valve amp

[Pieoftheday]

hi all, come the new year id like to try a valve amp, ive been looking at a yaqin ms34d at £399 plus postage,are these chinese jobbies any good or would i be better off saving a bit longer and getting something 'better'? cheers jim

[PaulStewart]

hi all, come the new year id like to try a valve amp, ive been looking at a yaqin ms34d at £399 plus postage,are these chinese jobbies any good"?

Meh! They're OK if you get the voltage right, not 220v of which there are many but in my opinion they rarely come up to the build or sound quality of UK or US made valve kit. The very least most need is the cheap chinese glass replacing.

"would i be better off saving a bit longer and getting something 'better'? cheers jim

Yep, fraid so,why not look for some good second hand gear, there re some classics out there and if you look for less popular models that don't attract a premium you can get some gems

Paul S

[Ali Tait]

Buy this if you can, great amp to start you off down the madness that is the valve road-

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HI-FI-WORLD-KT88-INTEGRATED-AMPLIFIER-EXCELLENT-CONDITION-/181281537117?pt=UK_AudioTVElectronics_HomeAudioHiF i_Amplifiers&hash=item2a3538bc5d

Failing that, have a hunt around for a WAD KEL84, great little amp also.

[Reffc]

+1 to both Paul and Ali's posts above

My advice in general is that few good valve amps come out of China, albeit there are exceptions, but none at your budget I'm afraid. The terms "cheap Chinese valve amp" and "hi-fidelity" are usually mutually exclusive ;). Avoid all 220V amps unless you want your driver valves run at too high a voltage as well as other issues (not least of which could be saturated power transformers). If you want a foray into the valve sound, a used Leak Stereo 20 can be had for a little over what you spec'd (I've seen fully restored Stereo 20's for around £600) or a used Audio Innovations 500 or similar. I'd have either of those over any bling-looking cheap Chinese import.

[Pieoftheday]

Buy this if you can, great amp to start you off down the madness that is the valve road-

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HI-FI-WORLD-KT88-INTEGRATED-AMPLIFIER-EXCELLENT-CONDITION-/181281537117?pt=UK_AudioTVElectronics_HomeAudioHiF i_Amplifiers&hash=item2a3538bc5d

Failing that, have a hunt around for a WAD KEL84, great little amp also.
thanks for the advice , id probably bid on that but dont have the funds before xmas,bugger!

[Tarzan]

Can only echo the posts l myself brought an unmodded Music Angel KT88, for not much money and the sound quality was not great, sold it on pretty darn quick and before it went southside.

[walpurgis]

The Ming Da (Meixing) amplifiers are well built and sound very good. Ditto for the gorgeous classically styled Raphaelite electronics. I own examples of both makes.

[daytona600]

Last demo model left - Over a £1000 new


http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?26580-FS-300b-Monoblocks-SET&highlight=vp-300b

[Dauntless]

Buy this if you can, great amp to start you off down the madness that is the valve road-

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/HI-FI-WORLD-KT88-INTEGRATED-AMPLIFIER-EXCELLENT-CONDITION-/181281537117?pt=UK_AudioTVElectronics_HomeAudioHiF i_Amplifiers&hash=item2a3538bc5d

Failing that, have a hunt around for a WAD KEL84, great little amp also.

Pretty sure this is the same as the Hi-Fi World amp that I had. I may have even seen this particular amp when down at Icon Audio. My particular amp was made by Hi-Fi World themselves. It is a kit amp and fitted with PCB's for ease of build if it is the same one. Mine was fitted with 6550 valves rather than KT88's but they told me I could use either. I had trouble with mine and someone who knows more about Valve amps than me offered to repair it. He also had another of the same model which had the same problem as mine. Hi-Fi World discontinued my model soon after I bought it and replaced it with a hard wired model so the ventilation was better. I would take the advice of people on this forum. Don't try and do valves on the cheap. I got my fingers burned!

[Ali Tait]

Last demo model left - Over a £1000 new


http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?26580-FS-300b-Monoblocks-SET&highlight=vp-300b

This is a decent sounding amp, I've heard it. Bargain at that price IMHO, and a good intro into valves.

[Dauntless]

Yes, mine sounded good, until one channel started to get noisy:steam:

[Ali Tait]

Did you get it sorted?

[Dauntless]

No I didn't! The guy never delivered either mine or the other guy's. He gave me a Korato KTA100 in exchange so I wasn't out of pocket! He was a distributor for them at the time. It turned out there was a fault on the Korato but Colin at Chevron Audio fixed it quite easily. Anyway, that was the end of my valve career and I have used solid state ever since.

[Ali Tait]

Shame. Little beats a good valve amp IMHO. Must say, I've had quite a few valve amps through my hands, kits, secondhand and new, some Kits I've built myself. Never had any real problems. Only real failure was as secondhand Chinese jobbie - the mains trannie let go - and that was the end of that. Lasted several years before it did though, and it was secondhand when I bought it.

If you really want a good valve amp, save yer pennies and ask Nick to build you one.

[Pieoftheday]

Shame. Little beats a good valve amp IMHO. Must say, I've had quite a few valve amps through my hands, kits, secondhand and new, some Kits I've built myself. Never had any real problems. Only real failure was as secondhand Chinese jobbie - the mains trannie let go - and that was the end of that. Lasted several years before it did though, and it was secondhand when I bought it.

If you really want a good valve amp, save yer pennies and ask Nick to build you one.

thanks for all the advice fellas, ive gone and ordered me sen a bushmaster mk2 now:) so ill have to save up even more , or maybe i wont feel the need, thanks again, HAPPY CHRISTMAS ALL :christmas: