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Why the popularity of germanium transistors in audio, better than silicon?

andreyatakum 3090 72

TL;DR

  • Germanium transistor audio amplifiers are examined as a retro alternative to silicon and tube amps, especially among audiophiles chasing a “germanium sound.”
  • The key argument is that the sound comes from circuit topology and distortion—often transformer-coupled classic schemes—not from germanium itself.
  • Germanium makes up about 0.0007% of Earth’s crust, while silicon is around 20%, and germanium parts had to stay below 75–85°C during soldering.
  • Conclusion: germanium transistors are not better than silicon in audio; they just sound different, and similar effects can be achieved with silicon designs.
  • They also suffer from high reverse current, low operating frequency, lower gain, and high temperature sensitivity, which made them hard to source and use.
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  • Why the popularity of germanium transistors in audio, better than silicon?
    In recent years, designs, mainly acoustic amplifiers, based on germanium transistors have become increasingly popular among audiophiles. They are increasingly competing with tube amplifiers, even though germanium transistors are now increasingly difficult to find on the market. What is the basis of their popularity? Do germanium transistors really have their advantages and do designs based on these elements sound better than those using silicon transistors? We will try to clarify this in this article.

    Germanium was the first semiconductor material used on a large scale to manufacture transistors, diodes and other electronic components. Germanium transistors, whose production began in the 1950s, revolutionised electronics and ushered in the decline of the vacuum tube era, at least in some areas. Unlike tubes, transistors do not require heating of the cathode or the use of a high anode voltage. They are also much smaller, which has enabled the development of truly portable devices.
    However, germanium transistors also have their disadvantages, especially when compared to the silicon transistors that soon followed. Firstly, they are expensive because germanium is a relatively rare and difficult element to mine. It is estimated that the germanium content of the Earth's crust is around 0.0007%, while silicon is around 20%. The latter is found almost everywhere, literally even under our feet.

    Even leaving aside the high price, we have to contend with a number of limitations when it comes to germanium semiconductor components:
    High temperature sensitivity. Germanium is characterised by a much smaller energy gap compared to silicon. This makes germanium components thermally unstable and easily damaged at higher temperatures, and their performance changes drastically with increasing temperature. Even when soldering germanium elements, they had to be protected from crystal heating - the temperature should not exceed 75-85°C.
    High reverse current. Germanium transistors and diodes have a high reverse current, which increases with increasing temperature.
    Low frequency of operation. Low frequency of operation
    Small transistor gain factor.
    Germanium is also very sensitive to external influences. Therefore, germanium components require a hermetic enclosure.

    Despite this, germanium elements are once again attracting interest among audio enthusiasts, mainly because of their supposedly specific sound. In reality, the sound itself does not depend directly on the material of the semiconductor elements. Rather, the character of the sound is due to specific distortions, a result of the way electronic circuits were designed in the old days.
    As with tubes, we are dealing here with a subjective assessment of sound quality. The aim is not to reproduce the sound 100% from the source, as in Hi-Fi equipment, but to add a certain note of nostalgia - so that the sound evokes associations with childhood or youth.

    Why the popularity of germanium transistors in audio, better than silicon?


    Retro audio enthusiasts highly appreciate the sound of amplifiers made according to classic schemes, with transformers in the final (coupling and output) stages. These are the ones that to a large extent introduce a certain timbre to the sound.
    Of course, there are also amplifiers based on germanium transistors without transformers. However, due to their lower amplification factor, they are usually equipped with an additional stage that imparts the desired timbre to the sound through the introduced distortion.
    A typical schematic of a transformerless amplifier looks as follows:

    Why the popularity of germanium transistors in audio, better than silicon?

