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Entry level tubes amp

greeny

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I have a Topping DX7s for my DT880Pro, HE-4XX, Takstar HF-580,ATx-M50x and SIVGA. Thinking of trying out my first tube amp. Which entry level should I look for? Source is from PC. Budget not more than USD500. Advice highly appreciated.
 

bigbag34

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I had purchased a Jolida FX10 about 8 years ago from music direct as a refurb and I loved it. It powered the inefficient Pioneer BS22’s very nicely. Very full range and warm lush sound. Obviously the BS22’s have a slight dip in the upper frequency but still I think the Jolida contributed to the mild top end, which I throughly enjoyed. Jolida is a cool company, if you call with questions, at least for me 8 years ago, you might speak with the owner. The owner was skilled in utilizing overseas suppliers and I don’t question the reliability one bit.
 

bigbag34

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Oh and the Jolida and any other tube gear I’ve experienced has a hum to it. It didn’t really manifest itself through the BS22’s, but if you’re looking for solid state silence, stay away from tube gear, IMHO.
 

KR500

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I have a Jolida 202 tube integrated Amp I bought 11 years from the US distributor ago that has worked flawlessly for me and has a pleasing sound. Low end authority and pleasing mids and treble . No issues .
The stock tubes were fine but I did upgrade to increase sound reproduction.
I alternated it with a Class A SET tube amp and a solid state for a change but am a satisfied user
 

ZolaIII

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LOXJIE P20 (100$) & play with the tubes, trow stock one's in a trashcan. Use it as a preamp.
 

anmpr1

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If you can swing an x-tra Ben Franklin I'd suggest a kit. You'll have much more fun and pride of ownership building something yourself as oppossed to buying off the shelf. At least that has been my experience. Below links to an example. There might be some kits for five hundred dollars if you look around.

https://www.dynakitparts.com/shop/st-35-kit-120-vac/
 

mhardy6647

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The above-mentioned ST-35 would be a very good choice, IMO.
David Hafler-era's all-round best Dynaco amplifier IMO. PP EL84 so only about 15 watts per channel (Dynaco said "17.5", thus the "35" in "ST-35") -- fine for some of us, but not for everybody.

The other option, if one doesn't mind investing some sweat equity, is to re-hab a nice vintage vacuum tube amplifier. There were oh-so-many good ones. A Fisher X-101, HH Scott 222c or EICO HF81 will put you in a good place -- again, if their relatively low output power works for you.
It is -- IMO/IME -- hard to make a bad sounding amplifier using EL84 power output tubes, be it single-ended or push-pull. :)

Another option, out on the wild frontier, is to acquire and re-hab the power amplifier from an old tube console hifi. These amps tend(ed) to be extremely simple but some of them are still pretty darned good. I am a fan of the old Maggotbox Magnavox console 'hifi' amps... but unfortunately, so are many other folks, so they're not cheap any more. Still, one may stumble across an amp (or whole console) in unexpected
places --- Chance favors the prepared mind, as Louis Pasteur said. :)

Here's one that passed through here years back -- this is a push-pull stereo 6V6 amp from a Magnavox console that has been gently rehabbed and housebroken enough to use as a standalone power amp :) About 10 watts per channel, and almost breathtakingly cheaply/simply designed and built, but these rascals make the most of their modest design and construction (IMO).

P1020244 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
P1020247 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
As Gertrude Stein said, There's no "there" there. ;)

They lend themselves nicely to customization, too. :cool:

Souped up Maggotbox from AA by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

(This pp EL84 Maggotbox amp is not mine, unfortunately)

I would recommend the Bottlehead "Stereomour II" stereo single-ended 2A3 amp kit in an instant except 1) it's too expensive (although on sale at the moment) and 2) at ca. 3 watts per channel, it does limit one's choice of loudspeakers, program material, or "listening geometry" :) I have a pair of the monoblock precursors ("Paramour") -- they were very simple and straightforward (and cheap) kits and sound very good for their profoundly modest complement of components (particularly iron).
www.bottlehead.com

