@@demetrij7120 Amazon US has so many options for tube amplifiers compared to the UK version I use. My only option is to order direct from China, but I hear the man that runs the distributor is a good guy.
@@demetrij7120 I found a decent deal for a used one on eBay which will save me about £300 and it has the upgraded tubes as well, so I might get that one.
Hi Jim, the thing next to power switch is not the timer, it is the headphone jack. it has a timer on input board which just grounds the input to the tubes for 30 seconds upon start up. Tubes gets B+ as soon as you turn it on but no signals for 30 seconds. Also thanks a lot for pointing out error in my schematic. I redrew the schematic again as the bias board part was from original and it was bit wrong. The schematic you have show the grid control resistor but actually it is not. the signals are passed starting to grid of power tube through coupling caps.
Atmaj thanks for clarifying the the headphone jack! Hmmm on the amp I just opened up I didn't find any coupling caps anywhere in the circuit - in fact it appeared as you had drawn it, though I didn't check every detail.
If you discharge a capacitor the way you showed you will likely get a good shock or more. You are to attach the alligator clip first using only one hand. Your other hand is best behind your back. Then touch the probe to the opposite leg of the capacitor. Again with one hand. Safety first
@@tubelab194 I built a 6v6 set amp with a 6SN7 front end. I've added a pair of sockets to roll them and DET20s in. Looks awful as I don't have a proper case yet. Sounds great tho.
China's doing good work.. here is the UK we still make some great stuff but no where near enough, we're not friendly enough to manufacturing. Great video, thanks.
Nicely made amp with a few things I’d have done if building it. Firstly the wires where bundled need to be twisted together to help noise rejection. Secondly if dual mono on a shared supply I’d use a twin choked circuit with individual chokes. I see a bunch of smd parts on the pcbs. Not easy to hand solder or test so I’d prefer through hole discrete standard componentry for serviceability otherwise a fault needs a new pcb but they’re so cheap when done individually it makes sense to replace the one with a fault with a new one hopefully stocked as a spare part. As for valves, I don’t like 6sn7 types. Can be very noisy and microphonic which is why high quality high S/N valve amp designs tend to use better alternatives. Other than that it looks a decent amp. Nice touch using ceramic valve holders with cooling slots around them in the chassis.
Thanks for your comments. A couple of things, the 6sn7 tube is probably the most common twin triode ever made and as such has a large variety of quality. In general it is a quiet, warm rich sounding tube with a medium mu, making it an excellent choice for the R8 driver/phase circuit. I've owned and used my R8 professionally for almost 2 years and it has performed exceptionally well, especially given the number of tubes I roll in and out of it while doing a "live" test for tube orders headed to customers. When you factor in the price, this becomes a "best buy" in class. But remember it was designed as a good quality good looking, good sounding, affordable class AB amp. To improve on what they offered for $1,200usd you need to double or triple your money, for maybe a small improvement in sound.
Luckily most tube amps can accept a wide range of AC household voltages and work just fine. That's because vacuum tubes have a wide range of operating voltages. Now if one minute your mains are 119vac and the next 110vac then that's not going to be great as a listening experience. But if the voltage change is more gradual, then no worries, you probably won't notice the difference.
I have a stupid question. When you start this tube rolling, is it only the 300B, KT88 and el34 type tubes that impact the sound produced, or do all the tubes have an effect?
First NO such thing as a stupid question! In fact this is a good question! All tube changes have an affect. Some more than others. An easy example is the Willsenton R8 which even though the amp voltages are optimized for the EL34, it has a bias switch and can take the 6550 and KT88. In general terms all EL34's have a lovely warm rich midrange, but they're a tad weak on the bass. The KT88 type has a more neutral almost flat midrange, good bass and nice punch with a higher max output. I could write all night and into the morning describing differences! So when I'm reviewing tubes I often talk about these properties so people can get orientated and make an informed choice as to what tube types they would enjoy for their music styles. Then of course we have many different tubes in each type, by different manufacturers and over different generations, that all have differences!
@@tubelab194 Thank you. Can I assume that those tubes that I mentioned have a greater impact on the sound produced than the others that have different functions?
