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TO APPEAR IN POSITIVE FEEDBACK IN 1998
THERMIONIC SPEAKERMANIA© by
Dr. Harvey "Gizmo" Rosenberg
Guildmeister, The Triode Guild
Thermionic Techno-Shaman
Grand Wazir of Speakermaniacs
REBEL PRIESTS IN THE TEMPLE OF MONKEY COFFINS
Am I angry? You bet your boopy I am, but rather than rage against this marketing incompetence, let me rage against a structural weakness that can be quickly corrected and create new consumer excitement. To be effective in that task The Guildmeister of the Triode Guild will have to put on one of his most exotic masks. This mask will frighten many. This is probably my most terrifying, weird, and eccentric and will send the fragile screaming for cover... here comes my Wharton School of Business Mask, Class of 1963. I am wearing to scare away all the low effeciency speaker demons, That is me wearing one of my strangest costumes: a Brooks Brothers three piece striped blue wool flannel suit, a white Egyptian cotton button down shirt with blue and white polka dot bow tie, boxer shorts, suspenders, sock garters, and oxford shoes. No laughing and guffawing at this strange business warrior's armor. This article is about the next big business opportunity in high end audio. By serving my thermionic brothers I am certain that there will be a contract on my life. This is a dangerous job and it is my job.
Let me live up to my reputation as the man, referred to by his enemies as, "Red Hot Chili Pepper Up Your Butt". Hold tight, here we go again on Dr. Gizmo's roller coaster rides: the thousands of you who are artistically and musically sensitive enough to listen to tube amplifiers haven't got a clue how great these amplifiers are if you are using speakers designed for transistor amplifiers... which is 99% of the speakers manufactured in America. As Buddha says, "As you would not plow a field with a Indy 500 car, and as you would not race the Indy 500 with a tractor, you should not be using a tube amplifier with a low impedance/low efficiency loudspeaker".
Now sit back relax, take your tranquilizers and some Alka Seltzer, and enjoy some more pain, because it is the only way you will ascend to the next level of musical ecstasy... no pain, no gain. When I published, almost twenty years ago, Understanding Tube Electronics, they laughed and suggested the title be, Understanding Obsolete Electronics, and when I, like so many others, predicted the rise of single-ended triode amps, they laughed. So who has the last laugh now? Mark my words, because those who do not pay attention to my prophecy shall turn into obsolete moldy cheese balls. And I shall not cease until my prophecy comes true.
FACT: Tube amplifiers are currently dominating the amplifier segment of high end audio and will continue to grow in importance because marketing dynamics are compelling their vitality... relatively low cost/high performance amplifiers are creating a new group of tube fanatics who will mature and want better. We start out on our 350cc Honda Nighthawks and then grow up and buy a Hawg. You have to have an affordable first step on the ladder of thermionic ascension. Check this out... Stereo Review reviewed a Jolida tube amp! Under $500 tube amplifiers from China will create a new foundation for the thermionic arts. Or what about the Cary Audio's $799 300B stereo amp... again you can't grow up and be a Tube Grizzly Bear, unless you start in the Tube Bunny Rabbit group.
FACT: GADZOOKS, THE TUBE COFFERS ARE FULL! Reliable Sovtek 300Bs at $70, new Chinese and Sveltana 300Bs and Western Electric is back in the tube business! China, Russia and Eastern Europe have converted their military tube factories to consumer products and are responsible for the explosion of guitar tubes. Did you imagine that Class A and B directly heated triode transmitting tubes would be used in amplifiers, and that pentodes, i.e., 6550, El 34s, 5881s and KT 88s would abound... look at your calendar... it is the twenty-first century and thermionics are everywhere, including the pro market and the guitar market. The ultimate techno-conundrum of the twenty first century is that more and more music lovers are not impressed by "newer and better" and are seeking genuine emotional authenticity, which means harmonic authenticity, which means tubes. Your passion for music, and there are thousands of you, is the engine of this completely unexpected thermionic revolution, and thermionic entrepreneurs all over the world eager for profits are responding, i.e. Charles Whitener of Western Electric.
FACT: The digital conundrum ain't going away, and digital sounds better with tube amplifiers because it is a salve for digital's harmonic discombobularity. In the same way the ancient wisdom prescribes ketchup on French fries, and cream cheese on your bagel, it now prescribes tubes and digital. It doesn't matter if this is accurate audio or not, it is a matter of getting the most musical pleasure from a regressive storage medium... of how I love my techno-conundrums. What a delicious dialectic... millions of musicians who are building home digital recording studios are buying tube gear.
FACT: There is a more creativity in tube amplifier design today than any previous time, and this is true all over the world. The art and science of thermionics has significantly advanced over the last two decades. This is especially true for amplifiers that use tubes designed in the 1930s: directly heated triode output tubes. I believe tube amplifiers have replaced tube phono preamplifiers as the "thermionic play focus" of high end audio. Do remember the good old days when the cool thing was to own three or four tube preamps, three turntables and a dozen cartridges? Trevor Lees I miss you!
FACT: There is a wrong way and a right way to use a tube amplifier.
FACT: The first few watts are always the juiciest. In every amplifier those first few watts, or milliwatts, are the best sounding watts, which is why it is so desirable to keep an amplifier operating in that range. This explains why, for decades, our Japanese bro's have preferred high efficiency speakers...especially for their transistor gear.
