Spielbergo, I didn't mean to be sarcastic
, you have my apology. I was fortunate enough that I haven't bought any over-priced Chinese amps in the pass 10 years.I purchased 3 power amps, one preamps from China. The oldest one went out of order because Power Trans' 6.3V filament burns out and became open circuit. I didn't bother to fix 'coz getting another one seems easy enough to solve my problem. I listened some Music Angel amps in local show room, not very impressive to me. So I got another factory's EL34 PP in pentode mode. Later on I was tempted to purchase an inexpensive 300b SE amp too. Their quality are okay for the money I spent. Should I have more budget in the beginning, I would have chosen a better one.
Just my 2 cents
Not offended in the least Sulcorebutia, your very gracious apology is not necessary. I usually tend to favor quality over quantity but being poor has a way of forcing you into doing some silly things. I'm also considering kits (rubs eyes), I just don't have tons of spare time or energy to sling solder in the evening, with output and power trafo's, kits and DIY seem to get pretty costly fast. I think we have all had DIY projects in the past that have become so cumbersome and costly it made you sick to think that the commercially available equivalent would have been cheaper, 1/1000 the agony and worse of all more effective!!
Any decent kits out there?!
. I usually tend to favor quality over quantity but being poor has a way of forcing you into doing some silly things. I'm also considering kits (rubs eyes), I just don't have tons of spare time or energy to sling solder in the evening, with output and power trafo's, kits and DIY seem to get pretty costly fast. I think we have all had DIY projects in the past that have become so cumbersome and costly it made you sick to think that the commercially available equivalent would have been cheaper, 1/1000 the agony and worse of all more effective!!Any decent kits out there?!
Soldering and putting together a kit is not that timeconsuming, what I find timeconsuming is making a nice looking chassis.
If I was going to get a complete kit then the Dynaco ST-35 comes to mind as being nice. If making a chassis / enclosure and enjoying sourcing parts is your cup of tea then take a look at tubelab's "simple SE".
happy listening,
AM
I will pitch my vote in for the simple SE as well. I have had a lot of fun building this amplifier. Sounds even better when done
That's for sure... (making a decent looking wood chassis).
Stock metal block chassis are blan, but finding or having to make a really nice wood one is another problem all in itself.
I will pitch my vote in for the simple SE as well. I have had a lot of fun building this amplifier. Sounds even better when done
How much did it cost to build yours? Im looking to get a 7-10watt unit that i can switch between 4 ohm and 8 ohm. Im looking for something that cost under $200 to complete since this will be my first tube amp. Im in the usa if that helps with cost calcs.
If not can you recomend an ebay amp in that setup?
I don't think you are going to get anywhere near 200 bucks for a Simple SE, especially if its your first project and you have to buy all the tools/stuff like I did.
For your budget and your requirements I'd seriously consider the Suppo Audio EL84 based amp that I referenced above (and in other threads). Some decent (and cheap) mods are already popping up here so you can do some tweaking if that's your cup of tea. It does 8-10 WPC, has 4 and 8 ohm taps and can be had for your asking price.
In the under $200 range, DIY is going to be tough.
I thought that amp was out of production. Seems no one in the forums have heard from them in a month. So what would be a normal budget for a simple se and would it be worth it over a $200 suppo with alittle mods. Looks like the output transformers for the se are $40 a pair for 70hz and $80 a pair for 40hz.
I don't believe they are out of production; someone said they spoke to someone there a couple of days ago.
As for Simple SE, check the Tubelab forum for specifics and recs, but if you're starting from nothing, i.e. you have to buy trannies, tubes, chassis, all parts, and tools to build the thing, I don't think you'll be able to do it for less than $400. Obviously if you have some of that stuff already you could do it cheaper. I don't know if you're new to DIY (I am) and I know that my original price estimate got away from me very quickly on my Simple SE and I ended up spending quite a bit.
If you've got the money and want to try building the entire thing the Simple SE is great (I just built one). If your budget is tighter, the Suppo would be a great choice.
Go to DIY AUDIO PROJECTS - Do-It-Yourself Hi-Fi for Audiophiles and click on tube projects. There are several projects related to the S5 Electronics tube kits. There is not one with the K16LS yet but there are several others that are sold by them featured.
I bought one of the Sweet Peach FU/GU-50 amps in eBay about a week ago for $270 shipped. I'll post impressions and pix when it arrives.
If you figure that the shipping is around $150, which is about what the China Post website calculates. Then this amp is one hell of a deal. I spent almost $500 on building my own SimpleSE. This Sweet Peach cost less than the transformers for the SimpleSE!!
If you figure that the shipping is around $150, which is about what the China Post website calculates. Then this amp is one hell of a deal. I spent almost $500 on building my own SimpleSE. This Sweet Peach cost less than the transformers for the SimpleSE!!
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
Check out the equipment at Pacific Valve.
I bought a DAC 60 Modified from them awhile back and am very happy with it.
Good price/performance ratio, and also nice build quality in the piece I purchased from them.
I would definitely buy from them again.
Pacific Valve & Electric Company Home Page
I bought a DAC 60 Modified from them awhile back and am very happy with it.
Good price/performance ratio, and also nice build quality in the piece I purchased from them.
I would definitely buy from them again.
Pacific Valve & Electric Company Home Page
Thats interesting, I ended up pulling the trigger on the Sweet Peach as well. Probably the most un-sexy tube amp out there but an incredible price once you factor in the shipping. If I plug it in and it kills me, then proceeds to burn down the house it would still be a good deal. Its been about a week or so since HLLY claims to have shipped it but the traking site doesn't seem to work . If this thing makes it here in one piece and actually works then the acetone is coming out and the huge "Sweet Peach" silk screening is getting scrubbed off.
. If this thing makes it here in one piece and actually works then the acetone is coming out and the huge "Sweet Peach" silk screening is getting scrubbed off.The Sweet Peach came in yesterday, box is really rough but the peach is unbruised. Plugged in some B200 speakers and it made music. Touching the chassis did not result in death and there were no problems for the following 6 hours. The good news is it has tons of power for my 14"x20" living room, it only has 13w single ended but it lathers my Trends Ta10 amp for raw power. In a nutshell, with just a few hours on it the Peach sounds very good, the Trends will have to move into the closet as it is easily outclassed in every way, honest. I now see why there are such devout tube enthusiasts out there, the imaging and stereo separation is like nothing I have ever experienced at home and the tonality is wonderful. I have some soviet tubes to install so we shall see if it improves things at all, so far so good.
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