![]() In the 21st century the vacuum tube is resurgent and diverse. As the new audiophile revolution began in the 1980s, companies like Audio Research, Vacuum Tube Logic (VTL), and Conrad Johnson resurrected the popularity of the tube amplifier and raised it to new heights of performance. Collectors prized classic tube amps by the likes of McIntosh and Marantz. Some audiophiles never quite gave up on tubes, subjectively luxuriating in their benign second-order harmonic distortion in much the same way they preferred the warm feeling they got from the sound of spinning vinyl. Or did they?ĭeep in the man caves of two-channel stereophilia, tubes continued to glow. By the time home theater and surround sound got underway, tubes had long since been left behind by the mainstream. Solid-state technology further democratized audio in the 1970s as Japan exported mass-market stereo receivers to music lovers on a budget. Entire new product categories were born-such as the portable transistor radio, the distant forebear of today’s smartphones and iPods. When tubes gave way to the solid-state transistor, consumer electronics began its steady march toward lighter weight, lower cost, reduced heat dissipation, and greater energy efficiency. It preceded stereo, the LP, and of course everything digital. The vacuum tube has an honored place in the audio timeline. Tilting drivers in towers for front-height channels. ![]() ![]() Price: $1,000 At A Glance: Hybrid switching/vacuum tube amplifier ![]()
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