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Thread: Amplifiers any good..?

  1. #11
    Join Date: Apr 2016

    Location: Bishops Stortford

    Posts: 1,250
    I'm Chris.

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    Despite the fact that we all like to outsmart the market place I think we have to accept that in life and Hi Fi you pretty much get what you pay for.

    If a product doesn't justify its price tag it will pretty soon get found out and either get replaced by another model or we will see lots of adverts for 'much loved amps' coming to the second hand market after a few months of ownership. Just have a look at all the secondhand Chinese amps out there.

    If its under priced, then a few lucky people will get a bargain until demand outstrips supply and issues occur such as unfulfilled orders and worse still ruined reputations and closure. Suppliers of kit are not charities and will always find ways to charge what the market will tolerate.

    So the natural laws of supply and demand come into play.
    Last edited by bumpy; 09-07-2018 at 20:02.
    Source
    SW1X Universal Music Server UMS I Signature with Power Supply Unit PSU I Signature
    SW1X USB II
    SW1X DAC III Special
    Audiolab 6000 CDT transport
    Amps
    Pre amps -- Hi fi Collective twin mono ladder stepped attenuator, with Charcroft Z-foil and silver wired. And First Watt B1 active no gain buffer.
    Power amps -- Welborne 45 SET monoblocks 1.8W / Decware Taboo 6W / Elekit 300B TU-8600SVK plus further improved components 9W / ICE Power 1000W
    Speakers
    Highly modified Endorphin P17 open baffle speakers containing both vintage and modern alnico drivers and paper cones. All silver wired - 8" Cube Audio FC8 full range drivers and vintage 15" Altec VOTT 416 bass drivers. All sat on Townsend Audio Podium seismic isolation platforms.
    BK Electronics XLS400FF Sub.
    Cabling
    Silver mains cables, interconnects and speaker cables by SW1X
    Headphones
    HRT HeadStreamer and SennHeiser HD650 headphones

  2. #12
    Join Date: Apr 2015

    Location: Central Virginia

    Posts: 1,736
    I'm Russell.

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    Quote Originally Posted by bumpy View Post
    Despite the fact that we all like to outsmart the market place I think we have to accept that in life and Hi Fi you pretty much get what you pay for.

    If a product doesn't justify its price tag it will pretty soon get found out and either get replaced by another model or we will see lots of adverts for 'much loved amps' coming to the second hand market after a few months of ownership. Just have a look at all the secondhand Chinese amps out there.

    If its under priced, then a few lucky people will get a bargain until demand outstrips supply and issues occur such as unfulfilled orders and worse still ruined reputations and closure. Suppliers of kit are not charities and will always find ways to charge what the market will tolerate.

    So the natural laws of supply and demand come into play.
    Well said...

    Russell

  3. #13
    Join Date: Aug 2009

    Location: Staffordshire, England

    Posts: 37,779
    I'm Martin.

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    The way I see it is you start out building them in your kitchen or whatever, you want to sell some and you want to develop a rep so you take your time to get them bang on and you sell them at a bargain price. Your overheads are low and you are not really costing your time. Your probably not even paying yourself minimum wage.

    After a while you get a bit of a rep and move into a small workshop, maybe get some help in. You decide to do a higher end product now you have some reputation and that goes down well. After a few years that becomes your bread and butter so you stop doing the cheaper stuff altogether. By now you've a firm with maybe 20 people on the payroll. But your name is a byword for quality.

    Then you get an offer from a much bigger company to buy you out, name, everything, you will stay on as a self-employed consultant to smooth the changeover. The money is too good to resist - you could retire if you wanted. So you sell.

    Later down the line they will let you go as a consultant and gradually start using your brand cachet to sell cheap consumer tat from China at a premium price. That works for a while but the reputation erodes with time until finally the marque is discontinued or sold to the Chinese for buttons.
    Current Lash Up:

    TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.

  4. #14
    Join Date: Mar 2017

    Location: Seaford UK

    Posts: 1,861
    I'm Dennis.

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    From the pics the quality seems good, no sense of corner cutting, good components and metalwork.

  5. #15
    Join Date: Jan 2009

    Location: Essex

    Posts: 31,853
    I'm openingabottleofwine.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Macca View Post
    The way I see it is you start out building them in your kitchen or whatever, you want to sell some and you want to develop a rep so you take your time to get them bang on and you sell them at a bargain price. Your overheads are low and you are not really costing your time. Your probably not even paying yourself minimum wage.

