Mable Audio vs. Suppo audio sound quality

[imnewbie]

Has anyone bought a ready-made amplifier or kit from Mable audio? I'm cosidering both EL84 and EL34 versions.

I'm considering Suppo Audio EL84 model as well.
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tube...ppo-audios-first-offering-el84-push-pull.html

I've heard good things about Suppo but never heard anything about Mable amps and their sound quality. They both cost about the same. Both sell their EL84 version for around $200 and EL34 version for around $350.

From pictures the build/looks of Mable are better than Suppo audio EL84.

 

[whiterx]

I am not too sure. i am speaking to joe from suppo and he seems good to deal with, though i am looking at the el34 to use to drive my front speakers

 

[OneyedK]

Has anyone bought a ready-made amplifier or kit from Mable audio?

Yup, I've got the 6V6PP kit (version with chinese 6SL7 clone driver tube).
It came wrapped in chinese newspaper, a bag of decent components and really bad tubes.
I cannot comment on sound quality, just did a quick and dirty test to decide that I will not use the 6SL7, at least not the way Mable wanted me to

I can comment on price however, send both Suppo and Mable an email to ask for a price quotation, delivered to your doorstep. You'll be surprised

 

[rhing]

It seems that hi fi goods from China are a mixed bag. There are some products with excellent value and then there are products that look great on the Web, but in reality require a lot of re-work to bring them up to par with other good DIY audio products. There's enough support here at diyAudio to go with more reputable vendors like Elekit, Tubelab, Glassware Audio (John Broskie), Pass DIY, Audio Sector, etc. to build high performance audio components on a budget.

If one wants to build a high quality EL84 amp without a lot of DIY experience, buy one of the Dynakit ST-35 kits from Dynakitparts.com (http://www.dynakitparts.com/store/product.aspx?id=1) or Triode Electronics (http://store.triodestore.com/diy35kit.html).

 

[Palustris]

I agree: you are much better off with a Dynakit ST-35.

 

[gingertube]

I bought a few broken down kits of the EL84/6V6 push pull amp basically to use the chassis and transformers for building a Baby Huey for a friend.
After the build I pulled the Mabel Output trannies and replaced them with Hammond 1608. That provided a reasonable improvement - so there is a guide to the output tranny quality (not as good as a Hammond).
The original Mabel Output Trannies did not go to waste - they sound just lovely in a couple of 6V6 Push Pull Guitar Amps I built latter (one for me, one for another friend).
Hope this is of some help.
Cheers,
Ian

 

[imnewbie]

Compared to Dynakit ST-35, building a Tubelab simple p-p costs $400-500 as well. I wish i could listen to both before pulling the trigger. Is Dynakit easier to build for someone who has never seen a soldering iron in his life?

After spending hours in the suppo thread and brainstorming for a month I'm now positive that suppo and mable are snake oil makers. There are much more decent components are available for a little additional money.


! PEOPLE INTERESTED IN Dynakit JUST SKIP THE FOLLOWING

BTW, I'll never ever will consider or recommend Suppo audio to anyone. I paid them on 10th June,Thursday thinking it'll be shipped by the next Monday or Tuesday since they said they will ship it within two business days...well, the next Wednesday I still was waiting on any email/notification of shipment. So I emailed them and waited...but no answer. I emailed them total 4 times from 13th June to 16th june but no answer at all. Now on Thursday 17th June I lost my patience and emailed them saying that I'll open a dispute on paypal.

Magically, Joe replied saying that the official paypal payment notification email was sent to his spam folder which is why no one knew any order came in.

OK, everything is forgiven.. but when a payment of $205 dollars shows up on your paypal account balance you just know that someone has paid you for an amp, I mean it's no-brainer. He just sat on my payment for a week before refunding. I mean don't fool me that my amp will be shipped under a week. Be clear and transparent.

My point is simple; how can you be so careless operating a business.

 

[kevinkr]

I've found that conversing by email prior to ordering anything is a good way to assure excellent service from overseas vendors. The vendor is aware of your interest and you can alert them to the fact that you are sending money. These small operations are stretched very thin in many cases, and if you factor in time off, holidays, email/paypal snafus it is not too hard to see how the guy at Suppo might be more or less blameless in this regard.

Note also that most of these guys are not native English speakers which adds some level of complexity to the transaction particularly if they are used to mostly doing business in their native tongue.

For anyone committing funds to an overseas transaction you should be quite prepared for the possibility of loosing your money into a small black hole. With paypal you are generally pretty safe in the event a vendor misrepresents the availability of a product or absconds with your money.

Given the fact the whole thing elapsed in less than week, I think you are being a little unfair. I think you will find a lot of vendors here do little better in terms of customer service, and in many cases a lot worse from my experience.

Note - I have not ever been a customer of Suppo Audio and have no affiliation with them. I do purchase items from China and Hong Kong on a pretty regular basis as there as some good deals to be had.

 

[rhing]

Compared to Dynakit ST-35, building a Tubelab simple p-p costs $400-500 as well. I wish i could listen to both before pulling the trigger. Is Dynakit easier to build for someone who has never seen a soldering iron in his life?

Hi imnewbie,

I have not built the Dynakit ST-35 myself, but if you search the Internet forums regarding others' experiences with the kit, the construction appears to be very straightforward. The kits are complete except they do not include the tubes, but you can purchase tubes of your own choice (new production or old stock). I would imagine that assembly would be like following a cookbook recipe. I understand Kevin at Dynakitparts.com provides excellent service and support.

There is good support from fellow diyAudio members for building the Tubelab Simple P-P, but there's still not enough history with enough builders to give a novice a clear understanding of the transformer selections and hook-ups, and you would still have to come up with a custom-built chassis on top of that.

As I have discovered, most EL84-based amps have a similar sound quality, and the subtleties come down to the quality of the transformers, the circuit topolgy (single ended triode or pentode, ultralinear, push-pull, etc.). The Dynakitparts.com ST-35 will give you a classic EL84 amp design and a great introduction to DIY without too much risk of building a boat anchor.

Given the fact the whole thing elapsed in less than week, I think you are being a little unfair. I think you will find a lot of vendors here do little better in terms of customer service, and in many cases a lot worse from my experience.

Note - I have not ever been a customer of Suppo Audio and have no affiliation with them. I do purchase items from China and Hong Kong on a pretty regular basis as there as some good deals to be had.

I wouldn't accuse Joe at Suppo of being a snake oil salesman, but he has to improve his responsiveness if he expects to grow his business. He seems to be very responsive in selling his goods, but goes silent after the purchase. There are good Chinese manufacturers and sellers out there. Most of them seem to be on eBay where they're a bit more accountable via the rating system (although that's not completely fool-proof). As I've said before, it's a mixed bag with Chinese manufacturers/sellers.

I've noticed that there's a new thread on diyAudio regarding EL84 kits:

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tubes-valves/168888-best-el84pp-kit.html

 

[spaudio]

I have to say sorry to imnewbie
I have no attend to keep imnewbie waiting after you paid. I undstand that it is very frustrated when you expect the amp to come but finally end up with refund.....