Audiophiles have sustained another technology that’s even older than magnetic tape. In the 1970s, compact, energy-efficient transistors boded to replace vacuum tubes entirely. But transistors couldn’t satisfy some guitar players and hi-fi cognoscenti. “We use vacuum tubes because they sound good,” says Victor Tiscareno, a trained violinist and vice president of engineering at Red Rose Music, a maker of high-end home audio systems. Low-distortion, solid-state-transistor sound “looks lovely on an oscilloscope,” he explains. “But what we measure and what we hear aren’t the same. Vacuum tubes just sound more human, more lifelike.” And after Armageddon, they may be the last amplifiers left standing; rumor has it the U.S. government still keeps backup tubes in case an electromagnetic pulse wipes out vital communications circuits.
[via Ars Technica]
Posted by johndan at February 4, 2004 01:42 PM
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