@@Oldgoat912 The 300b is generally used in a lower powered SET (single ended triode) amp, so one tube per channel and the KT88 is generally used in a class AB push pull amp so 2 tubes per channel and much higher output. So yes big differences in every way I can think of. Not two tubes that you would ever compare to each other, kind of like trying to compare apples and oranges, they're both round and both a fruit but that's about it for similarities!
The schematic was done by a skilled and enthusiastic owner using the deconstruction method. And No he didn't take his unit apart, but he made a schematic based on a tracing of the circuit as he found it in his amp. His focus was the preamp and power amp circuit. He didn't include the switching, power supply, v5 filter or headphone amp (all hard to do). I would note headphone amps on most integrated amps like the R8 are solid state and just tacked on as an extra selling feature. They almost never sound good. I was going to rip mine out for a planned mod, but there's never enough time for everything I'd like to do!
Hi Jim, Super 25 mins.. have a question, I couldn't catch the brand you mentioned on the last 6SN7 tube.. Can u advise the brand and how much would 8 tubes cost?
The best for last tube was the nos MELZ 6sl7gt (exact equivalent), my inventory #292n. I woke up this morning to a whole pile of orders on this tube, so don't delay if you want a pair.
@@chrispoh137 sorry I don't carry the power tubes, but I do have a nice selection of the front end preamp/driver tubes. To check prices www.valvesNmore.com don't forget to grab some discount codes at the very end of my videos.
They have an excellent reputation going back years. When I ordered my R8 from them over 2 years ago, it arrived in a sturdy outer box and an excellent inner box. It was so well packed it would be hard to damage - which of course is the idea! I'm thrifty and patient so i went with the cheaper ocean cruise option (without a porthole or balcony) and it took 2 months. Remember if you order from China hifi direct it's not easy to return the amp - you've basically bought it, like forever. I also ordered mine with the cheap tube option, for obvious reasons, and also because i have yet to find a Chinese power tube i like or trust to not red plate while I'm not watching the amp.
I keep hearing about this amp. I was considering of these when I settled on a Primaluna but it had a ball bearing in the remote that made a noise that I know while have driven me crazy but I bet it’s as good as the PrimaLuna but you would know better than me. Does it still have a ball bearing in the remote?
I had to search for my remote, i never use one, i set the volume for the correct listening level, sit down and enjoy! Yes the R8 remote has a rattle, but this may be the only fault I've found in this amp and i use it every day in my vintage tube business to "live" test sets for customers. I still consider it a Best Buy. And at the price point of the PrimaLuna and R8 you aren't going to get anything too nice for a remote. If you are fussed by the remote, replace it with a high quality after market remote. Or like me park it and forget it.
@@tubelab194 I change the volume from one piece to the other. TPL remote was sweet, real heavy but much more money. Luckily I ended up with Conrad Johnson all round. Talk about quality.
Hi Jim, thanks for the great overview of the R8. I have had mine since Christmas and loving it. I recently added a separate Preamp to my sysem and am using the Pre-in on the R8. My question is this; I would like the R8 to startup with the Pre-in selected rather than me having to hit the selector button several times to select. I was thinking it would be easy to just do a bit of rewiring of the selector ribbon cable at the front panel OR at the rear where it plugs into the board with the selector relays. I would appriciate your thoughts on this topic. Thanks
Possibly, have a look and see if changing the jumpers is easy. I unfortunately don't have a spare second to look at it, the demand for vintage tubes has been crazy for the last 3 months!
Thank you for explaining a tube amplifier's internal components. I want dive into tube amps but I don't feel I know enough about what make a good and/or great good one like i do with SS amp's. in this video I learned about the role of a Henry choke. I have subscribed and will be watching intensely. Thank you.
I have got 2x mono amps 12ax7 6sn7 push pull 6550we Tubes in use now are 5751 Tung-Sol 6N8S Russian cccp brand 6550we sovtek, it sounds great. I find a 2x mono sounds some better then al in one chassis. Your amp you let us see in your video looks very neath build. One thing looks strange I see the heater wires are strait? Not twisted. I wonder how they control the hum. Nice video and schematic looks 90% the same to mine. Thx for uploading
Yes in general mono blocks will be superior to an integrated amp like the R8. But remember the R8 is a quality affordable amp that is a great gateway amp for audio fans getting into tubes for the first time or upgrading from a cheap Chi-Fi amp. If you watch the video carefully you'll see me point out the nice twisted pairs of heater wires (yellow/orange ) going to the preamp tubes, that's where hum can enter the audio chain (high gain triodes), the power tubes are much less prone to picking up filament induced hum. I would note the R8 is extremely quiet, the designer/builders did a good job!
