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    Building, troubleshooting and testing of these amplifiers should only be
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Ebay KT88

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A

Agi

Member
Joined 2008
Ok as search comes up dead like everytime (possibly due to name changes), i decided to give you guys an ask...
I currently have this amp:
MENG 6P1 6AQ5 x4 Push-Pull Valve Integrated Tube Amp bk on eBay (end time 04-Jan-10 07:18:00 GMT)

I have done no modifications to it at all. I'm very impressed with it, however I feel I could do with some more power, with 50%+ volume my current input (PC via soundcard ,yuck, i know, i'll soon have a DAC to run spdif out of my PC, then convert right next to the amp into analogue) clips, (well starts to distort) visibly with an oscilloscope.
However this isn't loud enough really, so i've been looking at this...

MA XDSE YC-808MK KT88 Integrated Vaccum Tube Amplifier on eBay (end time 05-Jan-10 23:29:08 GMT)

For £250 it looks great!
I know it's nothing on what some of you guys make, but what do you think? I'm enjoying the sound of my current valve amp over anything I have heard to date... So do you think this will live up to similar expectations but provide more grunt?

Does anyone have one and wish to pass comment?

Thanks in advance.
 
kevinkr

kevinkr

Administrator
Joined 2004
kta-hifi.net
Paid Member
Try a search on Music Angel here, I am pretty sure this brand has been discussed in the past.

Expect to have to do some significant work on it at that price to make it long term reliable and safe.. (That low, low price seems too good to be true - IMO even in China good amplifiers cost some money to make.) QC may leave something to be desired.

Caveat Emptor the Romans used to say, and I'd say that applies here.

Recommend searching before posting - here is a recent and relevant thread in so far as the brand is concerned (not the same model): http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tubes-valves/59070-my-experience-music-angel-el34-pp.html
 
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tomchr

tomchr

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Joined 2009
neurochrome.com
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The "specs" say 10 W. With reasonably efficient speakers that should be plenty to go loud. Assuming you aren't trying to fill a packed Wembley Stadium with loudness or rock your house off its foundation. I'm in the process of wrapping up the mechanical design of a tube amp that delivers 4.5~5 W before clipping and with my 87 dB/W*m speakers it's quite loud.

There have been several threads on the Music Angel amplifiers on this forum within the past couple of months. In one case, I recall someone drawing the schematic of one and realizing something was a little odd. I think he corrected a wiring error, removed a couple of components and made the amp sound quite good.

~Tom
 
A

Agi

Member
Joined 2008
kevinkr said:
Try a search on Music Angel here, I am pretty sure this brand has been discussed in the past.

Expect to have to do some significant work on it at that price to make it long term reliable and safe.. (That low, low price seems too good to be true - IMO even in China good amplifiers cost some money to make.) QC may leave something to be desired.

Caveat Emptor the Romans used to say, and I'd say that applies here.

Recommend searching before posting - here is a recent and relevant thread in so far as the brand is concerned (not the same model): http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tubes-valves/59070-my-experience-music-angel-el34-pp.html
Click to expand...

I did do a search as I said in the above post....
However nothing for the KT88 came up.
So I decided to post something up...
It does include everything though.

The 10w spec is what I currently have, which I think is overrated before clip tbh.
So I was looking at more power.
 
R

rotaspec

Member
Joined 2007
agithegreat said:
Ok as search comes up dead like everytime (possibly due to name changes), i decided to give you guys an ask...
I currently have this amp:
MENG 6P1 6AQ5 x4 Push-Pull Valve Integrated Tube Amp bk on eBay (end time 04-Jan-10 07:18:00 GMT)

I have done no modifications to it at all. I'm very impressed with it, however I feel I could do with some more power, with 50%+ volume my current input (PC via soundcard ,yuck, i know, i'll soon have a DAC to run spdif out of my PC, then convert right next to the amp into analogue) clips, (well starts to distort) visibly with an oscilloscope.
Does anyone have one and wish to pass comment?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

I own one of the little Meng Yue 6P1 amps (mine has the styling of the bigger 6P14 but not the tubes).
Feeding it either from the computer or CD player, it plays fairly loud even into some inefficient 8 ohm speakers. At 50% on the control it does (or did, see below) clip audibly, but the volume level was to the point you would have at a boozy party :D

I have since rebuilt the circuit following Ian444's design (see the Mengyue schematic thread), which has dropped the gain a little but made it a lot cleaner sounding.

Also, remember the decibel math ratios: To double the perceived volume with the same speaker efficiency, you need 10 times the power. In this case you would need to look for an amp that starts to clip at 100w/ch, and I think that rules out all Chinese tube amps.

The alternative is to put the 250 pounds toward a more efficient set of speakers.

Gary
 
J

jrenkin

Member
Joined 2007
It could still be a great little project. Look at the mods in the links in this post, buy the amp, pull it apart and rebuild with point to point wiring, upgraded parts and all and you have a good beginner project. You could even start the rebuild on a bread board and try several possible circuit modifications. Probably more educational than a pcb kit build and you don't need to worry about the chassis.
 
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