One thing you do get with a cheap Chinese amp that you won't with many other kits is a chassis. Perhaps the original poster doesn't want to deal with building a chassis?
Otherwise I agree. For that money you can do better with a Tubelab kit. If you are willing to spend more and want more power, consider some of the Dynaclone kits out there. They also come with a chassis and all the (much higher quality) iron.
Wish I could. The chances of me running into a DIY audio enthusiast in Las Vegas with a pair of Seas Thor speakers to audition is, well, nil.
Also, I pretty much have to start with the amp. I have a pair of Clarkes ready to go. (They're good speakers. They're not great speakers.) I have the turntable ready to go. The room is ready to go. The LPs are ready to go.
But my solid state amp is driving my home theater system, and isn't going to move since I have it set up the way I want it. So the missing link is an amplifier.
Wow, that is a really detailed post! I'm seeing 89dB for the sensitivity of those TLs. I'm guessing your Clarks are in the same ballpark or maybe even less. You go on to say that you have a big room with tall ceilings. It seems like you really want to fill the room with sound. In my personal opinion, it sounds to me like you are going to need a PP amp of some sort with at least 30WPC, but probably more.
Most of the PP kits you'll find are lower power models using the EL84. I don't know if you'll get the effect you are looking for with 16WPC. Not too many turn-key kits out there that make big power. The ones that come to my mind are the various Dynaclone kits, which are very good and upgradeable. An ST70 will give you 35WPC and a Mark II or III will give you 60. Maybe others will have other ideas.
The other option is to look at a more sensitive speaker. Just my two cents.
Probably a bad choice of adjectives on my part. The room is 5 meters by 6 meters with 5 meter high ceilings. So it's not all that big. (But it is quite nice.)
The Clarkes sound pretty good in this room -- so my understanding is the TLs will sound much better -- cleaner bass and much cleaner mids. The highs will probably be about the same.
Under no circumstances will I be "cranking the system to 11." I'm much more interested in fidelity than volume.
I've been looking at the S5 Electronics K-16LS Stereo kit, because of the ability to drop in a pre-amp (this will likely be a phono-only system).
- Status
- Not open for further replies.