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are you totally tubular?

Ah, that age-old question: Which are better, tubes or transistors? ETown's Steve Guttenberg tackles this head-scratcher in the first installment of his on-going analyses of old vs. new technologies. As he points out, transistors have it all over tubes on a number of levels (price, convenience, and durability, to name a few), but when it comes to the biggie--sound--transistors just don't cut it. Guttenberg offers a smattering of history of these two audio components, and lets his biases shine as he hands out advice for buying tube-based hi-fi. Sometimes, "advances" aren't really steps forward, and Guttenberg tries to convince us the development of transistors was one of those occasions. Take a look at his argument and see if you agree.

Wed, 26 Jan 2000 09:38:03 -0800