Having only recently been the parent of a teenage boy, and further back than that (ie over 40yrs ago), being one myself - there are lots of other reasons for parents to want to evict the culprits, but thankfully few ever resort to more extreme measures.
But I definitely agree on the power issue - to paraphrase some famous guy (PWK) "what the world needs is a good 5 watt amp" - and those power levels are much easier to accomplish with tubes than say 100 or more. Of course Paul was the manufacturer of high efficiency folded corner horn of over 100db sensitivity - there are few such systems around today, and relatively few rooms that could accommodate them.
Paul in his old age was more or less deaf - not because of his horns, but from never using ear protection when shooting muzzle loader shotguns.And Chris - I never had offspring of my own, but a teenie having adopted me who was the greatest Barry Manilow fan in all of Europe...thanks.
Last edited:
i'll say it again. The EL34 Yaqin is a better amp than the KT88. Quite possibly due to the smaller amp having one less stage and better sounding input tubes (6N1P). Construction is quite different.
On the EL34, the 1st mods one does is to damp the transformer cans. The next: The EL34 is composed of a number of boards and daugher boards. These are typically connected together with mechanical connections. The mod is to turn the mechanical connections with soldered connections & remove daughter boards completely. An example is the volume control. The pot (all by itself) is mounted on a little PCB, with a set of mechanical connectors. This is connected to the input board via a cable to another mechanical connector. The no-cost mod is to remove the pot from the pcb, and solder the wires directly to the input board. The higher cost mod is to put in a higher quality pot.
Without adding some buffer circuits, there is no real take-off point for outputs.
dave
On the EL34, the 1st mods one does is to damp the transformer cans. The next: The EL34 is composed of a number of boards and daugher boards. These are typically connected together with mechanical connections. The mod is to turn the mechanical connections with soldered connections & remove daughter boards completely. An example is the volume control. The pot (all by itself) is mounted on a little PCB, with a set of mechanical connectors. This is connected to the input board via a cable to another mechanical connector. The no-cost mod is to remove the pot from the pcb, and solder the wires directly to the input board. The higher cost mod is to put in a higher quality pot.
Without adding some buffer circuits, there is no real take-off point for outputs.
dave
I'd suggest 20-40W. A PP EL34 happens to be ~20W in triode & 40W in pentode or UL.
dave
Niklas, you still there son, or are the grumbling gramps starting to sound a bit like Senator Cranky McCain?
EL34 in triode P/P would be more than plenty for the EL70. I preferred mine (Jolida 302B in this case) without feedback and could tolerate the slightly higher noise level. Indeed, as my wife will attest, it's amazing the level of noise threshold (i.e. a spouse's chatter) to which one can adjust in the cause of self preservation.
EL34 in triode P/P would be more than plenty for the EL70. I preferred mine (Jolida 302B in this case) without feedback and could tolerate the slightly higher noise level. Indeed, as my wife will attest, it's amazing the level of noise threshold (i.e. a spouse's chatter) to which one can adjust in the cause of self preservation.
First we take Manhattan...
Oh, i didn't get any e-mail about new replies to the thread :S
Well, i've found a Music Angel XD 500 MKIII amplifier for 7000:- (yes it's a lot!) on a swedish site. It is EL34 based.
20WPC in triode and 40WPC in pentode sounds like a good thing.
Regarding the Music Angel amp it feels like i could just buy a Yaqin and mod it. I could probably find somebody wanting to do it (if i can't) for a small cost.
1 tube watt is as loud as 5 transistor watts... I remember me and some other guys had a discussion about this on a swedish forum. I think the reason why one tube watt sounds louder is because of distorsion. A tube amp has some other type of distorsion. A transistor amp has nasty distorsion and when pushed past its limits it starts to distort the sound incredibly much. A tube amp can be pushed much further before starting to sound really bad. And distorted sound sounds louder than undistorted sound.
I have a Marshall Lead 12 5005 guitar amplifier at home. I don't know if it's tube-based but it is 12W and can make my deaf no doubt. It can even be used in small concerts and live gigs!
