Which Amp is the one for me????

Samantha · Post by **Samantha** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 10:51 pm

Good plan.

As for finding the limit ...... yep, but do bear in mind that my speakers are nothing like as sensitive as those usually recommended to go with valves (or indeed your speakers).

And yep, I do realise the amp wasn't feeling too good ...... this winter seems like everyone got it.

Paul Barker · Post by **Paul Barker** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 8:43 am

Strummer wrote: I've had PrimaLuna & Icon Audio amps here, which I'm sure had KT88 (I'll check) & were rated at 25ish Watts, which sounded nice, but had no grunt at all. I've got a 10W SET here now, which seems to have plenty. Not sure what the valves are, but I'm told they're from a TV.

The tv valves likely to be pl519 or pl509 if its uk

Funnily my original suggested remains my suggestion for you ppp el34 two pairs of valves per channel.

A good 300b push pull is a rare thing. Greg has one. A beginner is very unlikely to achieve it and certainly it isn't available within budget from China.

The el34 is a valve with character the 6550 is void of and kt88 amps have difficulty achieving. No doubt simulations would predict it is inferior, but it is a pro musitians valve for a reason.

Set yourself free from the thought that an amp has to be perfectly linear and amplify faithfully what is presented to it, because such an amp will not satisfy me and eventually you will learn it is a desert experience. Consider your amp as a tone control, now search out the tone you prefer.

Dave the bass · Post by **Dave the bass** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 10:33 am

If you can manage to get your Tannoys to one of the 'fests' I could bring my WD88VA which is a Kit-based PP KT88 amp, see how it works for you? I'm told its a good example of a PP amp, I swap between it and 2 little DIY SE amps.

Unfortunatley I'm darn sarf just outside Lundun so it kind of rules out 'popping' in!

DTB

pre65 · Post by **pre65** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 10:50 am

Hi-if you were in,or near,the Dartford-Bedford-Haverhill triangle there would be a good selection of amps for you to try !

Dave the bass · Post by **Dave the bass** » Thu Jan 03, 2008 10:52 am

pre65 wrote:Hi-if you were in,or near,the Dartford-Bedford-Haverhill triangle there would be a good selection of amps for you to try !

Yeah, but he'd never be seen again, weird things go on in that area!

DTB

Tony Moore · Post by **Tony Moore** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 10:25 am

Hi Ian,

I'm in the Chester area with a WAD Kit6550, I could bring it over for a demo at some convenient point if you were interested. My amp is a "heavily" modified version of the old WAD kit, built in 2002 and upgraded many times. It now sports Sowter output transformers, Blackgate WKz psu caps, Dynamicap coupling caps and other components of (arguably!

) superior performance.

It _may_ give you an idea of what the power delivery and tone of 6550 PP sounds like through your speakers. I imagine (although I've not tried A/B listening tests) that the WD88 amp is probably superior to mine but I suspect the differences would be reasonably subtle and at least you'd be able to get a general feel for the valve.

btw, I'm not in any way associated with WAD or WD, just a happy customer. I built my own amp(s) from their kits in the last few years and have been very satisfied. I know many others who started on WAD (and now WD) and have moved up into stratch building and that would probably have been the way I would've gone too except for getting distracted by other things in life. So now I just listen to the results of the last few years of DIYing and enjoy the music! Oh, and of course, when I can, I get to the meetups and see what others are working on and catch up with all the good people on this BB over a pint or two!

Best wishes,
Tony

Strummer · Post by **Strummer** » Fri Jan 04, 2008 9:01 pm

Thanks for all the comments guys.

I will be over at Nick's tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to the education & the sonic bliss

Tony, that's a fantastic offer. You are welcome here anytime. I would love to hear what that thing does with my Tannoys.

Ian

Neal · Post by **Neal** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:40 pm

steve s wrote:i would suggest ian if you live in the north, to come to one of our meets

but please bring your present kit.. you will be able to do some stright a/bs and possibly try a few amps on your speakers...
without your kit you will never really compare..

but we are quite a helpfull bunch
and even more so face to face

i hope to be arranging a 'meet' 15 minutes drive from the a1/m62 junction around march or early april time..

all welcome..

i will have a date by mid january all being well..

steve
steve

This is good news, thanks Steve, I've spent too long a time out of all this, need some inspiration and motivation to get going again....

Neal · Post by **Neal** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:43 pm

Nick wrote: Biggest thing is the speaker efficiency though. SteveS can pin you to the wall with a watt and a prodigy CD

Are you sure it was that much! LOL

Strummer · Post by **Strummer** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 7:37 pm

Well I've aquired this wee beastie

http://www.lampizator.eu/AMPLIFIERS/CHINA/MrLiung.html

Even in it's original state it sounds absolutely WONDERFUL! I love it. It sounds so much better than any amp I've ever had.

To think I spent the last 10 oe so years trying to find an amp which sounded like a Valve amp

Oh dear, the path should have been clear really

Now the fun starts. Getting the mods done. New Caps & things. Finding the best Valves.

andrew Ivimey · Post by **andrew Ivimey** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 10:40 pm

I'd really like to hear it and I'm really glad you like it.

It looks dead good admittedly but right at the end of the website posting it says'... better than the angle? - not really'

Is this a reference to the Music Angle 845SE, I wonder. In my experience this was a crappy and actually dangerous amplifier.

Strummer · Post by **Strummer** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 11:22 pm

andrew Ivimey wrote:I'd really like to hear it and I'm really glad you like it.

It looks dead good admittedly but right at the end of the website posting it says'... better than the angle? - not really'

Is this a reference to the Music Angle 845SE, I wonder. In my experience this was a crappy and actually dangerous amplifier.

Well if you're ever up in the North West Andrew, you're very welcome.

Yes, I think it's worth having these things checked over for safety (which this has). Yes, if you look at the Lampizator site he does rave about the Music Angel 845, but only after mods.

I'm talking to Nick about getting mine improved. It's only the trip to Halifax & the thought of going back to SS for a week that's keeping me back

richardcooper2k · Post by **richardcooper2k** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 1:30 am

hey that lampizator guy's crossed steves and nicks speakers ! look at his designs !

would a beresford dac be a good candidate for lampization ?

interesting site, the antithesis of smoke and mirrors audio and acsesible to those of us with limited understanding of the more technical bits

now where's that spell check ?

Strummer · Post by **Strummer** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 7:49 am

richardcooper2k wrote: would a beresford dac be a good candidate for lampization ?

He recommends this one :

http://cgi.ebay.pl/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... IBSA:PL:11

Here's the same thing on a single chip.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/24bit-192KHz-HI-F ... dZViewItem

He reckons this chip is good enough without a Tube output, but even better with.
Here's the article :
http://www.lampizator.eu/LAMPIZATOR/LA ... zator.html

al newall · Post by **al newall** » Fri Jan 11, 2008 10:44 pm

I've got one of these dacs on the way.
Cheap enough to take a chance on i think.
The Lampizator turned out to cheap, effective and educational.
So i'm prepared to trust Mr Fikus judgement on DAC chips.

Much to learn there is.

audio-talk

Which Amp is the one for me????

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