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Old June 16th 04, 11:26 PM posted to uk.rec.audio
Keith G
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Posts: 7,388
Default Anyone Got a Cheap Valve Power Amp or Integrated Amp For Sale?


"Fleetie" wrote in message
news:ek0Ac.369$Sl1.137@newsfe2-win...
Well.

My YaQin MC-10K came today.

So did I.

I've just got it connected up to the CD player and it's "settling in"
now.

It's MUCH bigger than the Ebay pic led me to believe. Lovely finish
and general layout.

Total of 11 valves including 2 like "bargraph" ones which I _ASSUME_
are there to show me the bias on the o/p valves or something. When the
two bars "meet in the middle" I assume it's coming out of class A, but
that is a total guess. Quiescently (music silent), the bars at top and
bottom are still "half length", i.e. not short or zero length. It must be
some kind of bias indicator to show when it's leaving class A. Nice to

have,
actually.

Anyway the amp is ****ing gorgeous to LOOK at.

I got stung for 27.64 of customs charge on delivery, which brought the

total
cost to 250 (Ebay final price) + 80 "shipping" (hmmm..) + 27.64 = 357.64.

Don't care what anyone says, it's a HELL of a lot of amp for 350 quid.
Claims 50W into 6 ohms, so about 40W into 8 ohms I guess.



OK Martin, it falls to me to say 'Well Done'!! :-)

You went after a valve amp with an impossibly small budget and got one!
Enjoy!

Now, a Reality Check (*someone's* got to do it):

The amp is (presumably) hand-made and cost nowt - I most sincerely hope it
doesn't play you up, but it'd be a bit of a miracle if it didn't at some
stage and, quite possibly, the only valve amp on the planet that didn't
develop a bit of character! ;-)

So what if it does? You're trained in electronics and can wield a soldering
iron - so, not a problem!

Read this (all of it).....

http://www.stereo411.com/forum/viewt...1293&view=next

..... and see some geezer got a reet dodgy sample. He fixed it and now he's
got a 'refinished' (see much earlier in the thread) amp for a fraction of
the price of a 'posh' one and he's very pleased with it! Cheaper even than a
kit amp - actually *half* the price of a kit amp....!!

(Don't miss this link:

http://www.ec21.com/co/g/gzzry/index.html

...... very wankworthy pic of your amp and useful contacts, should you need
them.)


Keep an eye on yer plates for a while and tip it over and have a look at the
innards for signs of stress (burning) after a couple of days. (Check the
voltages, why don'tcha?) And for gawd's sake don't rush out and buy silly
expensive NOS glass for it until you've developed a mutual understanding
with it!! :-)

Let us know how it shakes down - there's been a lot said here (I gave up
reading it all a couple of days ago), much of based on guesswork and hearsay
and I would like a straightford account of one these, er, Ch*** amps from
someone with first-hand experience. (And no axe to grind!)


I'll comment on the sound versus the Cyrus II later.



Hmm, I think I already know what you're going to say.....