It was 1978. I went by a magazine stand and something caught my eye. It was an Audio Research amplifier on the front cover, in full color, with tubes of course. I bought the magazine and it opened up a whole new world for a nerdy teenager. For years I kept dreaming about that magic amp on the front cover of the magazine. Other boys had a Lamborghini Countach on the bedroom wall next to Farrah Fawcett. I had a picture of a tube amp . . .
Years gone by and I graduated from college and got my first job as an electronics engineer. I spent a good amount of time in the lab experimenting with the new IRF MOSFETs in a 2 kW AC generator circuit, part of the company’s new line of medium power uninterruptible power supplies. One day the boss shows up with a shiny aluminum box. I looked closely, and surprise, surprise. An Audio Research solid-state amp!
I almost started drooling … The technician already knew the drill. Finals are gone, and a new set was already in the parts bin. Turned out the amp was a “real purist design” and therefore (?!) had no over-current or thermal protection.
The only way to justify such expense is to compare it to a routine maintenance for a Countach…
“Is it worth the pain?” I asked the boss, who could only afford a boxy Volvo. He didn’t hesitate: “When it works it’s unbelievable” he said. I believed him, but c’mmon… I guess if you have a free technician then why not. That event forever changed my view of Audio Research. But I still thought to myself “that’s a solid-state amp, which is not designed by Bill Zane, the designer as the original tube amps”. Is there a difference?
Years went by and I found myself maybe 10 or 15 years ago, checking out an Audio Research system with the Reference One preamp. This very nice system, owned by a BAAS member (remember?), sounded good but left me wanting… So we started experimenting with different cables that the guy had. In the end we reached a conclusion that the preamp input marked “CD” was rolled off compared to the AUX inputs. Was that a specific circuit to avoid RF noise from the mid-90s CD players?
I never bothered to check. All I know is that the system sounded better through the AUX inputs. I enjoyed a few tracks and put that all behind me. All these years later I still assumed that Audio Research was “the best” but that particular experience broke the camel’s back. I knew then enough about the Audio Research sound and concluded that it’s decent but not really my cup of tea. I was done drooling over beautiful pictures of shiny gear in magazines.
Fast forward to 2022. BAAS is now SFAF and my cell phone has way more computer power than the 386-based ThinkPad I had in 1994. The world of technology has changed but one thing hasn’t. Tube amps remained the same! You can still buy Audio Research gear, but Bill Zane is no more. And there are many new names in the tube audio market, it’s just hard to believe. Let’s put it this way, there are no tube computers you can buy today… None!
While I listen a lot with solid-state gear, I still catch myself smiling when the music is playing through a proper tube amp. And just like yesteryear's, I found myself this year checking out several tube systems including a lengthy SFAF demo where a kit tube amp left a room with over twenty adults cheering. Times are a-changin’?! Hardly…
Critical listening is not always fun, but sometimes it surprises you and you learn something new. I mean, after so many years in the hobby we ought to know everything, right?
It so happened, that I was listening to a tube amp that had some reliability issues. The amp was not particularly high power, more like a Dynaco ST-70 if you ask me. Life with tubes you might say, and just leave it alone, but the nerd in me could not let go. The opportunity for self-inflicted misery was there and I could not pass it up… As you might guess, any time one starts checking one issue in an audio system, there is a good chance that other issues will pop up. Caveat emptor!
In this case, the system sounded slightly constrained with not much “air”. I started out changing cables and configurations. (Do you think it’s an addiction? I should make a note to check 😉). While examining the system, I immediately recognized one piece of gear (that shall remain unnamed). I modified a similar piece in the past and the results were just stellar in terms of “lifting the audio veil”. The more I looked at that equipment, the more certain I was that it’s the source of all the sonic evil I was hearing. Do you know the definition of "assume"?
Two hours went by and I finally was getting somewhere. I replaced Belden-stamped cords from Blue Jeans between the digital source and preamp and installed my trusty X2 cables that I brought with me. I wanted to go back and forth between cables, so I left the Blue Jeans cables at input 1 and connected the X2 cables to a free pair of jacks at input 5. It took about two seconds to tell that we have a different sound altogether. Way more open, way less euphonic. Ah, I love my X2 cables! To prove the point, I pulled out my cables and installed a set of basic Kimber cables into the same slot. Damn, it sounds great too!
We played Ella Fitzgerald "Summertime", a fabulous piece from a great Jazz collection CD. Louis Armstrong trumpet was brassy and screechy (in a good way!) right in front of us in the room. Beautiful tone, great performance, music as it should sound - musical... So, mission accomplished. Or is it?!
And that brings us to the grand finale.
It was getting late, so it was time to wrap up. I collected all the cables and CDs that I brought with me and one last thing I wanted to do before leaving is to remove unused cables from behind the rack and plug in things as they were, in case the remote is set to fixed inputs. The last thing I did was move interconnects from input 5 to input 1, turn everything back on and verify that I didn't screw up anything – so I can finally say goodbye. The amp was off for fifteen minutes or so, and the music sounded slightly heavy on bass. I assumed it's probably a warm up issue, you know, life with tubes... We joked about starting the system at 6AM to be able to listen at 8AM and I was about to leave when I thought to myself that the system is now playing for over ten minutes and the sound hasn't changed even a little bit.
Dropped my boxes by the door, went back behind the rack and moved the cables from input 1 to input 5, and voila!
Real music again! Bass was controlled and tight, mids were liquid with a touch of tube sweetness (but definitely no thick syrup…) and cymbals were much more believable, with harmonics floating in mid air and slowly decaying, like you would expect from the real thing. Instruments had “texture” and female vocals were lush and breathing. It was music in the flesh.
So what made the difference? Maybe it’s a bad contact in the selector switch, maybe a bad solder joint, who knows. Turned out that input 1 is not the equivalent of input 5, as one might assume... Just like that Audio Research preamp ions ago! At an old age, my memory gets blurry at times. A bad input was not even a remote possibility on my radar screen when I started but I should have known better. Just when you think you know everything - reality strikes!
Now do you understand the definition of "assume"?