Hi Jim. Question: Have you tried all MELZ tubes in the pre-amp section? As you know, I have the Sylvania, MELZ, NEVZ combination, so just wondering what an all MELZ front-end brings to the table.
Yes, I've had an all 1950's front end and it sounded wonderful. But the MELZ 6SN7GT's are 1st gen 6sn7's and have a lower power rating than more modern GTA and GTB, and are not up to this circuit and will get overdriven and noisy after a while. What I have been running in the 6sn7 socket is the Sylvania 6sn7gta, which has an amazing amount of detail and as a result an improvement in the soundstage is noticable.
Great eyes! It must be ok, because I've got hundreds of hours on the amp and not a problem, normally when you load down the choke near it's maximum rating the Henries lower and filtering is reduced. So far the amp has stayed almost dead quiet. However I haven't run it for 8 hours straight at max volume! If we take a quick look at the main current sink, the EL34 output tubes, they may each sink about 30mA or 120mA + a small amount for the preamp and driver tubes. KT88 more for sure. To know exactly what the amp is drawing we'd need to break the B+ after the power supply and take a current reading - anyone bored? Note I'm just guessing as to what the EL34's are drawing, it will all depend on voltage and bias setting and that can vary a lot!
@@tubelab194 Thank you, I love to see the the power supply schematic too. I have a KT88 PP too at 60w but as I have done the measurement, it 's around 45-50w base on the B+, current, and voltage drop. Great videos.
Even if some of the components look like "high quality brand name" doesn't mean that they aren't counterfeit, which is quite common in China, even for small items.
Agreed, and now that roughly 90% of all electronic components are made in China it leaves amp manufacturers very little choice. I'm the buyer for our wee Kit Amp Business (mellow tone kits) and I spend hours sourcing. quality parts and testing them when they come in -- though we don't have too many quality issues -- enough garbage is out there that we need to be very careful. I would note our R8 has now been in Commercial use for over 2.5 years and it has performed extremely well with only minor repairs required due to high use.
Skunkie audio does many modifications on this amp .The big black capacitors on start up ,voltage comes dangerously close to over 400 volts.Not enough margin .Needs 500 volts 330uF...THAT IS ONLY THE BEGINNING .
Jim, -- You mention the volume control motor, when using RC, but not the how fast it moves. The problem with many volume motors (for me at least) is that the volume jumps up and down too quickly, making fine volume adjustments difficult to arrive at. How is it with the R8? For me, slow is a go, fast is a no.
With the remote control It jumps fast, not good for fine adjustments. I normally turn it manually. But the amp sounds amazing. Hope they will improve the remote control in future.
Thanks for explaining the internal R8, i am a happy Willsenton R8 owner, after tube rolling between kt88 and el34, i stay with el34 tubes. Unfortunately from the start it has a 50 hz hum audible on the pre amp input, other inputs go via the volume potentiometer, that needs quite some volume before the same hum is audible. a groundloop is ruled out as possible cause. I use the amp in hybrid setup with an Yamaha rx 1060 surround amp. I paired the R8 with China built Sound artist conical speakers and via pre amp input use it as extra fronts. The hybrid sound of the combi is truly amazing, just the hum stays, got replacement pre amp tubes under warranty, Any clue where i should look? Do you share the wiring diagrsm in pdf?
Wiring diagram is available in store under information. If I understand you correctly you are feeding the preamp in from a Yamaha amp? 50hz is power mains hum, not related to anything after the primary side of the power transformer. A coupe of things to check. Do you have all your connected equipment (ALL) plugged into one large quality power bar - if so good! Does the hum disappear with the preamp INput jacks empty on the R8, if so, the source is what you plugged in. Some preamps are just not going to play nice! I use one of my custom preamps all the time to feed the R8 and the noise floor goes up a wee bit, but if I plug the same preamp into my monoblocks they go dead guiet, now much lower gain helps, but they are also SE (single ended) and those amps normally broadcast any noise, whereas the r8 is a push pull class AB and they tend to be some of the quietest amp designs.
