Affordable Valve Amp?

Hi,
My name is Nelson, i'm new at the forum. ;P
I'm also new in the "Valve/Tube World", so i need some help.

I've Read about some Class A SE, PP, and Class AB, and many more... but i really don't know what's the best for me

I'm thinking on a nice/good integrated stereo valve amp in the range of 350€-1000€ "cheaper the best lol"

Some help will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Nelson Gaspar

 

You definitely want to check out the Chinese imports. Try www.cattylink.com to start you off. They are very trust-worthy, even if their site seems a little dodgy looking! :JPS:

Check out the Cayin (AKA Spark) A-88T amp. I had one of these for a while and if you like the smooth tube sound that also has lots of detail this is a good one for you. I'm not sure if it is listed on their site but if not ask Snowy about it. I think its about US$1,000 so might just be able to fit it in to your budget with shipping.

Ming-Da is also very good if the Cayin is a little expensive. I have a MC-7R pre amp and like it a lot. Kills for the money! Others on here have their integrated amps

 

The Ming-Da M34A is a bit of a giant killer. It makes a lovely noise. I've been running one for nearly 12 months now and have no grumbles. It's much the same as Ican Audio's 40i, which would be another good bet for you if you bought one second hand.

 

Nelson you don't say what speakers you use, or how much power you are looking for.

Also, whether you would look at a self-build kit, or just built up. Second hand or new also?

For NEW (only) I would also go to Cattylink, although I'd favour a different amp if I had 1,000 euro.

Just in your budget (slightly out with p&p) would be the '805 single ended integrated amp shown below.

http://www.mei-xing.com/doce/pro9.htm

The mighty 805 valve can kick out 40w per channel single ended.. which believe me is a shed load.

The 805 valve sounds fantastic (my favourite readily available valve), and getting an 805 amp for the budget you have is really ridiculous, youd normally expect to pay thousands.

The vacuum is so strong in this monster valve, that they will last 5 years plus before you change a set - just 18 months with many valves with similar use.

Thats the new amp I would buy with your budget.

Cheers
Chris

 

How much is that one Chris? I can't find the price anywhere. Looks very good.

 

Hi everyone,
Chris, speakers are my next step, for now i have:

Amp: NAD310
Spk: Tannoy Mercury M1
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The Cayin A-88T seems to be very good, but it looks a little expensive, spending all that money at once is not very easy for me

The MC-7R "Pre-Amp" looks very good, and it's really more easy buying one of these and then one stereo power amp or 2 mono power amps, but it will increase the budget.

the Ming-DA M34A looks promissing and affordable, found this in the web:

MEIXING(MingDa) MC34-A Vacuum Tube Integrated Stereo Power Amplifier with Pre-amplifier
Price: $469.00

The MC805-AA looks surprising but i can't find any price or where to buy...

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Wainting for a little more help

and if i buy the MC-7R, what power amp should i buy and price??? once again nothing very expensive... i'm trying to get severeal options to choose one

Thanks
Nelson Gaspar

 

nelson, mei xing amps are available from cattylink like Tenson was saying.

www.cattylink.com

the 805 integrated is about 900 US dollars, or £550 or 1000 euro.

shipping extra.

they do an even better one, which drives the 805 with a 300b.

 

and add the shanling stp-80 to your list

 

Nelson, I may well be selling my MC-7R in the next month or so if you are interested. I have performed the 'pseudo-shunt' modification to the volume control and have also fitted XLR outputs (unbalanced but still drives XLR power amps) in addition to the RCA ones on the back. I have also changed two of a valves to ElectroHarmonix gold pins.

Make me an offer if you like. Where are you based? Not the UK I take it?

 

Nope, not in UK, i'm near Lisbon, Portugal.

I'm still thinking... lol... and very confuse...

Still, i loved the shanling stp-80 design... but the specs are not so good as others in the same range...

so the main question for now, until no other suggestions...

shanling stp-80
Meixing Ming-DA MC805-AA
Cayin A-88T aka spark
Ming-Da M34A
Other (lol)
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Any preference??? between those what will you choose

Thanks
Nelson Gaspar

 

Hi,

It is a pretty decent Amplifier, I find that it needs some modifications to give the best performance.

Beware of Grey imports though, what most chinese mainland dealers (who in turn supply people like cattilink, who are not dealers authorised by the factory) receive is 220V Gear, based on the local supply voltages in China which tend to be 220V nominal but usually lower than nominal.

A number of Dealers in such grey market units brazenly attach stickers claiming "240V" when shipping to the UK but have actually China mainland standard mains transformers.

Such gear invaribly ends up having too high voltages certainly in the UK and also in other parts of Europe. This together with the tendency of the chinese designers to run valves close to absolute limit ratings (they give more power that way) results in unreasonable valve wear, making such gear often unneccesarily unreliable (in other words the problem as such is neither design nor quality control, but simply use on mains systems that have higher voltages than designed for).

