Brian
An Old Geezer
I guess the first matter to resolve is what is "tube sound". From my experiences tube gear can have a wide range of voicing. Are you thinking of something like a McIntosh or Audio Research? Over the years I've never found a unit that typlifies the sound across the board. Maybe a Sherwood S5000 comes close to being in the near middle of the range of the amps I've listened to over the decades.
I've heard varioius descriptions of what persons perceive as the tube sound and usually it boils down to a perception either developed frm listening to lesser quality or out of spec units or only a very narrow range of models within a company. The reality is that there is probably a wider range of voicing than with SS units.
That all said, I'd suggest that if yu equatee McIntosh tube units as the tube sound then the first generation SS units and first 2 receivers probably come as close as you will likely find. Frank did not want discontinuity of voicing when the company was moving to SS. Other companies making the transition really paid no attention that their tube units and SS sounded so different. Some tried to voice th SS units towards their tube models but Frank seemed to have the best success at this.
While some would proffer early Marantz units at least through the 22xx line as tube like, it is interesting to note that they do not sound like the tube Marantz units. The tube Marantz had more detail and air; actually sounding lighter and less like what a tube unit McIntosh sounded like where as the SS units sounded more similar to the McIntosh than the tube Marantz.
Of the units I have in-house the Sony STR6060FW and Sherwood S9500 remind me of the things I like when looking and listeing to tube units. Well, also have my 1st generation McIntosh amps and the C28 to add to the mix. The Sony STR6120 does come a little closer to the Marantz tube voicing that I remember while mooving further away from the McIntosh units.
Bob Carver was mentioned and whether you think of him as a wizard or warlock, he was an interesting fellow. You wanted a SS unit that sounded like a xyz tube unit, give hiim a day or so and he'd get his amp to sound that way. He felt these modifications were an interesting marketing approach but strayed from what perceived as an uncolored amp and termed them more than once a hack job but, he wanted to prove a point.
Another thing to consider are the speakers. If you grew up with pre-acoustic suspension designs the response of most were limited due to technology limitations and because of things like surface noise of records. Put some modern units on these speakers today and the sonic effect will be to return you to the days of yesteryear to some degree. FOr some who grew up in that era they remember the rolled off frequency response but many fail to realize it was the speakers and not the electronics.
Happy hunting.
I've heard varioius descriptions of what persons perceive as the tube sound and usually it boils down to a perception either developed frm listening to lesser quality or out of spec units or only a very narrow range of models within a company. The reality is that there is probably a wider range of voicing than with SS units.
That all said, I'd suggest that if yu equatee McIntosh tube units as the tube sound then the first generation SS units and first 2 receivers probably come as close as you will likely find. Frank did not want discontinuity of voicing when the company was moving to SS. Other companies making the transition really paid no attention that their tube units and SS sounded so different. Some tried to voice th SS units towards their tube models but Frank seemed to have the best success at this.
While some would proffer early Marantz units at least through the 22xx line as tube like, it is interesting to note that they do not sound like the tube Marantz units. The tube Marantz had more detail and air; actually sounding lighter and less like what a tube unit McIntosh sounded like where as the SS units sounded more similar to the McIntosh than the tube Marantz.
Of the units I have in-house the Sony STR6060FW and Sherwood S9500 remind me of the things I like when looking and listeing to tube units. Well, also have my 1st generation McIntosh amps and the C28 to add to the mix. The Sony STR6120 does come a little closer to the Marantz tube voicing that I remember while mooving further away from the McIntosh units.
Bob Carver was mentioned and whether you think of him as a wizard or warlock, he was an interesting fellow. You wanted a SS unit that sounded like a xyz tube unit, give hiim a day or so and he'd get his amp to sound that way. He felt these modifications were an interesting marketing approach but strayed from what perceived as an uncolored amp and termed them more than once a hack job but, he wanted to prove a point.
Another thing to consider are the speakers. If you grew up with pre-acoustic suspension designs the response of most were limited due to technology limitations and because of things like surface noise of records. Put some modern units on these speakers today and the sonic effect will be to return you to the days of yesteryear to some degree. FOr some who grew up in that era they remember the rolled off frequency response but many fail to realize it was the speakers and not the electronics.
Happy hunting.