The build quality and attention to detail regarding the overall tidiness of the wiring and solder joints in that amp look exemplary. I once had a NAD amp though not a tube amp they are still considered higher end Amps and are also hand built without the use of robots to do the soldering. However the solder joints that I saw inside the NAD were atrocious. They were mostly blobs and I was surprised that the thing even worked with all those dry joints. The company obviously didn't care much for using flux or paying for trained workers to put their products together. It isn't hard to train someone to solder properly. You can easily become proficient in an hour or two at most and it takes way less time to do a proper solder joint with a lead based solder with a flux core than it does to make a bad blobbed dry joint. I really hadn't expected to see such bad workmanship from a high end expensive piece of equipment. Since then it had made me wary of high end audio equipment that was stated as hand built. Until seeing this one anyway.
Probably not, toroidal transformers may be the transformer "de jour" (of the day), but they have at least as many problems as they solve. For a big integrated amp like the R8 a top mounted EI (standard type) transformer, mounted inside a metal shield is an affordable excellent method for providing "transformed" mains power to the amp. Here's a link to a great article that explains why a toroid transformer is often not a good choice: www.soundstagenetwork.com/maxdb/maxdb071998.htm
@@jamestorres4705 In my Kit Preamps I use an R-core type of transformer that is sorta in between a toroid and EI type. Because all my Preamp Kits are dual mono designs, I needed either two transformers or a rare type in which I have matched twin high voltage secondaries. The R-core I use was developed for a copy of a famous phono preamp - that you guessed it, is also dual mono. The R-cores in preamps are just perfect, very low noise, no transformer hum and they sound amazing in a simple power supply design. However not suitable for higher current applications (they get huge and expensive to make).
Howdy. The wire harnessing is nice to look at but I am suspicious about the intercapacitances. I would argue that criss-cross wiring is better in that respect. Also. The wire insulation looks feeble to carry hundreds of volts. Regards.
As far as a quality made commercial amp goes, sold at a Budget price the R8 is well designed and well built. The proof is always in the sound, which shows no sign whatsoever of intercapacitances and no sign of high voltage wire shorting or arcing. And we've now had our R8 running for the business (live testing quads of power tubes and complete sets of tubes for customers) for over 2 years!
Hi, Jim thank you for great video, I have problem with my Willsenton R800i, that I purchased and I am in Australia and hence unable to send it to you. The problem is the 274 B rectifier tube arches after few seconds switching it on. I have read on the web it is got to do with the cap value on the rectifier tube, you input and assistance will be much appreciated. Thank You. Ganesh.
Ganesh, I'm sorry but I don't have any experience with the R800i. And I don't repair amps. My recommendation is if you don't have electronics knowledge to find a local repair person who specializes in tube amps. They'll get you sorted right quick. If the unit is newish, first contact the manufacturer, they may have an easy solution for you.
Hi! Jim, just waiting for my order to be put together, in the mean time can I ask you about the rebraned caps in the R8... They are an unknown to be fair and wonder if replacing them with known high quality caps from..eg: mundolf, Jantsen or sonic caps would or could improve things even more ??? I do know that replacing caps in speakers with high quality ones makes a difference...What do you think ?
Possibly, I actually had a look at them, with the idea of doing an upgrade video and they look to be of good quality and sound like they are. That said, yes if you replace them with the same value and voltage rating (or higher) and you choose quality replacements you may well improve the sound. How much will depend on how good the existing caps are and the rest of the components. If you upgrade only one thing, you may not hear a difference. And that's because the engineers and builders carefully chose all the components to work together at a certain level of performance.
@@tubelab194 Wow! meant to tell you just been notified the R8 is in Auckland NZ, talk about FAST, it left China on the 18th, when its express they mean express. May not get it yet as Covid level4 has been extended to next Tuesday nation wide, Oh boy!
