Quote:
Originally Posted by JWH
The thing about PL that draws me is the tube regulation and rectification. Audio Research’s Ref series preamps do this as well as their Ref CD player. I currently own AR LS-27 pre and Mac MC275 VI amp and it sounds great but both use SS power supply. Nothing wrong there, just wonder how much better they might be with tube power supply.
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It is all counter-intuitive with tube rectification. Seems the simple job of converting AC to DC should not matter much between tube and SS rectification. That couldn't be further from the truth. Tube gear does sound quite different with different tube rectification and certainly sounds different from SS rectification. Among the guitar players that rely on amps for playback, this tube vs SS rectification is a known variable and often discussed topic.
It is no different for high end audio components.
In a nutshell,
You want fast, punchy, articulate, and accurate dynamics type of sound? Then you want SS rectification which is fast, does not sag and has little internal resistance.
You want a slightly more bottom end saggy, bloomy and lush type of sound, tube rectification will deliver. It has more internal resistance and can't quite keep up with dynamics without altering the response a bit from the sag.
Low frequency notes take more current through the power tubes to reproduce. This increased current causes a voltage drop in the rectifier tube and the amp loses power. So, when more power is actually needed, the amp gives less.
The above applies to amplifiers with loads. How any of this applies to components with less of a load such as preamps and digital is less clear but noticeable none the less. What holds true for amplifiers, seems to follow in other components but perhaps with a less noticeable or drastic effect.
I love Tube rectification, for whatever reason that sounds the most musical and pleasing to my ears and unfortunately the really good rectifiers (I use them only in headphone amps) are really NOT cheap.
