News Tubes are back & custom XPCs crop up

[Tim S]

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2007/06...xpcs_crop_up/1

COMPUTEX 2007: Vacuum tubes are back, as Shuttle pairs up with ESTI to make a HTPC that'll beat those drums right out your ears.

[wafflesomd]

What a waste of a good amp.

[nakchak]

will look sweet with the tubes glowing, but the psu for the amp alone will have to be a monster.
the heater coils require multiple amps >6 at relativly weird (for transitor based electronics) voltages.
if its a class A amp then it will be relativly low wattage as well (probably arround 30W), but will radiate roughly a degree c per watt

and any audiophile worth there salt wouldnt even consider running audio lines that close to large amounts of RF noise generated by a pc
i also doubt the speaker hookups and interconnects would be of sufficient quality to produce a noticeable difference from a bog standard n.1 setup

it also doesnt look like it would offer anything more than stereo output, typically a valve or 2 per channel

still will look nice on display, but money would probably be better spent on a pro quality sound card and high quality inter connects to existing gear if audio quality is your priority....

[JaredC01]

Originally Posted by nakchak

will look sweet with the tubes glowing, but the psu for the amp alone will have to be a monster.
the heater coils require multiple amps >6 at relativly weird (for transitor based electronics) voltages.
if its a class A amp then it will be relativly low wattage as well (probably arround 30W), but will radiate roughly a degree c per watt

and any audiophile worth there salt wouldnt even consider running audio lines that close to large amounts of RF noise generated by a pc
i also doubt the speaker hookups and interconnects would be of sufficient quality to produce a noticeable difference from a bog standard n.1 setup

it also doesnt look like it would offer anything more than stereo output, typically a valve or 2 per channel

still will look nice on display, but money would probably be better spent on a pro quality sound card and high quality inter connects to existing gear if audio quality is your priority....

If you look closely at the power tubes, you'll notice they're EL34's. They put out roughly 25 to 30 watts a piece, so you're looking at a ~100 watt tube amp. Assuming it's a stereo output, that's ~50 watts per channel. Also, it looks like it might be a class A/B.

Most studio environments are run using computers these days, so audio lines are constantly run close to a PC of one sort or another. It doesn't seem to adversly affect recordings.

I agree with you on it being no more than a stereo setup, though tube setups are better for music listening than for surround sound, and most music you'll hear is only stereo (with some exceptions of course). I see no problem with it only being stereo.

[Wolfe]

Originally Posted by JaredC01

Most studio environments are run using computers these days, so audio lines are constantly run close to a PC of one sort or another. It doesn't seem to adversly affect recordings.

Uh... If you look at high end recording setups, pretty much every one available puts the analog and A\D converters in an external box, connected either through firewire/USB, or a proprietary cable and a PCI card.

As for tubes, well, Meh.

They're a lot of really bad tube amp designs out there, and considering how different using tubes is compared to transistors (current vs. voltage amplification), I'm a little dubious about the Quality.

[./^\.Ace./^\.]

At my house I have over 5000 tubes, no lie I guess i could mod a PC to use a few of them Hey if they worked for guitar amps then why not a PC

[JaredC01]

Originally Posted by Wolfe

Uh... If you look at high end recording setups, pretty much every one available puts the analog and A\D converters in an external box, connected either through firewire/USB, or a proprietary cable and a PCI card.

As for tubes, well, Meh.

They're a lot of really bad tube amp designs out there, and considering how different using tubes is compared to transistors (current vs. voltage amplification), I'm a little dubious about the Quality.

There are thousdans upon thousands of home studios and semi-pro studios that don't isolate their computers or audio equipment. In fact, I'll go as far as to say that MANY of them have their interfaces and audio equipment in the same rack as their rackmount PC.

[Wolfe]

Originally Posted by JaredC01

There are thousdans upon thousands of home studios and semi-pro studios that don't isolate their computers or audio equipment. In fact, I'll go as far as to say that MANY of them have their interfaces and audio equipment in the same rack as their rackmount PC.

FYI - Metal Box = Isolation.

ADC & DAC on a PCI card inside the computer - Not Isolated.
ADC & DAC in a different metal box than the computer - Isolated.

[./^\.Ace./^\.]

Honestly it would only take like 15min of reserch to fine with transistors I could replace with a tubes just so my PC looks cooler and the tubes are actually being used

[GoodBytes]

It would be AWESOME if we have computer sound cards with vacuum tubes. Of course they must allow the user to change them, as they have a life span.
But then some sort of cooling would be required for the sound card, as I'm sure these tubes produce heat. Now sure it will take some room in the computer, even disable 2 or 3 PCI or PCIe sockets. Even better is if they create smaller versions of it.

[Neogumbercules]

ITS A SERIES OF TUBES!

[./^\.Ace./^\.]

Originally Posted by GoodBytes

It would be AWESOME if we have computer sound cards with vacuum tubes. Of course they must allow the user to change them, as they have a life span.
But then some sort of cooling would be required for the sound card, as I'm sure these tubes produce heat. Now sure it will take some room in the computer, even disable 2 or 3 PCI or PCIe sockets. Even better is if they create smaller versions of it.

Well Tubes already go in sockets, so replacing them is no issue. As for the cooling just make sure the tubes are ether outside the case or get a 120mm fan in front and one in back. Also they did come up with smaller versions of tubes they're called transistors and that is what you want to replace with the bigger and hotter tubes. Tubes only add a bit of wormth to the base anyways, there are easyer ways to do that with software or better hardware but it doesn't come out as good as tubes. So yes you could mod a sound card but is it really worth it for a little bit of base sound

[GoodBytes]

It was just a small suggestion for music enthusiast. By smaller Tubes I didn't mean THAT small.

[Jipa]

Why can't they already ditch the damn tubes and concentrate in sound quality Seriously... Only some twister perverts buy tube-amps because they "sound smoother" AKA. the frequency response isn't flat and there's all sorts of distortions in the sound. Frankly these are the exact FEATURES that modern solid-state amp-designs try to get rid of. I don't see the point TBH. Also tubes can break down for no apparent reason, and it's considered rather normal...

[Krikkit]

God dammit, I knew this'd turn into an argument of digital vs. analogue, again.

FYI "Ace", all you'd have to do with an internal sound card to eliminate all of the noise from inside the PC (at least the stuff you can get rid of), would be to build a faraday cage around it. Problem solved.

[Glider]

Will Jipa, as a Bass player, I must say that modern amps produce nice quality sound, but the human hearing isn't perfect and it certainly doesn't like perfect tunes (certainly not when going into high or low frequencies).

Just to say, music is more then playing the perfect sound. Sometimes it's required, but sometimes the 'warmer' effect of tube amps add nicely to the tunes.

[./^\.Ace./^\.]

I found the tubes I was looking for. If you look in the pic on the thread, the little ones in front, I have original ones made by GE before wwII and they work better then any of the ones made today but that are rare so I don't want to use them. They also cast a lot.

[Jipa]

Originally Posted by Glider

Will Jipa, as a Bass player, I must say that modern amps produce nice quality sound, but the human hearing isn't perfect and it certainly doesn't like perfect tunes (certainly not when going into high or low frequencies).

Just to say, music is more then playing the perfect sound. Sometimes it's required, but sometimes the 'warmer' effect of tube amps add nicely to the tunes.

I guess there's the difference between Hifist and a.. well.. soundist. Searching for the neutral equipments compared to searching for the good "sound".

[DougEdey]

Originally Posted by Jipa

I guess there's the difference between Hifist and a.. well.. soundist. Searching for the neutral equipments compared to searching for the good "sound".

It's called "Personal Opinion"