Thought i would let you know, I ordered the R8 on the 18th Aug and arrived at my door step today, the 23rd ...that is fast! it did cost me though!!! Well had time to set up, warm up for 1/2 hr then Wow!, there's been some hype over this amp and I can hear why. I ran in my Treols Gravenson " Discovery 861 and the Triangle Genese Trio loudspeakers and was listening with a Bel Canto power amp and Parasound P5 pre...sourse highly moded Esound cd-e5 also tried the Peachtree Nova150 Int , played a variety of music from female vocal to acoustic and waited for the smile to happen?...Nah! not happy. Now the R8 is introduced, well what is happening I this amp is really good, Both loudspeakers are easy to drive and loved the tubes, it was like well what tubes do best, play music. I can't wait for the Svetlana SEd 6550c quads to arrive and remove the standard el34's. Let me know if you decide to do an upgrade on the R8 amp, I would be interested...thanks Alain
@@dscalvinpark I have an Onkyo M508, dual mono block design. Heavy. It's dual voltage but when on 220V the amount of heat generated is considerable. A amp repair shop informed that it is best to have the amp and rail voltage set up to a specific input voltage. Which was done and now the amp runs much cooler.
How is the electric socket looks to you? My R8 seems to have loose socket. I brought another power cable and it still loose. What brand would you recommend for replacement? It doesn't seem difficult to replace it. TIA.
I just checked my IEC cable and it is tight. IEC cables are very common, I have a box of 20 or so. What I would suggest is you unplug and have a really good look at the amp side and make sure the socket is securely mounted, it might just be loose. If that's ok then I'd just go to any used store and buy a handful of used cheap cords and try them until one fits snug. For some reason some of the IEC female cord ends aren't as tight fitting as they should be. Some cords are heavier than others, choose the heavier ones, sometimes instead of the standard 16ga. you get lucky and find a 14ga. Good luck!
3 tubes per channel in class A, that's going to be one hot amp! For an amp like this you are going to want a rock solid EL34 and for vintage it's hard to beat the Svetlana, I specialize in this wonderful vintage tube and normally stock tight quads so with any luck I can find a sextet. But what I would suggest is buying 2 matched quads, that would give you 2 matched spares! What the Svet's excel at is acoustic and small ensemble jazz. They can do other music types, but that warm smooth midrange is great for acoustic and vocals.
Skunky! I've watched a wee bit of what she is up to. Replacing resistors on modern gear is rarely going to improve sound quality, but she's giving the R8 a real going over and some of her revisions are very good, eg separating v5 into two independent circuits is a great idea. Does any of this work make the R8 a badly or cheaply built amp? No off course not, almost every factory built amp can be improved in some small ways, when a skilled technicians has a go at it! Remember just because someone replaces a bunch of parts, doesn't necessarily mean the amp is going to sound any different, that's determined by careful listening tests.
@@tubelab194 Jim I'm curious if you agree with the claim that "the voltage on power up exceeds 480V which will eventually fry the supplied 450V caps"? In other words, the capacitors will fail due to the above?
@@mikefiftynine well our R8 is stock and has seen fairly heavy use for 2.5yrs and it's just fine. Also you need to remember most capacitors are designed for a short duration surge at startup (any quality electrolytic will have a surge spec). All that said if we were spec'ing that cap we would have gone to 500v. That's our advantage as a small Kit Amp manufacturer, we can opt to spend the money to get quality components throughout our amps. Any amp manufacturer with as tight a margin as the R8 is going to have to watch every dollar or a $1,200 amp could easily become a $2,000 amp.
Questions for all: KT88 vs 300B - Are there common differences between the two? Are the differences enough to justify the purchase of each? Can tube selections in a KT88 achieve characteristics of a 300B?
Are you contemplating having both a 300b and a kt88 amp? Or attempting to choose between the two types? Here's some basic info. The two tubes are very very different. The 300b is basically antique tube technology, it is a direct heated triode (4 pins), and only rated for 8 watts, the KT88 is an 8 pin beam powered tetrode that can dissipate 40 watts. So if you have very efficient speakers +93db you could use either type of tube/amp. But if you have regular box speakers, most likely you are going to need the power of an EL34, KT88, KT77 or 6550 amp. I would note the Willsenton R8 takes all of those tubes! As for sound, I've never owned a 300b amp, but I've built a SE (singled ended) 6L6 mono block and have a couple of EL34/KT88 amps. The 300b would be a SET (single ended triode) and like all single tubed power amps (class A) will have a very fast clear presentation of the music that is unique among amp types, they typically are weaker in the bass and lower powered, and are very suited to acoustic and vocal small ensemble jazz, folk and classical. Beam powered tetrodes (KT88 et al), often run a quad (4) tubes in push pull (class AB) have better bass, much more power and are best for large music - rock, prog, orchestral or anything requiring big sound. Hope that helps!