    Amplifier without transformers. source: https://cxem.net/sound/amps/amp259.php


    As you can see, there is a complementary pair in front of the terminal transistors. A few days ago there was a question on the forum why amplifiers on germanium transistors are so often made with a transformer. I already explain.
    In the early days of solid-state electronics, transistors were relatively expensive and their performance was very unstable. This was due to the fact that germanium is a rather capricious material and the technology for its production was not yet well developed. In order to achieve the required parameters, pairs of transistors with similar characteristics, including complementary pairs, had to be handpicked from several copies.
    In schemes with transformers, this time-consuming operation could be avoided. It is true that transformers narrow the frequency response, but - as I mentioned earlier - germanium transistors did not offer better performance in this respect than transformers alone.
    On the other hand, the very wide frequency bandwidth of silicon transistors, especially in transformerless circuits, favours the amplification of parasitic signals and high-frequency noise.
    For this reason, one proponent of 'germanium sound' tried to convince me that germanium elements - due to their low cut-off frequency - do not generate harmonics, presenting an oscillogram similar to the one shown in the figure.

    Hand-drawn graph paper sketch comparing “Silicon” and “Germanium” waveforms: square wave and sine wave


    However, as can be seen, the harmonics and noise have frequencies above 10 kHz and are therefore not audible to most listeners. On the other hand, germanium transistors have a higher noise floor. Although there are special grades of germanium transistors (e.g. Soviet: ГТ107, ГТ108, ГТ308, П27, П28, МП39Б), they did not survive the era of silicon transistors and are now very difficult to find.
    To summarise: in acoustic circuits, germanium transistors are no better than silicon transistors - they just sound different. Distortion occurring in amplifiers using germanium transistors is often perceived as more pleasing to listeners, even if its level is higher than in silicon designs, because it lies mainly in the low frequency band. However, the effect of the so-called 'germanium sound' can also be achieved on silicon transistors using appropriate design solutions, for example transformer circuits as shown in the image below.

    Why the popularity of germanium transistors in audio, better than silicon?

    Silicon transistor amplifier with transformer. source magazine "Радио" №1/1981


    In Poland, germanium transistors of the TG5, TG50 and TG70 series were popular. The TG50 models came in a distinctive green casing - you may remember them or their later version in a metal casing, no longer painted with paint.

    Four TG50 germanium transistors in metal can packages on a blue background

    Source: Wikipedia


    Below the less common TG51 made by TEWA, which is believed to have been used in inverters.

    Metal-cased transistor with three leads on a green background, labeled “TG51” and “TEWA”.


    Despite the passage of years, the tester still shows the efficiency of this transistor.

    Metal-can transistor connected to an LCR-T7H tester showing BJT-PNP measurement results on the screen


    On the page AlekZ you will find scans of the schematics of the amplifiers that the germanium transistor manufacturer proposed:
    TEWA 500mW acoustic transistor amplifier on TG50
    Transistor acoustic amplifier 6W TEWA on TG71

    The presence of transformers in the signal section was probably a hindrance to novice electronics engineers.

    The 1963 TEWA catalogue contains surprising application diagrams for germanium transistors, e.g. transformer to power a fluorescent lamp or transformer to power a flash lamp .

    TEWA application circuits
    Applications of TEWA semiconductor components

    A list of types of semiconductor elements, including silicon, produced by Polish manufacturers is available at the following link:
    https://publikacje.r-kobus.eu/TEWA/Elementy%20polprzewodnikowe_wstep_wykaz%20typow.pdf

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    andreyatakum
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    andreyatakum wrote 749 posts with rating 1078. Live in city Antalya. Been with us since 2021 year.
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  • #2 21905262
    Jacekj
    Level 22  
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    Well, germanium ones have lower noise than silicon ones. I have a Hummingbird 2 and everything works. My brother had a big Nordmende radio and the power amp was on germaniums just.
    Interesting article.
    Regards
  • #3 21905305
    mkpl
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    The way I see it.
    The tube era gave us simple receivers where there were several tubes and it worked great (optimised designs). The germanium transistor era inherited a lot from the tube era, so the receivers were very optimally designed. Because of the price of the components, care was taken to match the impedance with transformer sections where, so to speak, higher gain was achieved without loss.

    Germanium transistors were unstable, expensive and had poor parameters, so silicon transistors were developed. Their parameters and low price made it possible to remove expensive matching transformers and work without matching, which resulted in more but still cheap transistors (hence the noise). I'm already ignoring that receivers with lower overall gain (germanium) will make less noise.

