Valve buffer amps $25 Ebay items - how do they work??

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mac

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Jun 5, 2009
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Location
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http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Special-for-Tripath-12AU7-Buffer-Amp-for-smooth-sound_W0QQitemZ250562718881QQcmdZViewItemQQptZVintage_Electronics_R2?hash=item3a56b3aca1

How does this work? I thought the tube would need something up near 300v for the anode??

says it runs on 43 volts...
(so my tube education continues......)
:)
Mac

 
> I thought the tube would need something up near 300v for the anode??

Why?

If you want good performance from a HIGH impedance device like hollow-state, yes, you should run high voltage. But all the tube data shows operation from 90V supply, and often quite good for sub-Volt signals. I would expect a 43V stage to clip badly near 10V peak signal, so it needn't be horrible at the 1V level it is sold for. (However their notes suggest it may be deliberately non-"optimum", and not go past 5V cleanly.)

My experience with 90V hifi preamps is that they sound "soft" at hifi level, that hotrodding to 250V seems more accurate. But that was then, this is now. Much stuff is very accurate (or has annoying artifacts), they sell stuff to soften-up the sound.
 
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