I bought my MT-12N from Drop this spring. I was looking for headphones, ran across it and decided to try it for only $479. As my first tube amp I was truly captivated. At first I had it in my secondary system with Wharfedale Diamond 2.0 speakers and it was very good. I later put it into my main rig with my Yamaha A-S3200 integrated running Zu Audio DW6 speakers and it is superb. Although it was performing excellently I ended up getting a Willsenton R8 (revised) for that rig and put the Cayin back in the secondary. I have had no issues with distortion or anything else with either tube amp and the DW6 speakers, at least at the sound levels I use. I think both amps are excellent, especially for the prices. No offense, but when I hear someone referring to "The Yamaha Sound" I immediately become skeptical. Thanks for the review.
Thanks for the comment. As for Yamaha house sound, it takes listening to several amps that are different to hear the yamaha house sound. It is a preference I to sound i guess after listening to many amps and speakers over the years. Nice Zu speakers BTW. I have a similar tube amp to the Willsenton and will have a review out soon
@@ThriftShopReviews Thanks for the reply. I had just recently heard of the potential issue of the 12 ohm impedance of the Zu speakers in another video. After reading the comments below I am intrigued about the loading resistors for the Zu and I think that for the modest cost I will give them a try. I will keep an eye out for your upcoming review. Have a great day.
WOW! I would call the guys at Zu and ask about snubbers. Parts Express sells them too. I own this little Cayin, bought on Drop, and am running a pair of Zu DW6 Supremes, and it sounds fantastic. Soundstage, holographic and excellent instrument placement and separation. I am using the PS Audio Stellar Gaincell DAC/Preamp, which is Class A biased. I installed a set of Gold Lion el84's and some Russian NOS, I forget which ones, but they sound good to my ear. I subscribed, call Zu, you don't know what you are missing. ;-)
Hey hey, did you try the Zu Audio 25 Ohm snubbers on your Zu speakers? Zu sales them for just that kind of situation. Lowers the impedance of your 12 Ohm speakers to better match up with an 8 Ohm tube amp.
Great vid! It's got me really interested in this amp. I have a pair of Dali Ikon 2 bookshelf speakers which I used to drive from a massive Onkyo stereo amp outputting 150w per channel. Unfortunately the Onkyo is now toast and I need a replacement. I now work from home and want to set the Ikons on my desk and was thinking that it would be nice to drive them from something smaller at lower volumes, as the speakers will be so close to me. I don't have any experience with tube amps or any idea of the suitability with these Ikons which call for 30-120W and have a sensitivity of 88dB. Any opinions? Thanks!
Too bad it wasn't good match with your Omens... but it' a nice interesting little amp for sure. It's funny the way you describe your Musical Fidelity, sounds to me that it is true to its name, right? BTW, have you made a video for the winner of the cassette player giveaway?
