Valve experiences (1976 to 1987) The golden years? Err no, not necessarily!

[jandl100]

Hi again, complin.

I see that I failed to answer your question about what would be a better valve amp than the 509/II. Well. I'm happy to take Marco's word about his Yaqin amp.

For myself, I own a pair of Chinese OTL monoblock valve amps that unambiguously and in no uncertain manner blow my excellent Krell KSA50 out of the water in terms of sound quality (presence, palpability, focus, 3D imaging, detail, resolution etc) when driving an easy speaker load. I am totally confident that they would wreak havoc in comparison to the 509/II.
Here they are ... pretty, huh?

[Togil]

Jerry,

what models are they ?

[StanleyB]

Jeez Jerry, do the lights dim when you switch those things on? Nice winter warmers.

[jandl100]

Jeez Jerry, do the lights dim when you switch those things on? Nice winter warmers.

Err, yes, actually.

I'm careful to leave a few seconds before switching on the second one!

& yup, they put out a lot of heat - mind you so does my class A Krell KSA50!
... I'm hoping for a cool summer.

[jandl100]

Jerry,

what models are they ?

They are made by a small specialist form in Hong Kong called "Musician". The amp is simply called "Tube Amplifier" !!

They are very nicely made - I bought them on eBay and and once the seller had the power supply rebuilt to banish hum problems, they have sounded simply fabulous - superb with my Quad 57s and my old ProAc Future Point 5s. But being OTLs they don't like low impedance loads, though - with my old Thiel CS2.3 (a notoriously difficult 4 ohm load) they topped out at anything above moderate sound levels.

[Complin]

They are made by a small specialist form in Hong Kong called "Musician". The amp is simply called "Tube Amplifier" !!

They are very nicely made - I bought them on eBay and and once the seller had the power supply rebuilt to banish hum problems, they have sounded simply fabulous - superb with my Quad 57s and my old ProAc Future Point 5s. But being OTLs they don't like low impedance loads, though - with my old Thiel CS2.3 (a notoriously difficult 4 ohm load) they topped out at anything above moderate sound levels.

Thanks I have tried several Chinese amps and to frank found then to be absolute c**p. Prone to hum, poor build quality and components and in one case electrically unsafe!! Given the topology of the one you like have you ever tried atama sphere? http://www.atma-sphere.com/ they have always specialised in OTLs?

[jandl100]

I must admit that I have only had positive experiences with Chinese valve amps .... a Ming Da MC34-A integrated and a Consonance M100 Plus - a 300B integrated. The latter being one of the very few components I regret selling on - a wonderful amp. And now my OTLs. Yup, 3 out of 3 positive Chinese amp experiences!

No, I've not tried Atma Sphere - I've read about them in Stereophile and TAS, though .... long rows of power tubes! Weigh a ton and cost a lot of ££££. I'm happy enough with my Chinese OTLs at a small fraction of the cost.

[Marco]

Thanks I have tried several Chinese amps and to frank found then to be absolute c**p. Prone to hum, poor build quality and components and in one case electrically unsafe!!

I'm not disputing your experiences, especially the last bit, but in the interests of balance can I ask what Chinese valve amps you've tried?

I've heard and used quite a few, including the one I'm currently using, and sonically they've all been superb - far better than examples from so called 'hi-end' manufacturers.

Marco.

[Complin]

I'm not disputing your experiences, especially the last bit, but in the interests of balance can I ask what Chinese valve amps you've tried?

I've heard and used quite a few, including the one I'm currently using, and sonically they've all been superb - far better than examples from so called 'hi-end' manufacturers.

Marco.

Yes examples i've tried are Music Angel, Cayin and Audioromy to name but three.
The only one I found quite good was the Antique Sound Lab

[Marco]

I've never tried any of those so can't comment, but I'm sure you're right.

However, I wouldn't make sweeping statements about Chinese valve amps being "crap", as if they all were, as just as many examples (or more) can be given of very good ones other people and I have used

I could go on about, for example, the crap valve amps from Unison Research, Graaf, Audio Research, McIntosh, Conrad Johnson, amongst others, I've heard over the years from these so called respected 'hi-end' manufacturers and some of the rip off prices being charged for no more than mediocre sound quality!

It's just like anything else in hi-fi, there are good and bad examples of everything. However, in my experience the Chinese get right far more than they do wrong - and they learn quickly from their mistakes.

Marco.