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Hi-Fi valve amps

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andrew breckill 20 May 2020

Always fancied one, after looking at the wiring to this one: 

cannot post link doh.

Its a reisong branded amp, It seems similar to other designs I have seen for much more money. Prolly not surprising really knowing Chinese copyright laws, going to give it a go although I am not a hair-shirt HI-Fi geek as such am very interested in the sound. I have always been put off by price of US and UK designs (think thousands ££££) Once I get used to it I might look at replacing some of the obviously cheaper parts. My Speakers are 90db sensitivity so should be able to be driven to sufficient volume.

Post edited at 12:57
 dread-i 20 May 2020
In reply to andrew breckill:

What do you want it to do?

Bit of a silly question, but the reason to buy a valve amp is because it distorts. They also look pretty, make the room warmer and produce a unique smell, as dust heats up.

Tube amps produce even harmonic distortion (2f, 4f etc) and tranny amps odd distortion (1f, 3f etc). People like the sound, as it sounds warmer. There is some evidence that it smooths out the sound of digital sources. (Rounds the edges of a stepped square wave.) However, if you are after pure accuracy, a tranny amp is more accurate with less distortion, lower noise floor etc.

The other thing to consider is that the technology is tried and tested. Valve amps have been around for a century or so. There is not much innovation, just a better version of what went before. It also gives you to opportunity to change the valves, if you wanted to change the sound. The EL34's are used in guitar amps, and so a ready market of 3rd party valves is available. It takes 30s to change a valve.   

I note from a quick search on amazon that there is a Nobsound valve amp. I wonder if that is an unfortunate translation.

Post edited at 14:16
 David Riley 20 May 2020
In reply to dread-i:

I thought the main advantage was better dynamic range leading to lower distortion of transients ?

 GrahamD 20 May 2020
In reply to David Riley:

> I thought the main advantage was better dynamic range leading to lower distortion of transients ?

There is no advantage in valves over modern MOSFET amplifiers if you are out for pure signal handling capability.

Valves are used because they look nice and retro and because some people like the particular distortion they produce.

 Timmd 20 May 2020
In reply to andrew breckill:

To possibly add an element of confusion into things, I bought a Musical Fidelity X10d pre-amp second hand from Richer Sounds, which has a couple of valves in it, and found that it added a certain warmth to my Marantz set up (with an old NAD amp and some JPW speakers), and improved things generally.

It's been discontinued, but copies of the circuit boards themselves with the valves on are available from ebay to buy from Hong Kong and China. 

I find it 'muddies' things just slightly now I've got a Rega CD player and amp, and some Spendor speakers, but I can attest to the warm pleasantness of valves. Different higher cost value set ups may not have muddied things slightly with my current set up. I would think lots of demoing to find the nicest set up for your budget might be the most helpful thing to do.

https://www.stereophile.com/tubepreamps/873/index.html

Edit: This is the thing, I may have confused tubes with valves, but either way, it's what one can buy the internals for from ebay.

Edit2: Ah, you're taking a punt online, if your set up is reasonably budget (no slur intended) it might be just the thing to make things nicer if not technically precise, and pleasure is where it's at in the end.

Edit3: Hong Kong might be the place to buy them, or carefully looking into reviews of the ones from China, I gather there can be culture of taking shortcuts in certain circumstances with products in China.

Post edited at 15:07
 David Riley 20 May 2020
In reply to GrahamD:

I suspect that's true.  Mosfet, because they have a linear transfer characteristic more like valves than bipolar transistors.  Although a cheap valve amplifier may be better than a cheap transistor amplifier. Certainly true in the past, but the DJ didn't get electrocuted.

Post edited at 14:59
 David Riley 20 May 2020
In reply to Timmd:

Tube is American for valve.

 Timmd 20 May 2020
In reply to David Riley: Aha, thanks.

 David Riley 20 May 2020
In reply to Timmd:

It is annoying that my EU customers want me to use antenna instead of aerial. So they know what to order.

 Timmd 20 May 2020
In reply to andrew breckill:

If you put this into ebay, you can find the X10D board minus the values which was produced by Musical Fidelity, for £36 plus shipping, it's nicely contained within a clear plastic stand and just needs the values putting in, this Hong Kong seller gets great reviews. xulingmrs

1set ECC88/6922/6DJ8 6N11 tube buffer preamp for MUSICAL FIDELITY X10d PCB kits

Edit: It's just out of my own interest that I post this to be honest, I think it's cool that it's continuing as a product.

Let us know how the amp turns out. 

Post edited at 15:36
 Timmd 20 May 2020
In reply to David Riley: 

> It is annoying that my EU customers want me to use antenna instead of aerial. So they know what to order.

Put a picture of a little alien with antenna up?

Post edited at 15:41
andrew breckill 20 May 2020
In reply to andrew breckill:

Yeah, its the nice harmonic distortion i am after. my last hi-fi amp was the first gen arcam fmj. sadly long gone, listening through a yamaha 1030 cinema amp at the moment, so a nice relaxing sound is all that i require.

 wercat 20 May 2020
In reply to Timmd:

pronounced Toob, short for Electron Toob, Vacuum Toob or Thermionic Toob depending on which expression you most like the sound of ...

With "aluminum" front panel

Post edited at 17:28
 wercat 20 May 2020
In reply to Timmd:

do aliens wear Tena things?

 Timmd 20 May 2020
In reply to wercat:

They deposit diamonds instead.

Edit: I obviously should have written valves rather than values in my post about how to find the X10d copy on ebay.

Post edited at 18:17
 J101 20 May 2020
In reply to andrew breckill:

I've got an Icon Audio valve integrated, you'll notice 2 things moving to Valves:

Your electric bill will definitely be going up and the other is you won't need the radiator in that room any more (hint don't put it in a rack or cabinet with low clearance!)


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