[rollei_list] Re: OT: Slide Film and E6

At 09:33 AM 12/23/2007 -0800, Peter wrote, in part::
But today solid state has come a long way and with newer preamp designs they are every bit as good IMO. This is much like digital versus medium format if you think about it. There are also newer digital amps which convert all to digits and allow you to manipulate them. Gone are the days of walls of high powered amps. Many instruments are mic'd through a PA system these days. Much different than 30-40 years ago.
I have to agree that for some time, many years in fact, solid state amplifiers have been able to outperform tube systems in every way.
By this I mean that they can be designed to more precisely produce an exact replica of any signal at almost any power level. I know that because I've done it for many different applications.
That then brings up the question, "Why do many folks say that tube systems sound better than solid state systems?" Is this because of some kind of longing for the past, some special type of distortion in some tube amplifiers, or just a continuing myth?
In any case I'm quite happy with the current solid state systems with no need to continually replace (and often match) tubes, carefully adjust their bias to eliminate any small step at the zero crossover point. and increase your electric bill.
And, sad to say to this group, I have become quite content with digital camera systems vs film camera systems. I can take any picture which is available in digital form and do all the things previously done by using variations in chemistry, film and print stock, whatever, in a small fraction of the time and with no mess and no darkroom.
I think there will always be folks who say they can recognize certain nice qualities in a chemical system print or slide, but I don't have that ability. Is this again a longing for the past, or what?
In any case, I won't argue with anyone about their individual tastes or preferences, but for me, I'll go solid state for amplifiers any day, and have become very happy with being able to run outside and grab shots of our big ice storm (or the effects of it actually) and email them to my family 5 minutes later.
Having said all that, I still have film cameras and will probably keep most of them, but they probably won't see much use as time passes. I collect watches and the only ones I really like are the mechanical ones. I appreciate the skill to make a precision lens, shutter, or watch movement and that's the reason I will keep these things. This, in spite of the fact that a 50 cent electronic watch movement is more accurate (or can be more accurate) than the movement in the most expensive mechanical watch.
I don't know how the OT subject above morphed into a discussion of amplifiers, but I thought I would toss out my thoughts and see what comes back.
By the way, at the moment I am a bit angry at a mechanical thing- We just moved into a new house and it turned out that the dryer vent was stuck shut and we had to have the builder send out a plumber who finally climbed onto the roof to un-stick the vent. In the process of working on the vent tubing, he move the washing machine and apparently removed and replaced the drain hose, but didn't tighten the clamp. Today, 4 weeks after he was here, the drain hose slipped off and I had a nice session with my shop vacuum to get the water out of the utility room. I have to decide whether I should be mad at the plumber, the washer, or me for not checking his work. Still working on that. The only thing I can say is that if the washing machine were in some way all solid state, we wouldn't have had our flood. 

Merry Christmas to all.

DAW

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