if you have a piece of equipment that only uses one tube is it best to buy a tube with matched halves?
Quote from: mboldda1 on January 21, 2012, 10:30:23 AM
if you have a piece of equipment that only uses one tube is it best to buy a tube with matched halves?
Assuming it's a dual triode, such as 6sn7, 6sl7, etc... If it's a power triode, there's only one section... nothing to match.
Depends if it's a stereo piece... if so, you would want matched halves... if it's a monoblock piece, no need...
Some of the dual triodes only use one section for input or driver stages...
thanks pete, this is a dac/preamp. also some one tube buffers out there.
With that being the case, one half of the tube (dual triode) is being used for each channel. While its not necessary, it surely wouldn't hurt as each triode within a single tube can be slightly different. It does cost much to have one tube matched.
I would have to ask, how much extra is it going to cost to get a tube with both sides matched? In theory, it would be nice to have the exact same gain in both channels. But from a practical point of view, what's the worst that can happen if they are off by a little bit, you would have to tweak the balance control a little bit to one side or the other? Most of us should probably be doing that anyway to compensate for acoustic differences in the two sides of our rooms.
Depending on the quality of the piece, you may never realize any difference in the two sides Of a tube. There are many other variables in the system that would effect channel balance much more than a single tube. Most inexpensive volume controls have a larger channel imbalance that the two sides of a single tube.
But then again, for an extra buck or two....