    Now the audiophilism.
    Germanium transistors are used in music to generate distortion in guitar pickups.
    Audiophilism is always based on some hard-to-evaluate idea and hard-to-get elements.

    This offers the following advantages
    - Expensive and hard-to-get components
    - A sense of uniqueness and a new musical path
    - Parameters difficult to confirm
    - Cool profit on those with cash and willing to experiment.
    - Audiophiles love distortion in the context of their ideal audio tracks bringing no distortion at all (just where does this 'sound' come from?)

    Other advantages are lacking.
    Every germanium is now an old thing more or less degraded by time. They are thermally unstable, fragile and low power.
  • #4 21905356
    Fimek
    Level 16  
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    Hi,

    Germanium transistors have tragically high levels of pink noise and popcorn noise, low gain, low bandwidth, large performance spread, huge temperature-dependent leakage and, to top it all off, low thermal resistance.

    By the way, the article's "common sense" explanation for the low noise of germanium transistors is simply wrong: limit the bandwidth and the "noise will disappear". On the other hand, if there is a noticeable problem of crossover distortion in an audio amplifier at all, it means that the designer does not know his trade.

    On the stubborn side, germanium transistors are suitable for guitar effects, because they can bring a different distortion character than some basic simple effects on silicon elements.

    But so much for the advantages.

    A proponent of old-school germanium transistors cannot call himself a lover of good audio - that is an oxymoron.

    Stop glorifying an old technology that is rightly gone.

    PS. I basically repeated what @mkpl wrote :) regards!
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  • #5 21905471
    CHCl3
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    I'm afraid that the aforementioned growing popularity of germanium in audiophile circles has not occurred despite the rising price of these transistors and because of price increases . Same as for lamps.
  • #6 21905506
    buzerek
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    mkpl wrote:
    Germanium transistors are used in music to generate distortion in guitar pickups.

    I myself a long, long time ago made my brother a FUZZ guitar pickup for foot-press pedal, on a transistor probably that AF428. The musicians were delighted.
  • #7 21905541
    elukam
    Level 18  
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    Audiophilism has much in common with the luxury goods market. The most important common denominator is unavailability. The unavailability can be due to a financial barrier (a watch for 300,000, a car for 2 million) or it can be physical in nature - something is simply not or hardly on the market.
    The latter category includes, of course, goods that have long since been discontinued and are practically already RIGHTLY disposed of. And other things, such as power.
    That is to say, technical audiophilism, as such a version of luxury for the poor, will revert to anything related to sound technology. Sense and quality doesn't matter at all, all that matters is that I have it and you don't.
    I've long assumed that we'll probably still see the return of wire tape recorders and roller turntables. Germanium transistors are one offshoot. It was to be expected from the lovers of carbon resistors and sticky paper capacitors that germanium transistors would not be forgiven :)
    And the ideology will get there. The most important thing is a good multithreaded idea for a religion, miracles will be invented and written down in holy books for followers later.
  • #8 21905564
    rosomak19
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    I would put it briefly, where physics and logic end is where audiophilism begins.
  • #9 21905606
    saly
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    And wasn't it generally the case that a germanium diode starts conducting already from 0.2V, i.e. the voltage drop at the germanium junction is of the order of 0.2-0.3V, and at the silicon junction 0.6-0.7V, which significantly reduces the cross distortion when the sine wave passes through zero?


    Shouldn't this oscillogram be reversed?


    Why the popularity of germanium transistors in audio, better than silicon?
  • #10 21905647
    andreyatakum
    Level 15  
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    saly wrote:
    that a germanium diode starts conducting as low as0.2V, i.e. the voltage drop across the germanium junction is in the order of 0.2-0.3V and the silicon junction 0.6-0.7V,

    This is true, right.
    saly wrote:
    which significantly reduces the cross distortion after the sine wave passes through zero?

    However, there are other factors of germanium technology that increase significantly.

    saly wrote:
    Shouldn't this oscillogram be reversed?

