Yaqin MC-84L Tube Stereo Amplifier Review

[Blumlein 88]

It is the 21st century. Why tubes? WHY?? I'm willing to live and let live, but if you choose tubes it ain't about better fidelity. It ain't even about much more than some personal statement about you.

 

[KMM]

New company achievement: First from the end!

No it is the last winner, you know......

 

[jayapple]

Here are more detailed pictures.
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It does look very fancy, but if you make it by hand you should only cost half the price.



In addition, there are many products, they seem to have their own design style, large luminous light bulbs, seem to be very attractive.

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These shiny amplifiers are very large, and the main cost should be transformers and light bulbs, but the price is ridiculously high.

I've always wondered where these pipes are still made, since the Soviet Union has collapsed and China's antique factories have long since been demolished and closed. I don't think GE makes this stuff anymore.

I even saw on the Internet that a pair of tubes in the United States sell for more than $2000, can anyone introduce the magic of these tubes?

Some of them should be copied by some small workshops in China, and I have to say that these bulbs look very attractive!

There's a lot of pipes here worth a lot of money. A tube AMP needs a lot of light bulbs, so the cost is high.
Of course, there are also very cheap small light bulbs.

 

[johny_2000]

I've always wondered where these pipes are still made

I assume you mean vacuum tubes. As of the end of October 2024, there are still three countries in the world that produce vacuum tubes: Russia, China, Slovakia. Most new vacuum tubes are produced in one of their factories. But you have to keep in mind that there were tons of vacuum tubes produced between the 1950s and 1980s in factories around the world that are still considered New-Old-Stock.

P.S. Basically, factories producing vacuum tubes continue to operate today for the needs of the military market. Many vacuum tubes are still used in the designs of the past, and they are still in demand. Did you know that vacuum tubes are the only semiconductors that are immune to nuclear radiation?

 

[jayapple]

I assume you mean vacuum tubes. As of the end of October 2024, there are still three countries in the world that produce vacuum tubes: Russia, China, Slovakia. Most new vacuum tubes are produced in one of their factories. But you have to keep in mind that there were tons of vacuum tubes produced between the 1950s and 1980s in factories around the world that are still considered New-Old-Stock.

P.S. Basically, factories producing vacuum tubes continue to operate today for the needs of the military market. Many vacuum tubes are still used in the designs of the past, and they are still in demand. Did you know that vacuum tubes are the only semiconductors that are immune to nuclear radiation?

So that's it. I know that we have a few factories in China producing, and there are indeed many online sales of goods from the former Soviet Union.

 

[pma]

Did you know that vacuum tubes are the only semiconductors that are immune to nuclear radiation?

Vacuum tubes = semiconductors? That’s a good joke.

 

[antcollinet]

Depends on my mood. Sometimes I like it black, sometimes I like it with some half-and-half, sometimes I like more sugar, sometimes I like none. If I am going to adulterate it, I want to do it with the amount of my choosing, at the moment. Not fixed for me by someone else whose taste probably has not much correlation with mine.

Further - the amount of sugar you want in your coffee is probably different from the amount you want in your tea. Or in your wine. Or on your steak.

 

[antcollinet]

It is the 21st century. Why tubes? WHY?? I'm willing to live and let live, but if you choose tubes it ain't about better fidelity. It ain't even about much more than some personal statement about you.

Dunno - motivations can be all sorts. If I were to buy one** it would be for the asethetics of old tech. A bit like owning a Jaguar E-type. Totally impractical, nothing like the comfort or performance of even a modern Ford Focus, but boy is it beautiful.


**I'd like to, but not wiling to pay the price of entry just for the aesthetic. A bit like that Jag.

 

[JSmith]

the needs of the military market

Many of which for radar systems contain small amounts of radioactive material;

Radioactive Electronic Tubes - PhysicsOpenLab

There are some electronic tubes that contain small quantities of radioactive materials to enhance th

physicsopenlab.org

JSmith

 

[pma]

However, we are speaking about audio. Not about military communications, not about radars, not about radiation immunity. And, the shock wave immunity would not be great, I guess.

 

[DanielT]

Dunno - motivations can be all sorts. If I were to buy one** it would be for the asethetics of old tech. A bit like owning a Jaguar E-type. Totally impractical, nothing like the comfort or performance of even a modern Ford Focus, but boy is it beautiful.


**I'd like to, but not wiling to pay the price of entry just for the aesthetic. A bit like that Jag.

Of course, I don't know if you want tubes as a hobby, but let's say you're thinking about it.
You can always bet on a safe card. It can't be that difficult to figure out a reasonable price for a used let say Dynaco ST-70. I mean you can buy and sell ( if you feel like it) a ST-70 for more or less the same money.

IF you have the knowledge, interest and the time for old tube amps, that is. As a Jaguar E-type. Owners of such are servicing, repairing and making sure they are in good condition. You may also need to do that with a Dynaco ST-70. Not by a long shot as much work as with a Jaguar E-type.Not as expensive either. BUT, if you have an interest, it might be just as fun to tinker with?
Besides you might be as part of those who have classic vintage cars as a hobby who find the most fun in getting them in really good condition. Then driving with them is of secondary importance. It is of course perfectly fine, you can do what you want with your hobby.

