!Bargain Alert!

[Mr Kipling]

Friday I got some FANTASTIC sounding in-ear phones for £4.33! They are AWESOME!

The items in question are Aiwa's HP-V151 headphones. The immediate thing for me was the balanced sound. I've tried quite a few over the years and I always come back to a pair that came with a Sharp mini disc player. They have a clarity others I've tried simply didn't have. The problem with then is their curtailed bass and a tad inefficient. But I've stuck with them for years. Various Sony ones tried had more in the way of bass - but it was always exaggerated.

Back in the '80s Alvin Gold reviewed Aiwa's HP-V99 earphones - he was impressed. After his Stax Lambdas, they were a particular favourite. They were either £50 or £75 which at that time was a lot of money for "earphones".

Now and again I've looked for a pair (was going to try here but didn't think there was much point) but had no luck and it seems they are sought-after now. Looking on the 'net I was led to the 151s. They had the bass pipe feature of the '99s so I thought I'd have a look and found them at a crazy price on Ebay. The postage of £6 from the USA was more than the 'phones themselves. Found they were 14 year old stock and had a large 16 mm driver with OFC lead and originally cost $50.

They took 2 weeks to arrive, and I've been grinning like a loon ever since. Probably the best headphones I've ever had. If I'd known how good they were I would have bought more than one pair as the additional postage is just $2 per item. Just bought a pair for my sister and a pair for spare.

The other great thing about them is the way they throw-up images. Just been listening to The George Baker Selection's "Little Green Bag" and my head was a mass of images! Crazy man! Crazy!

[Mr Kipling]

Fancy a valve amp kit for £84?

6W + 6W Single-Ended 6P3P with 5Z2P rectifier and choke power supply.

Ready built add $60 (£37)
Air Delivery $85 (£53)
Surface Delivery $35 (£22)

Sounds mad! The only trouble the mains input is 220V. I emailed asking if 240V was available but have had no reply. A few other kits including a EL34 and FU50. Also has some promotions like 2 FU50s and 2 FU25s for $5. Some "freebies".

http://www.siliconray.com

Still grinning like an idiot with the Aiwa headphones.

Great for binaural.

[southall-1998]

Interesting!

[PLINIUS]

Fancy a valve amp kit for £84?

6W + 6W Single-Ended 6P3P with 5Z2P rectifier and choke power supply.

Ready built add $60 (£37)
Air Delivery $85 (£53)
Surface Delivery $35 (£22)

Sounds mad! The only trouble the mains input is 220V. I emailed asking if 240V was available but have had no reply. A few other kits including a EL34 and FU50. Also has some promotions like 2 FU50s and 2 FU25s for $5. Some "freebies".

http://www.siliconray.com

Still grinning like an idiot with the Aiwa headphones.

Great for binaural.

Thanks Stephen, have put a friend on to this. He is looking to build his first valve amp.

[Mr Kipling]

It's on Ebay for £150 ready built 110908915197

[Audio Al]

Hope they are good

I just ordered the last pair

[Audio Al]

My pair arrived this morning

Not had time to try them out yet but will do later today

[Audio Al]

Just listened to 2 Adele tracks on my ipod nano ,

wow very nice sound reproduction

Thanks for the heads up

[Mr Kipling]

Hi Al,

Glad they work for you.

They sound great with both my Nokia mobile and Archos media player. Tried them with my Sony 725 DVD player and have to say I was a tad disappointed. I did just try the one disc (Bruce Springsteen) and left it at that.

The last time I looked the seller had some more.

[Reid Malenfant]

Fancy a valve amp kit for £84?

6W + 6W Single-Ended 6P3P with 5Z2P rectifier and choke power supply.

Ready built add $60 (£37)
Air Delivery $85 (£53)
Surface Delivery $35 (£22)

Sounds mad! The only trouble the mains input is 220V. I emailed asking if 240V was available but have had no reply. A few other kits including a EL34 and FU50. Also has some promotions like 2 FU50s and 2 FU25s for $5. Some "freebies".

http://www.siliconray.com

Still grinning like an idiot with the Aiwa headphones.

Great for binaural.

220V isn't a problem as long as you use a bucking transformer to power the thing. Effectively you step down the UK mains voltage from about 240V to 220V, all you'd need is a transformer with a 20V AC output which can supply enough current.

If the amp draws 1A at 220V (highly unlikely given the low power output) then a 20VA transformer would be fine (20V AC @ 1A).