Croft Phono Integrated

[southall-1998]

I've never seen, such neatness and simplicity of layout inside an amp before!

This Croft integrated. This particular one having a MM stage, sells for 1k new.

How many valves does this amp employ? What are the valves? Is this amp auto-bias?

I can't search the above bits on Google. My internet is behaving a bit odd today.

Ta.

S.

[hifi_dave]

Don't worry about technicalities, just buy one. You won't regret it.

It's a hybrid, so no worries about bias and replacing expensive tubes.

[rubber duck]

Shane, didn't you use to have Croft 25 Basic?

[southall-1998]

Shane, didn't you use to have Croft 25 Basic?

You mean the very one I sold to you :)

S.

[rubber duck]

That's the one! You should have kept it and just got a Series 7 power amp! That's a great combination.

[southall-1998]

Have you tube rolled the 25 Basic?

S.

[rubber duck]

Only to try to reduce the gain into the Series 7. In the end I sent it to Glenn for some mods and it's now super quiet (no hiss) into sensitive speakers. Glenn's a value-for-money sort of guy and doesn't think tube rolling is worth the money. I can subscribe to that as I do to his no frills designs.

[orbscure]

Hi Shane... when I had my 25 Basic, with the help of members here, I tinkered with swapping the tubes and had a Brimar Yellow T in place of one of the tubes it was originally supplied with. There are quite a few threads here on AoS which deal with tube rolling Croft pre-amps, but I don't have the time to hunt and link them at present.. and here is an image showing its internal gubbins of my example before I sold it :)

http://i589.photobucket.com/albums/ss333/LEMB/Hi-Fi/2015-03-08%2011.50.41_zpslhfsznef.jpg

[southall-1998]

I can understand the value-for-money demeanor from Glen.

I'm just wondering. Does the integrated use ECC83 tubes? Just a simple question I'm asking.

S.

[orbscure]

My example came with 2 x SOVTEK 12AX7LPS valves and 1 x 1 x GE JAN5965 and the latter was replaced with BRIMAR 6060 Yellow T...

[Firebottle]

Yes it does, as does the 25 and 25R. 12AX7 = ECC83

:)

[Canetoad]

I have a Micro 25R and have Tungsram ECC83 in phono (2) and line (1). The other 2 are Harma Retros. I found the Tungsrams have a smoother, still detailed sound compared to the JJs originally fitted. Far less fatiguing. They are also very quiet and soundstage very well.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_FiPeJotjqpw/S8pJHynW92I/AAAAAAAAAL0/cGBrpDeT8m0/s320/tungsrams+005.JPG

[Smegger68]

The 12AX7's will be for the phono stage.

The line driver can be lots of things - I think it's a 12AX7 on current models but early examples also used a 5965. I am using a JAN Philips 5751 in mine which drops the gain a little and sounds great :) Interesting that you can use a 12AT7 as well.

[Ninanina]

I had, on loan, the Croft integrated line only amp, and to be honest I was completely underwhelmed by it... I know Croft has a very loyal following and I did once own a Vitale pre amp which was superb, but the integrated left me completely cold

I compared it to a low priced ss integrated and it fell well short performance wise...

However I still have a soft spot for Glenn's products... ;)