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Written by Branislav Bubanja
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Friday, 16 May 2008 |
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Page 2 of 2
Why Vacuum Tubes?
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It has been almost 100 years since Lee de Forest invented an electronic amplifying device in form of a vacuum tube. Since year 1906 more advanced way of sound amplification has not been invented. Modern audio systems based on transistors have certain advantages, but tubes are still a better solution and generally are built-in expensive audio amplifiers. The main advantage of vacuum tubes is that they provide a clearer sound, so true audiophiles can distinguish much more harmony in reproduced tones contrary to tones reproduced by transistor amplifiers.
All amplifiers (naturally) have the task of amplifying the sound from the source and forward it to the speakers. Classic vacuum tube triode amplifiers are based on a cylinder with two metal surfaces, a cathode and an anode, with a metal “grid” electrode in between, working on a dam principle. The grid is controlling the power flow between the two surfaces. Electrical current flows over the cathode to the anode, where the speakers are powered from. When the current reaches the cathode, it heats up and releases electrons towards the anode. The grid is controlling the number of electrons that pass through, which ultimately regulates the changes to the current itself and creates the sound we hear through the speakers.
Contrary to transistor amplifiers, vacuum tube amplifiers produce harmonies in exactly the same way like instruments do, which makes their sound much more natural. Besides, certain vacuum tube amplifiers have the tendency to lower very high frequencies, which produces lower, more pleasant sounds to human ear. This does hurt the frequency band, but a well-designed transformer can iron out these issues. The legendary audio amplifier designer William Johnson stated: “We came to understand that vacuum tubes are simply better conductors than semi-conductors (transistors).” This should be enough to sum up why one should go for this solution |
The sound reproduced over these speakers is truly hi-fi. Tones are clearly differentiated, which is particularly noticeable with guitars or similar “sharp” instruments. Naturally, no pair of speakers can rectify a meager sound source. The same song coming from sources with different sound quality could be clearly classified during the testing of this system.
| SONICGEAR i-Steroid 1 |
Total Power Output
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15W RMS
2x2.5W + 10W
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Frequency Response
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20Hz÷20kHz |
SonicGear really made an effort to create something brand new in the computer world of today. The price of this set is not low at all, and yes, you can buy a great 5.1 speaker set for the same amount of money, but i-Steroid was not made to compete with them, but to provide ultimate enjoyment to users which care about the quality of their music and consider it a No. 1 priority.
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