    No. I wanted to show that due to the higher transition capacitance on the germanium transistor the zero voltage is slightly longer than it would be on a silicon transistor. Admittedly, in amplifiers designed with silicon transistors (without a transformer), high-frequency harmonics can be generated at the zero crossing. According to proponents of germanium, this phenomenon spoils the sound. I doubt it, because I do not hear it.
    I will talk a little more about this in the planned article on tube sound.
  • #11 21905651
    TechEkspert
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    Although I have digital hearing (I detect when they are playing or not), the sound of tube amps is indeed distinctive, from hard data a tube has a different overdrive characteristic to a transistor.
    On the other hand, can the sound of a germanium amplifier really be heard?
    To detect that a germanium amplifier is playing and not a silicon transistor amplifier?
  • #12 21905652
    andreyatakum
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    elukam wrote:
    I have long assumed that we will probably still see the return of wire tape recorders

    the reel-to-reel ones are already making a comeback and cost a fortune.


    Screenshot of eBay results for “Technics Rs 1500” showing a listing priced at $6,364.05


    The Tr-1000 from Analog Audio Design costs US$26,000 on average.
  • #13 21905689
    carrot
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    Only from where to record the audio signal on such a reel-to-reel player ?, from spotfi, YT premium, or from an FM tuner, the times of IV PR and scout radio are over
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  • #14 21905793
    elukam
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    Probably by microphone, straight from the speaker :)

    Germanium diodes are still used in special applications, the main detectors, precisely because of their mild characteristics at zero.
    Besides, germanium elements have gone into the darkness of history because they have GENERALLY SLOW PARAMETERS and, in addition, they cannot be made in smd form (they would not withstand the soldering process). There is no reason to use germanium because silicon is comprehensively better and as for semiconductors with a narrower energy barrier than silicon, there are already solutions for that too. Expensive but great in every respect.
    The germanium transistor is an old moth-eaten fur, smelling of naphthalene.
    P.S..
    It doesn't say "high frequency" but "high frequency". Wikipedia authors are also under-educated in this respect, you can see the "service engineers" there brimming ;)
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  • #15 21905818
    Jawi_P
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    elukam wrote:
    It does not say "high frequency" but "high frequency".

    Admit it, where did you get that from? I'm curious.
    Because the WSJP indicates all possibilities, it doesn't indicate which is wrong and which is right. All the studies I've seen talk about high frequency and not high frequency.
    Are you not confusing the type of waves ;)
    By your line of thinking we are talking about "Attention high voltage"? :)
  • #16 21905820
    saly
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    This moment of transition of the sine wave through zero and prolonged lack of conduction seems to occur in Class B transistor amplifiers and much less in the pre-polarised transistors of Class AB amplifiers, and in Class A amplifiers this effect is probably not there at all, but the efficiency is miserable

    I once heard a technical school teacher say that germanium had become a thing of the past mainly because of its poor barrier characteristics.

    Another teacher said something that stayed with me for years.
    "Remember youngsters why tube amplifiers are better.
    A silicon diode conducts from 0.7V, a germanium diode conducts from 0.2V and a tube conducts from zero and that's the difference, a tube amplifies everything and doesn't cut anything."
  • #17 21905825
    TechEkspert
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    Indeed, I have come across germanium diodes in AM receivers, both the green DOG series and later the AAP152.

    Reading the comments, I suspect it would be useful to have equally well done material on tube amplifiers and tape recorders :)
  • #18 21905826
    saly
    Level 32  
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    TechEkspert wrote:
    Although I have digital hearing (detecting when they are playing or not), the sound of tube amplifiers is indeed distinctive, from hard data a tube has different overdrive characteristics to a transistor.
    On the other hand, can the sound of a germanium amplifier really be heard?
    Detect that a germanium amplifier is playing and not a transistor amplifier?


    I once knew an elderly audiophile gentleman who listened to mainly classical and baroque music on his old Maranz, he said that he could hear the double bass player in the orchestra breathing and fidgeting in his chair as he played.
    All the murmurs are as important to him as the music, he can pick them out across the spectrum.

