How much tube is too much?

[wwenze]

Because people like the sound of tube, or just want one in among their equipment, companies are eager to give consumer what they want. So there are external DAC containing tubes, hybrid amps containing tubes, tube pre when a pre isn't necessary, and most recently I saw an interesting gadget which is some kind of a cable with a small box containing a tube.

But how many tubes can one have in a chain before it becomes counter-productive?

[SY]

42.

[Redshift187]

I thought it was 23.

[slam]

When people start to replace DAC chips with tubes. Ah the good old UNIVAC days...

[Cal Weldon]

When it gets so warm it begins to change the weather outside, remove one tube.

[rdf]

Originally Posted by SY

42.

That's your answer to everything.

[cogsncogs]

@wwenze I'll pose you a question: How many transistors or IC's can one have in a audio chain before it becomes counter productive?

Couldn't resist!

[Steve Dunlap]

Originally Posted by rdf

That's your answer to everything.

I thought it WAS the answer to everything.

[wwenze]

Originally Posted by cogsncogs

@wwenze I'll pose you a question: How many transistors or IC's can one have in a audio chain before it becomes counter productive?

Couldn't resist!

I wondered about that too.

But while it seems to be the nature of some to automatically bypass tone-controls and buffers/filters the moment they can, I've never seen a person leave his tube socket unpopulated.

So it seems to be an area less explored.

[jrenkin]

Originally Posted by SY

42.

Since the question was "how much tube is too much", I would suggest the answer is 43.

By the way Sy, I think those Bybee things might work the same as the infinite improbablility drive...