Tell me about valve equipment

[Mike]

They connect here:

[symon]

Hmm - do you just wrap the speaker wire around the screws?

I would also be interested in views on whether this would be a good buy for a person who has never owned any valve equipment before. I know these have been recommended above, but further views would be appreciated, especially on this specific amp.

[Spectral Morn]

Hmm - do you just wrap the speaker wire around the screws?

Yes or you could fit some small spade connectors to the bare wire....being careful for them not to touch the case of the amplifier.

I would also be interested in views on whether this would be a good buy for a person who has never owned any valve equipment before. I know these have been recommended above, but further views would be appreciated, especially on this specific amp.

The problem with vintage amplifiers is that parts may need replacing in them...resistors and capacitors can and do go off over time and in the worst cases can cause serious faults to occur, damage to speakers or even fires can happen. I have not heard the Cadet so I can't really comment on how good or bad they are but the main weakness in vintage kit is the pre-amplifier sections (this being an integrated it has one built in) they are usually coloured and lack transparency...not an issue if you are happy with a warm and cuddly sound. The other problem I can foresee with the Cadet is its low power. This means it will most likely struggle to drive a lot of modern speakers to loud volumes, I would imagine.

What speakers do you have, what size of room is it you have and what kind of music do you like ?

Vintage power amplifiers such as those from Leak would be better, having an excellent level of sound quality for their age. However again the power may also be an issue. You can match a modern pre-amplifier to a Leak power amp and get much better sound quality for your money.

The problem with this is that the price of vintage kit keeps going up in many cases IMHO the prices being asked are ridiculous (the Cadet being a good example at £50 fair enough but not £185) for the level of sound quality.

I am sorry to rain on your parade a bit but there are issues.

[symon]

Neil, no need to apologise. You have answered my question in much better ways than I asked it.
Your opinion of the value is very useful.

I will come back again with a more detailed response to the questions you have asked.

[Spectral Morn]

Neil, no need to apologise. You have answered my question in much better ways than I asked it.
Your opinion of the value is very useful.

I will come back again with a more detailed response to the questions you have asked.

No problem Symon

I was about to type some more but just wanted to see again what every one else has been saying.

The main problem with valve amplifiers is the power VS cost thing. It is cheaper to get more power with solid state (than it is with valves)and that does not mean poor quality sound. However I am a firm advocate of valve amplifiers if they are matched correctly to the system/room and music they will be used with.

Valve amplification has a quality to it that most (there are some that come close) solid state amplification can't match. There is a naturalness to it, reality of tone and a real three dimensional sound scape. Solid state IMHO just doesn't quite get there in all these areas. However if the speakers you use need power(as my Anthony Gallo's do need lots of power. I needed at least 75 watts, and for me this meant an expensive valve amplifier), you will need to look at a valve amplifier design that uses EL34/Kt88/kt66/5881/6550 (types of valves). These tend to be the valves that 25 to 50 watt valve amplifiers use. I like the sound of the first 4 but not so much the 6550.

Best value for money.... I would go for the Pure Sound A30 (Marco mentioned this amp earlier), Icon Audio stereo 40 or one of the Prima Luna amplifiers. These outside of the cheap and not so cheerful Chinese brigade (as many are a pile of crap as has also been stated) are the main contenders, for in and around £1000 ish (unless you can pick up an ex-demo or S/H one). For my money I think the A30 is the best but it only has 3 inputs and no tape output. You can improve it by changing to better 6SN7 valves, than the ones it come with. Having played about quite a bit with 6SN7's the ones I would recommend would more than likely be Tung-sol new reissues (however I need to know the answers to my questions to be sure of this).

Its to easy to present you with too much info and confuse the issue.

Some more questions.

How much of a budget do you have ?

Are you happy to tweak/modify or get some one to do this for you?

Do you want a warranty and piece of mind ?


Regards D S D L

[Steve Toy]

Best value for money.... I would go for the Pure Sound A30

The Puresound A30 can also be modified by our resident valve expert Anthony who can turn it into an AOS-specced beast of an amp. This is what I use.

[DSJR]

The Cadet III sells for silly money today, although I bought mine from the original owner in 1975 for £15, which would equate to around £100 now I suspect. Neil's right though, another 35 years under its belt and gawd knows how many bodgers later and it could be severely worn out and in need of fettling.

What ever's wrong with now vintage Crofty stuff? A Series V with Micro could be had for around £500 I think and it'll be new enough to enjoy now and not so expensive that Glenn himself couldn't work some further magic on it for not an unreasonable sum.

Regarding spade terminals - I think that Maplin do some small ones and things come up on ebay too for not much. Much better than wrapping wire round the screws...

[Ali Tait]

While those amps may well be good VFM,IMHO the best value would be a (second-hand) WAD KEL84.You can pick one up for 200-250 or so.A very sweet and musical amp,giving 15 watts per channel from push-pull EL84's.Well known as a bit of a giant-killer.Don't think you can beat it as an introduction to valve amps,and indeed many never move on from it.

[Spectral Morn]

The Cadet III sells for silly money today, although I bought mine from the original owner in 1975 for £15, which would equate to around £100 now I suspect. Neil's right though, another 35 years under its belt and gawd knows how many bodgers later and it could be severely worn out and in need of fettling.

More than likely either way. Not everything vintage is good.

What ever's wrong with now vintage Crofty stuff? A Series V with Micro could be had for around £500 I think and it'll be new enough to enjoy now and not so expensive that Glenn himself couldn't work some further magic on it for not an unreasonable sum.

Nothing....but the early Croft stuff while having good sonics,was a bit flaky in the build quality stakes (not now I might add). Also my knowledge of Glenn's more recent work is not very good. I prefer to stick with talking about kit I know and have heard.

I think the biggest problem with Symon's question, is he has so far not given us a lot of info to go on...hence my questions. Also he may not want to embark on the soldering Iron road or get something that has to be TLC'd all the time to keep it going. Symon may just be an ordinary music lover who wants a safe high quality entry into valves. The type of product that will give him years of enjoyment, or launch him into a longterm passion for building/modifying kit....at the moment...I don't know....over to you Symon.

We need more information


Regards D S D L

[Spectral Morn]

While those amps may well be good VFM,IMHO the best value would be a (second-hand) WAD KEL84.You can pick one up for 200-250 or so.A very sweet and musical amp,giving 15 watts per channel from push-pull EL84's.Well known as a bit of a giant-killer.Don't think you can beat it as an introduction to valve amps,and indeed many never move on from it.

Unfortunately not knowing what Symons speakers are this amp may not work with his speakers....despite it being good with others and having a great reputation(I have never heard or seen one in the flesh)


Regards D S D L