FWIW, these are the Paramours my kids and I built in the late 1990s. This pair, in kit form, was only $500, back then! The trick was using a parallel-feed output topology (where the DC component from the plates of the output tubes is shunted though a choke), allowing a hyper-cheap (!) line matching transformer to be used (backwards!) as the OPT. Not elegant, and the LF rolloff is pretty substantial -- but these little amps sound surprisingly good full range -- and would be superb treble amps for an active crossover, bi-amplified loudspeaker system :)

paramours 112413 by Mark Hardy, on Flickr

There are myriad other kit and semi-kit (i.e., you buy the PC board, stuff it yourself and add transformers, wiring, and enclosure) options -- see, e.g.,
https://diyaudiostore.com/collections/kits

Gratuitous opinion paragraph:
Most of the affordable modern stuff -- strictly IMO, of course -- ain't worth the space it takes up (except as a toy/curiosity).
 
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Celty

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LOXJIE P20 (100$) & play with the tubes, trow stock one's in a trashcan. Use it as a preamp.
Have to agree that the LOXJIE P20 is a heck of a bargain. I replaced the stock Chinese tubes with 6N3P-DR NOS from Russia (the DR is important - the highest spec). I also replaced the power supply (1.5 amps vs. 5 amps).

I now have $92.00 total invested in this little baby (bought the Loxjie P20 used for $60.00). The sound is amazing for something in this entry level, plus you get XLR inputs and outputs! I doubt you will find any better option without spending way way more.
 

anmpr1

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If you can solder, you could do a lot worse than Elekit:
https://www.vkmusic.ca/TU-8100.htm
I have an older model and it puts out a pretty clean square wave. But output transformers are pretty small, and bass response is limited.
I built an Elekit preamp. My complaint was that circuit board components were very closely spaced, making soldering difficult. Also, the RCA connectors were not hard wired in the usual way, making assembly peculiar. It's in the closet now. I built it on a lark. If I was going to go the preamp route I'd probably get an old (or new) PAS chassis and one of the 'up to date' circuit board kits. In fact, that's what I did. But then you are looking at more dollars than the original poster wanted to spend.

http://www.erhard-audio.com/PAS-NG.html

Unfortunately a lot of the old '50s era tube machines are now selling for beaucoup dollars. You used to be able to get them for nothing.

PS: Magnavox picture sure looks retro!
 

JeffS7444

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Loxjie P20 appears to be a hybrid design with opamps driving the headphones (check out customer reviews on Amazon for interior view). Which can be an OK way to deliver a "tube" product without sacrificing too much performance, but is that what the OP wants?
 

Veri

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Loxjie P20 appears to be a hybrid design with opamps driving the headphones (check out customer reviews on Amazon for interior view). Which can be an OK way to deliver a "tube" product without sacrificing too much performance, but is that what the OP wants?
It's basically just solid state at that point, though. Which... isn't such a bad thing, I guess :cool:
 

frogmeat69

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My Little Dot MkIII is a pretty neat amp, works great with high impedence headphones like the Beyerdynamic and Sennheiser brands. It is also compatible with a LOT of tubes, so be careful, or else you will end up in tube rollers Hell, lol.
 

JeffS7444

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More serious DIY enthusiasts might want to check out Pete Millett's projects:
http://pmillett.com/
"Jonokuchi" looks like a very nice all-tube design, provided that the OP's desk is big enough.
 

anmpr1

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Loxjie P20 appears to be a hybrid design with opamps driving the headphones (check out customer reviews on Amazon for interior view). Which can be an OK way to deliver a "tube" product without sacrificing too much performance, but is that what the OP wants?
My 'PAS' phono board uses a JFET (for low noise) followed by tubes. Phono is definitely noisy, so anything you can do to help is helpful. I'm not dogmatic about it. Anything you can build yourself is mostly for the fun factor. Usually not going to be the best of the best. At least at my skill level.
 

mhardy6647

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More serious DIY enthusiasts might want to check out Pete Millett's projects:
http://pmillett.com/
"Jonokuchi" looks like a very nice all-tube design, provided that the OP's desk is big enough.
Pete is top drawer (IMO)... besides sharing his designs rather freely with the great unwashed (i.e., folks like me), he also shared this:

http://www.tubebooks.org/

FWIW, I have built identically one of Pete's designs (actually, I've built it a couple of times) -- I would've built many more but I am both cheap (or poor, depending upon perspective)... and very lazy.

realhifiglows by Mark Hardy, on Flickr
 
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