Valve amp/preamp with tone controls

[Lawrence001]

Watford have got some good value NOS ECC81s for £10 and under. For the 82s buy a pair of these

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153832613624

[ramsden]

Thank you, added to watch list.

[ramsden]

Finally bought the XiangSheng 728A III.
Got it from eBay, seller cybereveryday with feedback over 3000, his name is Honach and is responsive and open. I guess this is later incarnation of original 728A. My requirements were UK 240V, black colour, tone controls and remote control. Although that one wasn’t listed, Honach was able to provide exactly what I wanted. And dispatch it quite quickly. This is just for info about eBay seller from China, as people can be hesitant to buy from unknown sources, so cybereveryday seller is perfectly fine. The preamp came in box with cheaper foam filling, but sufficient to safe transport. The price was $405 which is about £324 plus £32 shipping, in addition customs fee about £16 don’t remember exactly. The remote control is also cheap small with input source selector and volume control. The preamp has digital display showing which input is active, under it two buttons to choose the input from preamp itself. It has bass, middle and treble controls and push button to direct signal. Means nice touch with the extra mid frequency adjustment, unfortunately no balance control. That I didn’t specify anyway, maybe such choice would be available, don’t know.. At the back there are 4 pairs of source inputs and 2 pairs of preamp rca outputs, quite handy.

[ramsden]

Running it about week- two weeks, not sure how many hours, wanted to reach first 100 hours for tubes to open, but even now it is transparent sounding preamp, I have to say I am happy with what I hear.
In the present, the chain is - the source Marantz SA8005, WireWorld Equinox 7 interconnects, XiangSheng preamp, silver (tweeter side) and Oehlbach interconnects to Rotel RMB1066 power amp used in biamp mode to KEF Q500 speakers using QED pure copper Q tube (tweeter side) and Ruby speaker cables. It is musical set up, with enough of details, nice soundstage and balanced sound from top to bottom for my small room. Recommended to try this Chinese preamp.

[ramsden]

Also I didn’t notice any bass or other boost when tone controls disabled, seems the sound has the same signature and strength with tone controls engaged in 0 position as with direct signal path. Slight difference in clarity is there though, that’s what is expected.

[ramsden]

And the last, for now I am happy with it as it is, so no urge to change the valves 😎

[Macca]

Is it this one? https://www.china-hifi-audio.com/en/...1aae453e6bb902

[ramsden]

Basically yes, just noticed mine has model number 728III on front panel instead of 728A. More like on hifi exquis web site:
https://hifi-exquis.com/en/tube-pre-...amplifier.html