The factory has a warning of their own on their webpages about this:

http://www.shanling.com/index_e.html

I should add that I modify Shanling Gear commercially and am tied in with the UK Distributor (which means I could be interrested in steering people towards official channels and I a, but not for commercial reasons but to reduce hassle), I have the more than occasional e-mail from owners of such grey imports (usually CD/SACD Players) that have gone wrong and who seek first of all warranty service from us (which is polietley declined) then ask if we could fix their equipment for money (which is equally declined as a "fix" usually means replacing the mains transformer AND fixing what went wrong, often a new set of valves and that's apart from anything else too much work) and then either go and sulk or on occasion get stroppy.

So, buy Shanling gear from sources like Cattylink at your own risk and be aware that if any faults develop you need to get them fixed on your own expense of ship the units back to china, non of which will help permanently if the problem is a wrong mains voltage.

As far as Shanling is concerened, I have seen legit 2nd Hand/Dealer Demo Shanling gear which will carry warranty and will be supported by the local distributor at less cost than buy grey imports costs, once you have accounted for the shipping cost, import tax and value added tax on the item.

So, Caveat Emptor....

Ciao T

 

Can I give a very enthusiastic thumbs up for the Eastern Electric amps? I'm running a Minimax pre-power and it is by far the best value amp I've heard in a long time, seeing off several much-more-expensive models (including my old Naim 52/SC/250 setup) and arguably better than the DNM 3B Primus/PA3^S amps I had before that. A lot cheaper, did I mention that?

John

 

3DSonics, you're right about the fakes, etc... i've read a little in the web about that, that's why i'm trying to buy/search one in a store, but in Portugal it's not very easy, too cheap or too expensive, too bad or too good...
And for something expensive like this it's always good listen.

Today i've seen:

Jadis Orchestra Reference (used as new) 1750€ but i could bring it for 1250€
Pathos Classic One (Hybrid) with an amazing range from 2hz to 100khz
and for last Primaluna (Prologue One)

the Jadis looks very nice but expensive, even used it's still a little expensive, the Pathos looks realy amazing but very expensive and the prologue one, it's not ery pretty lol.

[[]]
Nelson Gaspar

 

Just Don't, for heavens sake, buy an "Affordable Valve Comapany" valve amplifier. Lovely amps...Sh1t customer service (avoid like the plague).

 

Gaffer74, what do you suggest?

[[]]
Nelson Gaspar

 

Well I own an AVC amp...they're very nice re:sound, but a PITA to bias and as I mentioned, servicing with the company is a 'mare. They use EL34 valves (great midrange...warm sound).

I also own a PrimaLuna Prologue 2 (in my main system...this one uses KT88 valves -> more dynamic sounding, actually almost like the best of both worlds with the slam/attack of solid state as well as the warm organic sound of classic valves) which sounds absolutely gorgeous. The advantage of PrimaLuna is that they effectively have taken the biggest pain out of vavlve ownership with their adaptive autobias board. I can even use EL34 valves in my amp with no problems. (but you can't put KT88 valves in the prologue 1).
Depending on budget I'd therefore recommend a primaluna prologue 1 (or prologue 2 if you van stretch a bit more). The PrimaaLuna valve amps are also of excellent build quality and internally use point-to-point hardwiring...no printed circuit boards in sight .

Plus, both Absolute Sounds (main distributors) and Guildford Audio (where I got it from) have Excellent customer service

 

You could do a lot worse than the Pathos. I've owned the the classic one (mk 2) for a year now. Its a good all-rounder in my book, with no obvious faults. It just disappears into the background and let's the music come through, adding very little of its own character in the process. Stunning build and utterly gorgeous to look at too, which is a bonus.

Bit worried by 3D's remarks on the chinese transformer issue. I'm currently in the process of investing in some of Ming-da's finest via cattylink/chinese hi-fi. At the prices I'm paying, I'll be amazed if they are genuine 240V transformers.

Still, I'm only willing to pay peanuts, so maybe I should expect monkeys?

DT

 

Just wondering 3D, whether setting these chinese local 220V transformers/amps to 110V and using a step-up to 240V is a workable solution to the problem?

Or would the cost of quality voltage converter and potential signal/music degradation, render this approach futile?

 

I have had a Ming Da pre-amp for the last year and a tad, it has not given any problems regarding voltage. Maybe power amps will have more of an issue with this though.

 

Hi,

You can try. I am not aware of any commercial, CE Approved unit that does that, so you would have to either DIY or get something like a PS Audio Power plant with a custom output configuration.

If you are handy with a soldering iron and fearless of lethal DC voltages it is easy to modify Mainland China Amp's for correct heater and supply voltages (among other things) and maybe adjust them to run a bit more reasonable in terms of maixmum ratings on valves.

That depends, a really high quality main insulation transformer with oversized core and ability to handle some DC (or rather Mains with heavy 2nd HD) with a balanced output at 220V for 245V (245V is deliberate) and perhaps a few taps on the primary side to adjust for time of day voltage variations on the mains could be made and would probably improve the sound, but it would not be a cheap item.

Ciao T