On Mon, 30 Jan 2012 21:16:09 -0000, "Woody"
wrote:

"Arny Krueger" wrote in message
m...

"Eiron" wrote in message
...
Browsing some amp specs, I find that one old Rotel amp has ten
times the distortion of the others in the range.
Is this a typo or was the RA-960 specially designed for people
who like valve (tube) sound?

Compare http://www.rotel.com/content/manuals/ra960bx_eng.pdf
with http://www.rotel.com/content/manuals/ra980bx_eng.pdf
(and the same for rb... power amps)

Most good SS amps can be speced for 0.03%, 0.3%, 3%, or 10%
THD by means of adjusting the rated power. Same amp.




You also need to remember that the majority of valve amps produce
predominately second harmonic distortion to which the ear is very
tolerant, whereas SS amps are usually third and odd harmonics
which the ear doesn't like at all.

But do bear in mind two things.

First, small valve amps generally produce an awful lot of second
harmonics, while solid state amps produce bugger all of any kind of
harmonics.

Second, harmonics are never the problem while listening to music.
Intermod is the problem because it is generally unrelated musically to
any of the wanted notes. For the production of intermods, it makes no
difference whether the amp's distortion is predominantly odd or even.

d