FACT: All things being equal, a low powered tube amplifier will sound more refined than a higher powered one, meaning, few output tubes, and smaller output transformer...less is more. Because all things aren't equal, a low powered amplifier can be superior because it can more easily and efficiently employ regulated power supplies, i.e. it is much easier to build a lower powered regulator. The Golden Rule of audio design applies here: simple is better because it preserves signal integrity.
Let me say that again: By using high efficiency/high impedance speaker, you get better performance using a smaller more refined amplifier which will have better power supplies, and operate most of the time in the juicy region, and if that weren't enough your output tubes will last longer.
FACT: A tube doesn't know where it is, and the virtues of active regulation applies to all tubes no matter where they are used. An actively regulated circuit will operate better than an unregulated one. Yes, there are those who are screaming, NO. And yes, I have heard some magical systems with unregulated tube circuits, because the syrupy sound of unregulated circuits mollified system problems. But America is positively prehistoric in its failure to use regulated output stages on tube amplifiers. Gadzooks most tube amplifiers don't even use a choke! Shame on us!
FACT: Tube amplifiers are not operating optimally with any speaker that is below 94 db efficient, 16 ohms, with Alnico magnets. This triology of thermionic bliss has been known for decades. It is known all over the world. It is the foundation of Japanese audiomania, and we, the inventors of this aesthetic, rock and roll, fast food, the 350 Chevy small block, and the Hawg, haven't got a clue... yet. Shame on us! Reality check: if you can't have all three then at the very least get the high efficiency right. Getting all three right is very expensive but worth the cost, and it is eternal.
FACT: Consumers accept obsolescence if it is real. What are the American Priests of the Temple of the Monkey Coffins afraid of? More business? New excitement? Prosperity? Money in the bank? It is time for them to announce, "Dear tube loving audiophile- so sorry, we had our heads buried in the silicon. Yes, our grandfathers had it right; tubes need high efficiency/high impedance speakers, and we are now correcting our ways. No shame, No blame, just let's get on with expanding musical beauty. So throw away those 84 db, 4/8 ohms speakers, and make me a wealthy dude".
Let me describe the prevailing American orthodoxy: New and Improved Kevlar Carbon Fiber Uranium Enriched Speaker Cones, in a six way configuration using Asymptotically Infinitely Expanding 96 db slope Phase/Time Corrected Crossovers, 84 db efficient 4 ohms. The pressure on Priests of the Temple of Monkey Coffins to come up with something new and different every year is enormous, and it takes courage to design simple loudspeakers with a minimum of crossover parts. How many designers have the right stuff to boast... I didn't invent anything new, I just got it musically right? This new breed of loudspeaker designers are comparable to the new breed of triode amplifier designers who believe less is more...it is the way of the triode. This means using higher quality drivers that don't require loads of taming, i.e. require simple crossovers.
The Lotus has outboard crossover networks, and can be ordered with three different flavors. My advice is order the ones that are flavored with AlphaCore silver foil inductors. Of course you are aware that crossover should never be in loudspeaker cabinets... if you want ultimate refinement.
I have been experiencing a depression because much of the fun and joy of musical self-expression has been leeched from our tribe because of the digital revolution. Do you remember GOD, the Good Old Days, when you had two or three different phono preamps, a couple of turntables and a dozen cartridges and record mats, and you could, by twiddling create hundreds of different tonalities and thereby maximize the musical juice from your system? This is why I still use a Micro-Seiki turntable that has three arms. But with digital you have no control over your tonal destiny, and this is very painful, and if you are not feeling this musical pain your are in denial.
Clearly my goal is create, for the musically sophisticated, the opportunity to harmonically fine tune their system. So I called up Prince Carl and invited him to do the Triode Guild dance, which is the "speaker system" dance, and again this is all about YOU deciding what works best for you in your system, with your amplifier, and most importantly, in your room. Prince Carl was the right man for me to exploit because he is the short path to putting a red hot chili pepper up the butt of other Priests of Monkey Coffins because he has years of experience using Alnico drivers. Do you remember that I tried to eat his all Alnico Adriana $10K minimonitors- that's how tasty they were? I am using Carl to force others into the Triode Guild dance, and The Lotus, which is an expression of this point of view is an amazing achievement. Let me make it clear that for decades Prince Carl has been a master speaker designer and I am not taking any claim for the artistry in the Lotus, but I am taking credit for insisting that he, like Ulrich Poulsen of Alpha-Core, design products that would reveal the nascent harmonic glory of triode amplifiers.
The reason that Carl is receiving this award is because of the way The Lotus stacks up compared to my reference system... and depending on the heaviness of your coin The Lotus can be purchased between $3,500 and $6,000... depending on your options. Am I biased? Yes. But why not come over to my 35x55 listening room and compare The Lotus to my reference system? I must insist that you wear loose pants when you visit because you will receive one of my famous New York Audio Labs AUDIO PAMPERS at the door, which you must wear... that's how much I believe in The Lotus.
Prince Carl can then use an 8 ohm Alnico midrange driver, which may not be perfect but it is available and affordable, as opposed to 16 ohm midrange drivers which are as rare as a properly set up listening room at an audio dealer. Going to the trouble of getting this 8 ohm Alnico midrange driver built is a big deal. How big is this deal? Name one other speaker designer who has gone through the trouble of getting a Alnico midrange driver made? I know that Carl worked for one year getting this driver right.