there is a low level buzzing sound that you don't hear when the music is playing. When I touch the tone arm it goes away, wish I could figure this mystery out.

I thought the phono stage in my Hafler was pretty sweet. But....I wanted to try a separate phono stage. Not being a big tube advocate, the iFi iPhono2 was getting pretty fantastic reviews by anyone who tried it. Weird little thing run by a wall wart. Lots of switches to tailor to your cart, be it MM of MC. I like that. Tube on the input stage only which means long service life of the tube. I kid you not, it's completely changed the sound of my system. So much so, that I'm saving up for an really nice Hana MC to let the iFi stretch its legs. One tube doesn't make me a 'tube guy', but I certainly think it's the right direction for a phono stage.

Cool video. You managed to not make it boring ;) great voice too! Quick question: what tube preamp do you use please? I have a dac and an amp (aiyima a07) that I feed my music to (no turntable though). I miss the warmth of the tube when I listen to blues rock of the 60s and 70s...thanks!

Informative at least, revelational moving forward as far as potential spending goes- I have tube components in my gear plethora- but I have too many other time expenditures to have to worry, observe, replace, watch reviews, make buying decisions,..on and on, etc.. I am going solid state all the way. I can get the most bang out of my buck (time-wise). If I can't make money from it as a hobby- which I don't like to meet allot of new people unless they reveal themselves to be value-added and unless on a pre-established business basis.. then I simply won't have enough oomph or time to take on a new hobby or anyone new to teach life to or invest allot in. Thank you for an explanative video with great informative content! I will be watching you. Thanks! I would teach a close friend anything. You don't know me, I don't know you- but in my opinion- and not "children", because they are innocent- about 75% of humanity isn't worth a @#$%! Ya.

Great video! I immediately looked for the RCA 5751 tubes you mentioned, but they were quite expensive. Are there some other brands you could recommend? I am looking for options to change the tubes that came with my Fosi Audio Box X2.

Someone I know who is really into vinyl says EAR phono pre is excellent. I decided to for Project tube S2.

I have a separate system setup and have been using a tube preamp with a external SS phono preamp since 2002. My current tube preamp is a Schiit Audio Freya+ and the phono preamp is a Lounge Audio LCR Silver. So I get the tube benefits when playing CDs and SACDs.

Enjoyed as always your video. I am perplexed. Viewing and absorbing all of the videos I am in a quandary of what to do. I have a Marantz 2250B receiver I purchased in high school with a Phillips 212 turntable using a Stanton 681ee cartridge mm. The speakers 3 way home made with various band pass and high pass crossovers. The system sounds good depending upon the recordings. So EU pressed vinyl recording of Supertramp Crime of the Century album quite!. Take Five album great , Van Clyburn CD great . Tim Bowman great, Earl Klugh great others not so . I am left with Ok do I upgrade the receiver or just get an external phono tube amp like the Pro-ject 2. Any thoughts

Do they sell pre amps or amps with a 30 day return policy? no restocking fees or shipping fees?. I would like to replace sell my Marantz 7702mk2 and use my Ncore or Pascal amps with a blusound node and Schiit Freya + tube preamp or any other tube amp. Im wondering If I will hear a noticible difference with my Philharmonic bmr speakers.

Thank You Rick. Is that a thick Massachusetts accent I detect in your voice? lol.

almost all tube Phono preamp use passive RIAA Equalization while almost all Solid state use active RIAA Equalization. You can get a better RIAA EQ with SS.

mmm.. I kind of got lost. Appears comparisons was about Preamps (SS & Tube). But then there was cut-away's of Primaluna's Integrated Amp?🤔

I assume you're talking about phono preamps. I went through the same thing trying to pick a pp. I decided to chuck what I heard and pick a much higher quality pp than you would think my cartridge warranted. I like an analog pp with turntables especially so I chose a tube pp that uses 3 tubes. They don't need to be matched and they dont have to be the same brand. They don't run very hot and these tubes last so maintenance is very minor. Soundwise it makes my mm cartridges sing.

And often a tube preamp will use solid state devices for the MC input. Why? Noise floor. My phono pre-amps box gets no hotter than my solid state preamp. The solid state does have a preamp, phono amp and other bits in the box, while the tube phono amp has but 3 tubes (12ax7's). At the moment the tube preamp feeds the 100W solid state amps directly (it has an output level control) and sounds sweet. The RIAA of the tube amp is not as clinically flat as the solid state phono preamp (Self Elektor 2012) and the MM cartridge loading is not identical. And that is much as it sounds when John Williams plays guitar, more spacious, if maybe a little less precise.

"it never ends..." especially if you don't know what youre doing. some reading and a tube tester and you actually have a chance to figure it out.

Tubes add the human element ,sound

have a yamaha M60 amp need a pre amp will one of the cheap ali express tube pre amps w/ remote and tone controls work ? like a Bluetooth Tube Preamplifier Amplifiers 2 Channels HiFi 6H3N Tube Preamp for Speaker Sound Amplifier Audio Home Theater $60.00

Iv had 12ax7s last 41yrs before . Power tubes not quite as long . I can handle tht . Ur milage may vary .

Let’s talk about new video! It’s been 4 months 😂

Shame the project phono amplifier posing as a tube preamp actually has 2 op amps inside the tubes are just for effect as with the 16v power supply will never run a true tube amplifier. I had the project and did not rate it so I built a ear834 valve phono stage and it's like night and day the information it retrieves from the record and the soindstage is unreal. It has 3 12ax7 valves Matsushita Japan and they sound great

You don't say how much a new tube will cost.

Electrons move most freely in a vacuum!

It's Audio UMAMI Time! lol

Tube amps dont have massive heat sinks, dont have as many parts as transistor amps do, have less IHD than transistor amps, are louder at less wattage levels, have better definition, clarity, frequency response. I have two 3.5 monoblock amps with 2 tubes only built by me from a simple design. The amp volume comes up slowly when turned on, ( speaker saver feature) and decreases slowly when turned off, which a transistor amp cant do. Show me a transistor amp with just two stages that can bring a line level signal to loud enough to rock the house down, with 3.5 watts per channel, Good luck with that! 2 tubes with 4 triodes in push pull class A. And a transistor amp with class A is a good heater in the winter. Transistors will never have the clarity and definiton tubes do. That 1978 tube amp sounds better than my Onkyo. Ill fix a tube amp over a trashsistor amp anyday. They sound better thats all there is to it why they are still being made. If all that transistor amps were evaluated for Interharmodulation distortion, then people would know why when you turn the volume way up, why it has a gritty sound.

i believe youre talking about phono stage/phono amp not a preamp. a preamp doesnt have to have an RIAA stage. most dont these dates. if you say "preamp" without specifying "phono preamp" youre not talking about a phono stage.

pffft preamp tubes need less maintenance than people think, usually paranoid audiophiles change them when they are at 90% or more of their lifetime and when they are in their optimal range for mumbo mojo audifool reasons. There are 12AX7 from decades old guitar amp that are still good. If we apply the same logic to cars they will be changing the motor oil every week.

Tube amps add an extra ingredient = DISTORTION! Your three things mentioned about SS pre-amps, is missing one very important thing = COST - tubes are VERY expensive, and require fairly regular replacement - every 4000hrs in the case of my ARC Ref3. So, every 4000hrs of on time, I must spend c£450. This does not exist in a SS amp, but few tube 'people' mention or acknowledge this continual outlay, and that's before we get to the unreliable aspect oof tube use, again which is rarely mentioned by you 'tube people'. OMG - as soon as you suggested using tone controls to 'tune' a SS amp to your liking; it was an instant Thumbs Down I'm afraid!