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Thread: APPJ PA0901A el84 amp

  1. #1
    Join Date: May 2008

    Location: Surrey

    Posts: 7,103
    I'm Rob.

    Default APPJ PA0901A el84 amp

    I bought this from matt2007 after it was advertised in Private Exhibitions. I collected it on Tuesday and have put a few hours on it since then.

    I found a very interesting article about this amp and the company company behind it on 6 Moons. These amps were marketed under the name of MiniWatt, but it seems that MiniWatt really only distributed and rebadged these amps from APPJ. The circuit of the amp is single-ended and produces 3.5 watts output with an SMPS. The amp uses one 12AX7 and two EL84s. Inside shot below.



    It is very nicely finished and obviously weighty due to the transformers. 3.5W is not going to enable you to bring the house down.......or is it?

    I have two sets of open baffle speakers which are both roughly 92 - 93dB sensitive. I thought that this little amp was going to struggle to give me any real sense of performance and I might be disappointed. If this had turned out to be the case I was going to use it simply to power the mid-range or HF. The PA0901A has a passive pot to control volume. I use an Icon Audio Pre based on an early Ming Da design. You can get details online of a review of this by HiFi World. This has quite a lot of gain and may be why I got such good results.

    So....what does it sound like? Some years ago I had a Kel 84, a push-pull amp that was sold through Hifi World in kit form. I bought mine ready made. It was said to be 30W per channel which I always thought was an exaggerated figure. I felt it was ok, but didn't really float my boat. So what does 3.5W of single endedness do.....well it does most things really well. When the first few bars of music came through I actually said to myself "wow" this is good. With what I have used with it, it gives plenty enough power to fill the room.....nd then some. Having now had the opportunity to play lots of different styles of music through it I can say that this sounds better than it has any right to. HF and Mids are sweet and detailed and it gives a very good soundstage and things are in the right place. I am a bass head and am very picky about it. The bass doesn't draw attention to itself and by saying this you may think that it is therefore lacking....not at all. It goes pretty deep, and maybe at it's lowest is just a tad soft, but this is not a criticism. Thoroughly recommended with the caveat that I can only relay what I have heard with the components I have used with it.
    Buy Bose...And get your parking validated!.

    https://youtu.be/ZCBe7-6rw4M

    No Highs...No Lows....It Must Be Bose!

  2. #2
    Join Date: May 2008

    Location: Surrey

    Posts: 7,103
    I'm Rob.

    Default

    I am a real saddo and love watching vids of equiment especially the Kenrick Sound stuff. Here is a sad vid of the APPJ with "corrected" EAR Primary Drive speakers. No other speakers are playing with them (i.e NOT the 15" units!). The bass is exceptional (but too much at times) due to the planar panel bonded to the 10" Fane bass driver.

    Enjoy....or not as the case may be

    Buy Bose...And get your parking validated!.

    https://youtu.be/ZCBe7-6rw4M

    No Highs...No Lows....It Must Be Bose!

  3. #3
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK

    Posts: 110,012
    I'm AudioAl'sArbiterForPISHANTO.

    Default

    Hi Rob,

    I've moved this into S.o.G because it's essentially a review. Glad you like the amp, btw

    Marco.
    Main System

    Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.

    Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.

    Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.

    CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.

    Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.

    Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.

    Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.

    Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.

    Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.


    Protect your HUMAN RIGHTS and REFUSE ANY *MANDATORY* VACCINE FOR COVID-19!

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  4. #4
    Join Date: May 2008

    Location: Surrey

    Posts: 7,103
    I'm Rob.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Marco View Post
    Hi Rob,

    I've moved this into S.o.G because it's essentially a review. Glad you like the amp, btw

    Marco.
    No probs.
    Buy Bose...And get your parking validated!.

    https://youtu.be/ZCBe7-6rw4M

    No Highs...No Lows....It Must Be Bose!

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