I know a good amount of people likely enjoy vids of you modifying inexpensive gear, but there’s other channels that do that. Don’t get me wrong, I love seeing your process, but I’ve got a feeling more people would rather see new Skunkie designs. You’re obviously extremely good at it. FWIW, My mentor and good friend has been repairing, modifying, and building tube gear for 4 decades, and he’s extremely impressed with your skills. He said he never would’ve figured out that KT120 tube was defective. Whatever you do, you’ve got a loyal base of people who follow your vids regardless of what you’re doing, I think it’s a mixture of your skill set, ability to teach, amp designs, plus telling it how it is, because your honesty is of course very much appreciated. Thanks, Stephe.
Thanks for providing easy visual access to hifi mods, Ms. Skunkie. Glad I don't have to troll the internet as much for useful information any more🙂...keep it up!
Really appreciate all your work on this, if that is any consolation. I have one sitting in its box because the sound was not great. (My "bigger is better" passive speakers go down to 27 Hz.) Looking forward to getting the thing out of its box when you have completed the series!
Taking about component skimping. I have seen a review that showed the only difference between an entry level Prima Luna pre amp and the next model up is a capacitor upgrade. That's one big reason why I think my entry level Prima Luna amp has a less than ideal output transformer, besides the muddy sound and mushy rolled off base. My "12 watt???" Cheap Chinese amp is staggeringly more punchy and much louder base than the 40 watt Prima Luna. And that is using the same output tubes. I must say though despite the mushy sound. I still prefer to listen to the Prima Luna than any transistor based amp I own. Even though I know details are missing. it is still more pleasant to listen to music and closer to real life sounding. When I get around to upgrading those transformers, I will have to do a video about it. I wasn't sure to sell the amp or try upgrading the transformers, but this video convinced me to investigate a transformer upgrade further. Thank you 🙏
This episode is another winner. I love these upgrade videos. Maybe you could take a couple of months off and come back to upgrades? 😉 Thank you for the time you put into this!
@Skunkie. Happy to see you got back on this amplifier and shared the mods and testing! I had come on a bit late and I actually viewed the video with the transformer upgrade first and it did seem that is probably just best to stick with the original transformers. So then I came here and looked at the mods. Great video! After watching both videos, I would say that if I could get the amp for around $350 to $375, then I would go for it myself and do the mods here. But lately I have seen it between $425 and $550 and that is a bit much. Also, I am curious that if there is an alternative preamp to use as I prefer a glass tube over a metal one.
I have to get the Analogue discovery now. I have a bottom of the range Prima Luna and I am certain the transformers are rubbish. It's the only explanation why this amp sounds so wishy washy. Inside the circuit design looks very good. It even has direct coupled input to driver stage with no capacitor. I also have a cheap Chinese SE amp that sounds best in triode mode but probably only getting 2 watts in triode mode so that will be getting examined and upgraded. Basically I have two amps that don't sound quite right. Thank you for your inspiration to dig into these amplifiers.💜
Hi Stephe, I think it still provides value to once in a while do an amp like this. If only to show that there are no real short cuts. So many people think that their $300,- Chi-Fi amp can go toe to toe with for instance a McIntosh, or your amps for that matter. And this project can be a good reference for that. Specially since it has a good brand recognition. But it is also understandable, that it gets stale to do this for more amps. So it will be great to see your own designed products in coming videos.
To simply categorize all China made products as cheap garbage etc. Is a pretty horrible inaccurate criticism considering almost everything is manufactured in China. Plus there are companies like Dodge, Cayin and Line Magnetic etc that produce amazing tube gear with a lot to back them up.
So what is recommended for music (and occasional movie streaming ;) ). It looks like the ChiFi preamp are getting no love here. Anything interesting even 2nd hand (I don't need the latest flashy toy). Thanks!
At this low price point, something like that Aiyima A70 with some SparkoS op amps installed I just reviewed is better than any of these cheap tube amps (without extensive mods) I have looked at.
Hi , good work ! Are you sure this is the mk3 ? It looks like mk2 ! My mk3 looks different , with green Boards and the Resistors are brown ( Dale ) . So im not sure if i can use your Mods.
To me, as it is from factory, it looks like they are pushing a tube headphone amplifier into driving speakers with small low impedance output transformers.
Yeah you could work around this lack of low frequency output, but then you are adding more components and using a pre-amp on an amp that already has an overly high input sensitivity, like all these made in China tube amps seem to have. It's like they are designed for use with an ancient crystal phono cart that hasn't been make in 60 years.
@@SkunkieDesignsElectronics The only thing I got from that site is that they have higher temp. rating. Is it possible for you to demonstrate the differences?
" KA Series capacitors from Nichicon are constructed with select materials to create superior acoustic sound". Feel free to ignore them, and save $0.25 buying non-audio caps.
Then why are you asking? I seriously don't understand what you are saying. A well regarded cap manufacturer markets Audio specific caps for a tiny bit more money, and no I'm not going to waste my time "demonstrating" anything, you say it's not about the $0.25 extra, maybe YOU should spend hours of testing to prove there isn't anything different. Instead I assume you are new to the hobby, I spend some time to find a link for you, then you come back with some smart ass reply after wasting my time. If you haven't figured this out in 40+ years...
Let's hope that Musical Paradise doesn't get their panties in a knot over the Audio Analyzer results. I can understand your frustration over such poorly designed circuits.
Like I told Willsenton with their first version of the R8, "Make a product that works well and it will get a good review, it's not my fault your product doesn't perform as advertised." Clearly from this video I show what these tubes can do if it was designed properly. Using a pentode to drive a UL pentode with zero feedback, not even a little local, is gonna be a mess. Especially using a low % UL tap OT, a % that is normally used for an EL84 tube design.