I'm still in the mountains with limited internet access. But when i get home tomorrow i will take a look at all the different EL34 based amps and see exactly what mods has to be done with each amp and what the mods are about. I think the EL34 amps are a little cheaper than the KT88-based Yaqin MC-100B, right? In that case it's just better since i can spend money on other stuff or some more expensive mods like a new potentiometer (i guess they're around 100-150 swedish kronor)?
By the way, is it possible to have a remote control for a tube amp? I guess not...
Well, the Emotiva XDA-1 DAC/Pre-amp has one and the DAC is supposed to be really good and the pre-amp should be too. So, maybe a XDA-1 DAC with an EL34 based tube amp?
And then hook up the digital EQ just for the subs. And in that case i can put the XO after the XDA-1 pre-amp/dac so i wont need any output on the tube amplifier. And i guess the XDA-1 can be bought for around 2000-2500 swedish kronor or something.
Well, i'll take a look at that when i get home tomorrow night.
Anyways i want to thank you very very much for all the help you're giving me. I know i'm not an easy boy to help out but i want to make sure i get the most bang for the buck and learn as much as possible on the way. I wish i could send you all a box of chocolate or something
Well, i've found a Music Angel XD 500 MKIII amplifier for 7000:- (yes it's a lot!) on a swedish site. It is EL34 based.
20WPC in triode and 40WPC in pentode sounds like a good thing.
Regarding the Music Angel amp it feels like i could just buy a Yaqin and mod it. I could probably find somebody wanting to do it (if i can't) for a small cost.
1 tube watt is as loud as 5 transistor watts... I remember me and some other guys had a discussion about this on a swedish forum. I think the reason why one tube watt sounds louder is because of distorsion. A tube amp has some other type of distorsion. A transistor amp has nasty distorsion and when pushed past its limits it starts to distort the sound incredibly much. A tube amp can be pushed much further before starting to sound really bad. And distorted sound sounds louder than undistorted sound.
I have a Marshall Lead 12 5005 guitar amplifier at home. I don't know if it's tube-based but it is 12W and can make my deaf no doubt. It can even be used in small concerts and live gigs!
I'm still in the mountains with limited internet access. But when i get home tomorrow i will take a look at all the different EL34 based amps and see exactly what mods has to be done with each amp and what the mods are about. I think the EL34 amps are a little cheaper than the KT88-based Yaqin MC-100B, right? In that case it's just better since i can spend money on other stuff or some more expensive mods like a new potentiometer (i guess they're around 100-150 swedish kronor)?
By the way, is it possible to have a remote control for a tube amp? I guess not...
Well, the Emotiva XDA-1 DAC/Pre-amp has one and the DAC is supposed to be really good and the pre-amp should be too. So, maybe a XDA-1 DAC with an EL34 based tube amp?
And then hook up the digital EQ just for the subs. And in that case i can put the XO after the XDA-1 pre-amp/dac so i wont need any output on the tube amplifier. And i guess the XDA-1 can be bought for around 2000-2500 swedish kronor or something.
Well, i'll take a look at that when i get home tomorrow night.
Anyways i want to thank you very very much for all the help you're giving me. I know i'm not an easy boy to help out but i want to make sure i get the most bang for the buck and learn as much as possible on the way. I wish i could send you all a box of chocolate or something
Forget remote control. Your money buys you a remote (if it works on American frequencies it might open your neighbour´s garage door), an electric motor that turns the knob and a very cheap attenuator.
Postage from Denmark to Sweden might be affordable - if you want to go "best or nothing", look at DACT and find yourself a girlfriend you can tell to turn the music louder.
Postage from Denmark to Sweden might be affordable - if you want to go "best or nothing", look at DACT and find yourself a girlfriend you can tell to turn the music louder.
Haha
Well. The guy with the Music Angel EL34 amp said he was interested to swap it for my HK3490+cash. He has announced it for 7000kr, and my amp can sell for 3500-4000.. I'm not sure if i really want to pay that much. How big is the difference between this Music Angel amp and the Yaqins that are on eBay?
I think i will have Emotiva XDA-1 as preamp/dac. It's really much bang for the buck. It's a DAC, Pre-Amp and gives me a remote control to adjust volume.