    Sometimes I listen on regular cheap headphones on my laptop to such a polka Hania Rani as she plays her partially modified old outdoor piano at home. She plays cool, but I get a bit annoyed by the technical noises of this piano, such as the moving of the hammers etc. I have digital hearing 0 and 1, but I can hear it and it annoys me. I can't imagine what it would be like if I could hear breathing or other noises, why.
  • #19 21905829
    TechEkspert
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    Breathing and moving a chair is rather fanciful ;) but picking up sound differences between amplifiers or audio sets is quite plausible.
  • #20 21905840
    Jawi_P
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    saly wrote:
    he said that he hears the double bass player in the orchestra breathing and wriggling in his chair while playing.

    Well yes, it's hard to discuss what anyone hears if I don't hear it. But I don't believe it.
    Being at a classical music concert the only grunt, crackle I hear comes from the listener next to me. The very production of a studio recording gives little chance of such an 'addition'. Because that means that everyone involved in recording the material doesn't hear it, or hears it and lets it go on out into the world? Strange.
  • #21 21905897
    elukam
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    Jawi_P wrote:
    Let me know where you got that from? I'm curious.
    As an electronics student, I had professors who would lower their grade for the phrase "high frequency" :) These were the real giants of electronics, all-knowing, no longer alive. Out of respect for them I try to keep the "good school" alive.
    saly wrote:
    Another teacher said something that has stayed with me for years.
    "Remember young why tube amplifiers are better.
    A silicon diode conducts from 0.7V, a germanium diode conducts from 0.2V and a tube conducts from zero and that's the difference, a tube amplifies everything and doesn't cut anything."

    It does make a difference, but in amplifiers made with a triode and 2 resistors. Since semiconductor elements are so fast that elaborate (and still cheap) amplifiers with feedback-controlled parameters are the mainstay in designs and their frequency performance is orders of magnitude above the hifi range, this claim can be relevant at most in simple amateur radio designs. Except that nobody makes them any more.
    A decent MOCY transistor amplifier can safely have a distortion of <0.1% and at the same time a bandwidth of >100kHz. No "oscillations on transistor switching" at all.
    saly wrote:
    I once knew such an elderly audiophile gentleman, who listened to mainly classical and baroque music, on his old Maranz, he said that he could hear the double bass player in the orchestra breathing and wriggling in his chair while playing.
    All the murmurs are as important to him as the music, he can pick them out across the spectrum.
    And his spectrum ends at 8kHz :)
    Quote:
    Sometimes I listen on regular cheap headphones on my laptop to such polka Hania Rani as she plays her partially modified old outdoor piano at home. She plays nicely, but I get a bit annoyed by the technical noises of this piano, such as the moving of the hammers etc. I have digital hearing 0 and 1, but I can hear it and it annoys me. I can't imagine what it would be like if I could hear breathing or other noises, why.
    This, among other things, is the difference between a good piano and a poor one, that you can hear the mechanism less. Apart from the quality of the sound, and the dynamic range, of course. An electronic piano with a weighted keyboard surprisingly does not solve these problems at all, especially if it is a Yamaha ;)
  • #22 21905945
    sigwa18
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    andreyatakum wrote:
    elukam wrote:
    I have long assumed that we will probably still see the return of wire tape recorders

    the reel-to-reel ones are already making a comeback and cost a fortune.


    Screenshot of eBay results for “Technics Rs 1500” showing a listing priced at $6,364.05


    The Tr-1000 from Analog Audio Design costs $26,000 on average.