I took Dynaco ST-70 as an example because it is so common but there are probably other brands, models of tube amps that are just as common and well known in the UK that you can choose.

Speaking of hobbies.#145 in the thread. That designer doesn't really like tube amps. He thinks they are obsolete, so solid state constructions are his thing, these:

Sybarite Audio

Sybarite Audio. 494 likes. Electronics

www.facebook.com

...but he saw a challenge in creating a power tube amp with good performance. A hobby as good as any.

 

[SIY]

Why tubes? WHY?? I'm willing to live and let live, but if you choose tubes it ain't about better fidelity.

No, it's not- but it can be good enough fidelity. In my case, it's for a non-audible esthetic and I freely admit it rather than rationalize some mythical "tube sound."

 

[Bob from Florida]

However, we are speaking about audio. Not about military communications, not about radars, not about radiation immunity. And, the shock wave immunity would not be great, I guess.

EMP immunity is the military advantage. Audio advantage in case of EMP would be limited. You would need the following; all tube preamp - including tube phono, tube power amp, a belt drive turntable with an AC motor, a gas generator(not an inverter style but old school spinning at your mains frequency) and speakers. Then you could enjoy some tunes until you run out of gas or die from radiation exposure.
How's that for irony - vinyl enthusiasts with truly old school tube electronics (tube rectifiers required) - could die "happy" in case of nuclear war.

 

[mhardy6647]

Voted GREAT.

Yes, an amplifier tested hereabouts and placed
at the very bottom of the ranking is simply
a must have.

Play your music via a Yaqin MC-84L Stereo Tube amplifier and then vía a couple of Topping B100, granting stereo, and ask your friends...

You raise a valid point. Collectors fall all over themselves to secure the best.
Savvy collectors curate the worst.

I am sure there's someone with a garage full of pristine Yugos, e.g.

 

[early rejecter]

How much distortion or noise do you think the mastering engineer wants you to add?

I can’t imagine they’d want me to add any. But that’s entirely outside the scope of the post you’ve quoted, so not sure what you’re trying to get at by asking.

 

[mhardy6647]

Haven't you heard the audiophile term: "tube watts"? It's a magical rating based on how loud it "sounds".

Tube Watts -- James' younger, feister, and altogether less successful sibling. He even added the s to the family name to distance himself from his far more famous brother.

 

[Ajax]

I can’t imagine they’d want me to add any. But that’s entirely outside the scope of the post you’ve quoted, so not sure what you’re trying to get at by asking.

Most likely I've misinterpreted your meaning. If so apologies.

 

[GXAlan]

I assume you mean vacuum tubes. As of the end of October 2024, there are still three countries in the world that produce vacuum tubes: Russia, China, Slovakia.

Don’t forget Western Electric in the USA.

So that's it.

One Man’s Quest to Revive the Great American Vacuum Tube

The prized retro audio components are mostly manufactured in Russia and China. Now, a small Georgia company is rebooting US production.

www.wired.com

Unlike pure marketing use of the name, this new company does have the original tooling, manufacturing documents, licenses, etc.

Right now they are just making the 300B but they are adding more tubes.

 

[olieb]

Right now they are just making the 300B but they are adding more tubes.

Wow, nice piece of nostalgic manufacture! Is there a revival building steam engines, too?
How much is a pair of those boutique tubes in their boutique boxes, inside their boutique wooden shrine?

 

[early rejecter]

Most likely I've misinterpreted your meaning. If so apologies.

No worries; I probably wasn’t clear. It was a comment on your assertion that:

Another term for this is being "woke", you want to "feel" that you are somehow cool or superior or vituous because your gear is "diffferent" in someway or retro or whatever.

That strikes me as a rather uncharitable view of the motivations of people whose interests might not wholly align with yours, one that is not infrequently expressed here at ASR in reference to anyone who isn’t 100% committed to 100% transparency 100% of the time. From this thread, see also:

Why tubes? … It ain't even about much more than some personal statement about you.

Is it not possible for people to simply and genuinely enjoy the achievements of now obsolete technology, or to find their listening sessions enhanced by particular visual aesthetics of outdated equipment that they’re attracted to? Is it really all down to a pathetic desire to feel superior to other listeners?

Probably 80% or more of my listening is on and with ASR-approved devices and media and it’s great, but on a Saturday morning I love flipping through my record collection built up over the last few decades and putting on music without looking at a screen. I won’t defend the quality of cassettes, but it’s fun to put on an old mix tape I’d made for my wife in our dating days, or a recording of one of my college radio shows. Disassembling a 50 year old basket case Dual turntable, figuring out the workings of the ingenious automatic functions, and completely rebuilding it into a nice alternate source for my office system was incredibly satisfying and made for some relaxing evenings after work. Fidelity is an admirable goal, but I don’t see the harm in occasionally sacrificing some for other things that bring happiness.

It’s possible that I’ve been fooling myself, and the pleasure I’ve gotten from these activities is actually no more than a subconscious feeling of superiority, but if that’s the case what’s to keep me from assuming that the pursuit of higher and higher fidelity, even beyond audibility, is likewise in service of that same feeling?