    After a while you get a bit of a rep and move into a small workshop, maybe get some help in. You decide to do a higher end product now you have some reputation and that goes down well. After a few years that becomes your bread and butter so you stop doing the cheaper stuff altogether. By now you've a firm with maybe 20 people on the payroll. But your name is a byword for quality.

    Then you get an offer from a much bigger company to buy you out, name, everything, you will stay on as a self-employed consultant to smooth the changeover. The money is too good to resist - you could retire if you wanted. So you sell.

    Later down the line they will let you go as a consultant and gradually start using your brand cachet to sell cheap consumer tat from China at a premium price. That works for a while but the reputation erodes with time until finally the marque is discontinued or sold to the Chinese for buttons.
    I'm waiting for that to happen to the former IAG portfolio of companies (including the jewels in the crown: Leak and Quad)
    Barry

  6. #16
    Join Date: Dec 2014

    Location: UK, inactive

    Posts: 1,570
    I'm inactive.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Barry View Post
    I'm waiting for that to happen to the former IAG portfolio of companies (including the jewels in the crown: Leak and Quad)
    Post-Brexit they will all be made in the Netherlands ... in a factory next to the Rowntrees' complex.

  7. #17
    Join Date: Dec 2008

    Location: East Riding of Yorkshire these days

    Posts: 4,779
    I'm Shaun.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Svend N View Post
    Shaun -- not at all related to your post: Nice camera in your avatar pic! Mamiya RZ or RB, is it? Still shooting film? Monochrome or colour?

    Me: Avid B&W photographer here, hence spotting the camera immediately. All film, mostly 6x6 and 6x9, with a bit of 135 when travelling. Building up a darkroom again after 25 year absence. Wonderful creative hobby to balance the technical side of my life (career).

    Curious to hear what you're into...

    Best,
    Svend
    Well, the camera in the photo was a Mamiya RB67 in which I mainly used Fuji Acros 100 film that I developed in FX39 solution when it was available. I gave up film based photography back in 2016 when I bought my first ever full frame DSLR. I first dabbled with digital in 2003 but thought it more than a bit of a novelty. Not anymore in 2018. I now get the images I always wanted but sadly not of the artistic quality that silver halides give. Traditional photography gives a quality that I very much doubt digital will ever be able to mimic. Digital is bloody good but in a totally different way, in hi-fi and in imaging.

    Would I ever go back to medium format film based photography..? Of course I bloody would..! Especially if I had the type of property that would sustain it.

  8. #18
    Join Date: Dec 2008

    Location: East Riding of Yorkshire these days

    Posts: 4,779
    I'm Shaun.

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    Mmm... I was once bitten by the Chinese junk, sorry, amplifier technology. I lost over 400 notes in such a purchase and so am seriously wary of doing something like it again. In fact, let me say, having thought about all of your comments here, the good ones and the OK ones, I will not be risking money in the purchase of something so unknown especially when I currently own the finest valve amp I have ever heard which as I am sure you know was built in China like all of the IAG stuff. Thank you all for your comments as they helped a lot.

  9. #19
    Join Date: Dec 2008

    Location: East Riding of Yorkshire these days

    Posts: 4,779
    I'm Shaun.

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    Quote Originally Posted by mikmas View Post
    Post-Brexit they will all be made in the Netherlands ... in a factory next to the Rowntrees' complex.
    LOL, there could be some truth in that

  10. #20
    Join Date: Dec 2008

    Location: East Riding of Yorkshire these days

    Posts: 4,779
    I'm Shaun.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Barry View Post
    There is no doubting the quality of the workmanship. I also wouldn't have any concerns about a third party copying a design that has been placed in the public domain.

    But I suspect it is not a pure Class A design: the quoted specification quotes 60W into both 8Ohm and 4Ohms, whereas of course the power should double if the load impedance is halved. Apart from that, I regard £860 as being quite reasonable for a true dual-mono power amplifier; one which can accept a balanced-line input, and one built to such a high standard.
    Barry, yes indeed, his figures do not make sense. I think it is more likely to be similar to my old Musical Fidelity A100 but this one is clearly dual mono. Then again my old Yarland Pro 200 SE was dual mono and hard wired except of course, it wasn't.

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