    Just because someone puts out at that price doesn't mean there will be a buyer.
    As for audiophiles and their equipment, they are most often people who are as deaf as a stump but who have a lot of money and thus tickle their ego. This is why golden HDMI cables are made for them to improve sound and picture. Or amplifiers that sound mediocre, but look nice and expensive and are for fat $.
  • #23 21905970
    viayner
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    Hello,
    I will add my "5 cents",
    The main differences and "raptures" about tube amplifiers, their sound are due to the output transformers.
    The first amplifiers based on germanium transistors also contained a transformer and were similar to tube amplifiers.
    The newer germanium ones could already operate without an output transformer and had a 'harder' sound closer to modern silicon designs.
    There is another aspect, germanium transistors 'cut' much softer (closer to tube like) than modern silicon transistors and this was not insignificant. Perhaps the fact that the amplifiers of the past were low power, and there was a desire to listen loudly, so everything was done close to 'clipping the tops', this is where it mattered whether it cuts sharply like an Si or rounds off like a Ge - because it really can be heard easily. This is, of course, due to the harmonics, and these in the case of the Ge are close to the triode.
    The final aspect, whether it's the return of fashion / whether someone has noticed that there's money to be made from it / whether anyone hears it, is individual preference.
    Regards.
  • #24 21906097
    andreyatakum
    Level 15  
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    viayner wrote:
    The first amplifiers on germanium transistors also contained a transformer and were similar to tube amplifiers.

    This is exactly what I wrote about in the article.
  • #25 21906128
    puchalak
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    In every field of technology there is such a trend, where the rarity of a given piece of equipment, resulting from the fact that it disappeared from the market because it was poor and was replaced by something better, gives some people the legitimacy that something is elitist because it is unique, especially since things that were actually produced as luxuries in their time are still financially unattainable for them. In audio technology, this was particularly evident in the form of this kind of audiophilia for the poor - poor amplifiers using an old tube from a Russian TV set, "which beats all others by a long shot", etc.
    In general, "audiophile" has acquired a rather pejorative meaning, because it is not associated with people who like good sound, buying great equipment, sometimes cosmically expensive, sometimes not, but guided by its parameters or subjective feeling of how it plays, but rather either morons who let themselves be tricked into buying a magical power cable "conditioning electricity" for a zillion, or just such budget germanium-lampo-audiophiles, wanting to have something unique but within their financial reach. There is no point in commenting on the price of reel-to-reel tape recorders and the like. You can sell them for whatever you want and so what, because even at a fraction of that price you won't find a buyer.
  • #26 21906187
    acctr
    Level 39  
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    An audiophile isn't just driven by technical parameters, the hard to identify and place details are also important.
    If Mia Wallace turned on a plastic box with bt or uttered the magic "hi google" would anyone notice?
    Thanks to the presence of the Teac X-2000R, this scene is impossible to forget and, thanks to Tarantino, its price is now hovering around £10k.

    Person in a gray coat operates a reel-to-reel tape recorder in a modern living room
    Helpful post? Buy me a coffee.
  • #27 21906194
    sigwa18
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    But you see it costs 10k pln not because it's good equipment but because it played in the film. So don't call yourself an audiophile because it has little to do with the audio layer. It's like me calling myself a racing driver because I bought and own a toyota supre, which has also appeared in many films.
  • #28 21906253
    carrot
    Moderator of Cars  
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    Similarly, the De Lorean DMC 12 is described by all who have driven it as the worst car, while it starred in a film and thus became iconic and its price is prohibitive
  • #29 21906265
    Fimek
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    >>21906187

    What you've written sounds a bit as if the audiophile is guided by aesthetics or the reputation of the equipment in addition to technical parameters. Such a connoisseur of music and everything around it. But that's not true - an audiophile insists that he is only interested in sound, but in a specific way - the kind of sound that is not always possible to define using technical parameters. So far - OK, I don't have a problem with that, not everything can be described by parameters. It's just that from here it's a straight line to "I hear this quality, you don't - and since you do, you have a problem". I accept that great, high-quality audio components cost a lot of money and I cannot afford them. What I do not accept is the fact that golden amplifiers, conditioners, fuses, stands that have no effect on the sound (and often even degrade the sound) also cost a lot, as well as artifacts from the past, such as germanium transistors, which are worthless in terms of sound.
  • #30 21906354
    andreyatakum
    Level 15  
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    carrot wrote:
    Only from where to record the audio signal on such a reel-to-reel ?,

    From the microphone. Set up a studio to play and sing, sell recordings to audiophiles.... pure analogue sound. It doesn't matter if you can play and sing, that's another matter. The most important thing is the analogue sound!
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