Edit: He said my HK amp +1000kr for his Music Angel XD 500 MKIII tube amp. Is that a good deal? That would be 4500-5000kr for me...
How much better is the Music Angel than the Yaqin EL34 amps? Do i have to mod the Music Angel?
Well. The guy with the Music Angel EL34 amp said he was interested to swap it for my HK3490+cash. He has announced it for 7000kr, and my amp can sell for 3500-4000.. I'm not sure if i really want to pay that much. How big is the difference between this Music Angel amp and the Yaqins that are on eBay?
I think i will have Emotiva XDA-1 as preamp/dac. It's really much bang for the buck. It's a DAC, Pre-Amp and gives me a remote control to adjust volume.
Edit: He said my HK amp +1000kr for his Music Angel XD 500 MKIII tube amp. Is that a good deal? That would be 4500-5000kr for me...
How much better is the Music Angel than the Yaqin EL34 amps? Do i have to mod the Music Angel?
Last edited:
Okay, the Yaqin MC-10L (EL34 tubes) costs around 360$ + 80$ for extremely slow shipping.
That's 440, then add 110 for the swedish Moms and some other for toll and such.
So i guess i'll end up at 4500 swedish crones. I can get around 3500-4000 for selling my current amp so the Yaqin MC-10L costs around as much as the Music Angel amp does.
So, how much better is the Music Angel compared to the Yaqin? Is many of the mods already done with the Music Angel?
Edit: I spoke with my friend i told you about. He said directly i should get the Music Angel as long as it was in a good condition. What do you think?
That's 440, then add 110 for the swedish Moms and some other for toll and such.
So i guess i'll end up at 4500 swedish crones. I can get around 3500-4000 for selling my current amp so the Yaqin MC-10L costs around as much as the Music Angel amp does.
So, how much better is the Music Angel compared to the Yaqin? Is many of the mods already done with the Music Angel?
Edit: I spoke with my friend i told you about. He said directly i should get the Music Angel as long as it was in a good condition. What do you think?
Last edited:
Well, i can't quality check it since it's around 370km away. I might be able to go there with train some weekend, but still...
The owner said he had owned it for two years. It has been playing around 150-200 hours. He hooked it up today one his Klipsch speakers and noticed that one of the tubes in the back "pulsated" a little slower then the others (they pulsated with the music he said).
That's the picture of it, so it's one of the EL34 tubes pulsating a little slower than the rest?
By the way, i didn't find much info about it on the web when googling the name. Is it a quite uncommon amplifier?
The tubes are EL34B x 4, 6N9P x 1, 6E2 x 2, 6N1 x 2 if you didn't know that already
The owner said he had owned it for two years. It has been playing around 150-200 hours. He hooked it up today one his Klipsch speakers and noticed that one of the tubes in the back "pulsated" a little slower then the others (they pulsated with the music he said).
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
That's the picture of it, so it's one of the EL34 tubes pulsating a little slower than the rest?
By the way, i didn't find much info about it on the web when googling the name. Is it a quite uncommon amplifier?
The tubes are EL34B x 4, 6N9P x 1, 6E2 x 2, 6N1 x 2 if you didn't know that already
I just realised how much my subwoofer destroyes the music (everything but rock).
Played some acoustic music for dad, and i tried to turn the subwoofer off and removing the HP-filter and it was MUCH better. The bass is good and deep enough for pretty much any acoustic music.
And i couldn't stop thinking of something like the Chubby Tower with 4 EL70 per speaker. I guess that wouldn't need a subwoofer even for heavy metal, hehe
Played some acoustic music for dad, and i tried to turn the subwoofer off and removing the HP-filter and it was MUCH better. The bass is good and deep enough for pretty much any acoustic music.
And i couldn't stop thinking of something like the Chubby Tower with 4 EL70 per speaker. I guess that wouldn't need a subwoofer even for heavy metal, hehe
My friend, less is more when done right. Look at a Scandinavian girl wherever you see her, and at a movie queenie whose boobs are bigger but all silicone.
Haha, you're so right