• WARNING: Tube/Valve amplifiers use potentially LETHAL HIGH VOLTAGES.
    Building, troubleshooting and testing of these amplifiers should only be
    performed by someone who is thoroughly familiar with
    the safety precautions around high voltages.

McIntosh C22 preamp clone on Aliexpress

R5jCBuy.jpg


Seems interesting, if perhaps only an MC22 in spirit. Casework looks good enough to fit in a modern system. The input selector is relay based, and the tone stack looks accessible to change for custom breakpoint frequencies. I like that its got room for modifications, and that it's entirely tube.


The original MC22 used six tubes - five 12AX7As and one 12AT7, but it also had a phono section which would occupy several of them. I do think there is supposed to be an additional tube for the output after the tone stage.

Brand is BRZHiFi. I'm not familiar with them so I'm looking for input. More pics of the inside:
BRZHIFI AUDIO MC22 tube preamplifier high and low tone control|Amplifier| - AliExpress
 
The schematic shown is for a phono stage, but this appears to be nothing but a line stage, and they forgot to plug in the cable between the I/O board and the main board.

It looks like CN55 resistors in the tube stages which are not a great idea for use as plate loads etc at these voltages.

There are lots of other design issues.

There appears to be a unheatsunk voltage regulator in there as well, likely for filaments and I remember fixing a kit for someone years ago where the claim was the filaments were turning on and off at regular intervals.

No idea what you would be getting if you paid your money and took your chances...
 
I think I meant CMF55 which is one of several current types, perhaps there was a CN55 and it has evaporated into the mists of time or I misremembered. CN is a common resistor array designation as well.

The real concern is that they appear to be 1/4W resistors and may not have an appropriate voltage rating for use in high voltage parts of the circuit.
 
We bought one of those (MC22) and, surprisingly, they're quite decent and fairly good for the price paid, though you must not crank the tone (bass, treble) buttons too far !

We also got a Mark Levinson JC2 preamp clone which is near perfect in terms of sound quality vs price !

We ended up buying from Weiliang Audio who seems to be the main builders behind those little gems and all we received from them was very well packed !

What's important to us is the sound we get comparing with conventional preamps or amps ! We are far from the Yamaha and the Pioneer from this world !
 
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