Chinese SET Advice please

[evozero]

Hi All,
One of my little Wave 8's has just gone pop, i think it may be an transformer.
So can you give me some current advice on Chinese SET's particularly the Audioromy 813 & Fu29. I was going to wait and decide on speakers first, but as both of these amps rate approx 30W per channel will be plenty of power for me.
How accurate are the specs, voltage, power, dimensions etc? Any mods i should do out of the box?
Also looking at the Mr Liang 845, as these also have a good dollop of power and i like the looks, Digg the VU meters! Normally i would be asking for DIY, but i cant even buy a kit for the price of these things. I will buy something like the World Designs Pre further down the line to drive it properly. I had a look on the bay, but could you recommend sellers good to deal with for these amps.
Thanks in advance
Ian

[Mike]

Well, I would obviously advise buying my Mr Liang 845! :)

[Ali Tait]

Yes the Liang is the best built of the Chinese amps I've seen so far.The Audioromy 813 is a great sounding piece of kit,but the build quality is dire.I have both of these amps BTW.

[evozero]

Hi Guys, thanks for the replies.
I had a bit of a moment last night! My fiancée was out for the night, the neighbours too. So i could have a nice loud listening session. With one Wave 8 down I tried my chip amps first, a too bright with my B&W's. Out they came and my 80's Sony integrated sand amp replaced them, this was a little better but after an hour and a few beers my head hurt. Added the valve pre to soften the sound, bit better. Then another hour passed, a few more beers and i had enough. Out came the soldering iron, bad idea, yes! after a bit of component chasing round the PCB i managed to fix the blighter. 8 watts of valve magic back again, bliss!
The biggest lesson for me is i cant tolerate listening fatigue, so valves all the way. Second lesson, i can handle poor build quality if the sound is worth it.
Ali, could you elaborate on the Audioromy build quality please? Would i have to mod this amp to make it safer and more reliable. is it really 37cm high, i might have to move my shelves to make room.
Sorry for the rant...
Thanks
Ian

[Ali Tait]

Hi Ian,
The chassis is ok,but the internals leave a lot to be desired.As usual,I'd replace the front-end and rectifier valves with decent NOS (ECC82,ECC88 and 5u4).The supplied Chinese 813 are actually OK,though some nice NOS are better but not hugely so.You may struggle to find any though,coz I've bought them all! :lolsign:

The only mods that have been carried out on mine component-wise are some Russian PIO coupling caps. I may change these for something more booteek later.The transformers don't look like much,but these amps do sound rather good,if you like the transmitter-valve school of sound.Voltages in mine are within spec on UK mains.The pcb's don't look very good quality,and neither do the components,but as I say,the amp does sound rather nice and I've not had any reliability issues up to now.One thing to consider is,as you may know,the 813 has it's anode connection at the top,so that may be an issue if you have young children or pets.900 or so volts must be treated with respect!

The quoted power output is a bit optomistic IMHO,I'd say 30w is more realistic,though in my system it is noticeably more powerful than the Liang.

Another thing is that this amp kicks out some serious heat! The guy I bought mine from cut a large hole in the top of the transformer cover,covering it with fine mesh and also fitted some oak door knobs for feet.Looks a bit odd,but allows for decent convection.

Hope this helps-if you need any further info,just ask.

[evozero]

Thanks Ali,
Looks like the ideal would be a Mr Liang built 813. So i have emailed them and asked if they make such a model. Can you convert the Liang 845 to run 813, I have seen an Audioromy 845 that looks the same as the 813 amp?
Do you have the dimensions, particularly the height?
The anode situation is a bit of a worry, will just have to use the cage! With my little wave amps running again I don't have to rush into a purchase, but these amps look superb value for money and keep speaker choice pretty wide. Very appealing. I will let you know if i hear anything from Mr Liang.
Thanks
Ian

[bonneville]

Hi
Ariel over on the WD forum has a unmodded Liang for sale and also one fitted with GM 70's .

Vinnie

[Ali Tait]

Sorry can't help with the dimensions at the moment as the amp is at my place in Leeds and I live and work in Scotland now.I can certainly let you know the next time I'm down,but it won't be for a few weeks.One thing about Liang is they seem to have disappeared from ebay a while ago.Dunno if they still produce amps.I would guess you could convert one to 813 fairly easily,just need to add some trannies for the heaters.One good thing about the Liang is their output trannies.I've compared mine to James and also a pair of amorphous-core AE's.The stock jobbies are better than the James,which was a bit of a surprise-not what I was expecting! The AE's were better,but not hugely so.I've read that Liang wound their own in-house,so it seems they know what they are doing.If you get a 6l6 version,the trannies have the spare tappings to convert it to 300b drivers if you wish.Dunno anyone who has done this,but it might be worth trying.

P.S. Hi Vinnie! Hows the Lowthers sounding? Did you get a pre to try the 4w SE amp?

[bonneville]

Hi Ali

I have not got a preamp yet so I am still using the Spuds and Decware
I like the Lowthers and have been messing around with some ribbon super tweeters trying to get them to integrate without altering the Lowthers too much.

Have you used th Fostex with your Liang?

Vinnie

[Ali Tait]

Not yet as the Liang is in Leeds.I'm using them with a Musical Fidelity A370 and also a KEL84.Great speakers.Not as good as my statics,but they get close in some ways! Very good for a budget driver.I'm also looking forward to hearing them with the 813,and will probably have a mini-sesh with Mo,so will get to hear them with his 45 amp too.