We all love tubes. I know I just marvel at them as they look so intresting and complicated inside.. and how they glow so beautifully as they reproduce all that magnificent audio...

On the history channel today they were comparing tubes and transistors and about the invention of the transistor at Bell Labs near here in Murray Hill NJ.
The original one is on display there in their lobby.

As an interesting fact, pointing out how far the technology has come and how many transisters are in today's every day products...they indicated that if today's common cell-phone were built with tubes.... it would actually have to be about the same size as the Empire State building!!

Bet they didn't say, though, that the only thing that can generate microwaves is an electron tube, or that the clearest pictures still come from CRTs, though LCD technology (which actually started in the 1930s) is coming close. They take up a lot more space, but you can do more with tubes than you can with transistors. I like transistors, though. I've learned to appreciate them. They certainly are a lot more stable than tubes. I don't like the sound they produce as much, though. However, my father's Pioneer SX-440 sounds incredibly fine. Could be his speakers. I have yet to hear other speakers which sound more balanced. The whole transistor sound thing may be entirely because of speakers or poor circuit design, for all I know.

Another myth that circulates rampidly is that tubes cannot respond to high audio frequencies as well (the reason why all old radios from the 1930s sound hollow and tinny....which they don't all, but a lot of them lack highs). Mentioning the magnatron clears this myth up entirely, and simply mentioning that tubes are also bringing in the signal which you hear on your radio helps as well (seeing as the AM and FM bands are way above the human hearing range). Most people can't understand this, but the poor frequency response is actually almost entirely due to the speaker, and somewhat to do with poor (or cheap, such as the lack of negative feedback) circuit design.

.....So, transistors are miraculous devices, and can do a whole bunch of things in a much smaller space, and in a much more regulated way. I must, however, stand behind the tube, for all it can do, that the media doesn't tell about...their lies about obsolescence and inferiority. I think that the two technologies are wonderful, and should be used side by side where necessary (though not at all like the 4 tube hybrid Zenith television I once had from the 1960s....that thing performed poorly, and was rediculous).

T.

Thomas, here's and additional fact that should dispel any myth that tubes don't handle high frequencies.

Many old 1920s TRFs had several RF stages and one or more AF stages -- each stage using a rather primitive '01A triode. If those tubes could handle the RF, they certainly can handle the whole AF spectrum.

Whatever audio deficiencies the old TRFs had could be attributed to the loudspeakers or possibly the audio interstage xfmrs. You can replace the original audio interstage xfmrs with R-C coupling, and get better fidelity.

:Another myth that circulates rampidly is that tubes cannot respond to high audio frequencies as well (the reason why all old radios from the 1930s sound hollow and tinny....which they don't all, but a lot of them lack highs). Mentioning the magnatron clears this myth up entirely, and simply mentioning that tubes are also bringing in the signal which you hear on your radio helps as well (seeing as the AM and FM bands are way above the human hearing range). Most people can't understand this, but the poor frequency response is actually almost entirely due to the speaker, and somewhat to do with poor (or cheap, such as the lack of negative feedback) circuit design.
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:T.