@@tubelab194 Yes, I was contemplating the idea of having a 300B in addition to my KT88 (to be delivered soon). I listen to all genres, but prefer small ensemble jazz and acoustic. If the sonic benefits of a 300B is negligible, I’d be happy to not invest in another amp.
@@AB-yd5gl so much depends on your speakers, Paul from PS Audio fame (many many great audio RU-vids) says 75% of your system budget should be spent on your speakers! And I agree, with one exception. If you are handy you can build great speakers for a fraction of audiophile retail pricing. In your case if you have very efficient good sounding speakers, then with the type of music you listen to, you most likely will prefer the sound of a SET amp over a KT88 push pull. That's been my experience comparing single ended vs push pull, while listening to small ensemble acoustic. For Rock'n'roll nothing beats the power, bass and punch of a kt88 type running push pull (class AB).
@@tubelab194 You seemed pleased with the quality of the R8. Would you assume the single-end Willseton options will be of equal quality? www.china-hifi-audio.com/en/willsenton-tube-amplifier-c-77/willsenton-r-800i-300b-805-tube-integrated-amplifier-single-ended-class-a-power-p-2278
@@AB-yd5gl Yes the R8 is well built, with zero problems so far (3 months of steady use and lots of tube swapping). I can't comment on the 300b amp, other than to say it looks impressive on paper! But what does it sound like? The R8 sounds great, but it is a completely different amp. One thing I would note, all of the supplied tubes for the R8 were mismatched and in the case of the quad of EL34's complete garbage (1 tube died after 24hrs - I binned them all after that!) It is now normal to presume you have to budget to completely re-tube a new amp. In the old days you might get a matched quad of real Mullard EL34's with your Dymaco amp! Those days are long gone! And in fareness to Chi-Fi, the selling price is really good. So even if you figure an excellent set of vintage tubes might cost another $600., it is still a good deal, just no longer cheap!
I haven't listened to both amps so I can't offer an opinion. But remember the R8 is a quality budget entry amp and the r800i is a much more expensive amp and a completely different amp. So really it's not a fair comparison in any way. Better to assess each on it's own merits and if a similar amp exists for sale, then compare that pair.
Not easy, no, it would require adding a pair of RCA jacks, I don't think you can steal one of the existing inputs because of how the input board and Jack assembled. And then you would need to do some careful shielded internal wiring and maybe install a pair of coupling capacitors. Frankly if the R8 has a weak link it's the front end. I only run my R8 with one of my prototype preamps feeding it, with excellent results. I know it makes zero sense that an additional piece of equipment in the signal chain would add and not degrade, but I've had such success, I won't run the R8 without a preamp.
@@tubelab194 I have a Question on that: When you run the R8 with a external Preamp, is the 6SL7 still in the Signal Path or is it only the Volume Control that is bypassed by using the Pre - Inputs of the R8 ?
@@st.michael9708 correct, in pre In mode, only the volume control is bipassed. An easy way to confirm this is just to pull the 1st stage preamp tubes (6sl7, briefly! while shut down!) And feed a separate preamp into the R8, if the 6sl7's are Not In the circuit, you would hear sound. In this case we don't, so the 6sl7's are In circuit. The reason I say briefly is because we don't know how the heaters are strung together, taking 2 tubes out of circuit might change the heater voltage. If this was something we wanted to do with any amp, it's easy enough to check the heater voltage and make sure we're either at 6.3vac/dc or 12.6vac/dc +2.5%/-5%, this of course depends on what tube type is in place and what the heater voltage is supposed to be. Remember a tiny bit higher is ok, more will shorten the filament life, lower is always safer, but too low and you will start to affect the tubes emissions and as a result the performance.
@@tubelab194 Thank You for coming back to my Question that quickly :-) This is what I wanted to avoid, to have the Amp running without all Tubes in place. This is really a puzzling Phenomena ...... adding a additional ( Valve ) PreAmplifier to the Chain and with it many Parts where the Signal has to pass trough and it results in a better Sound. What is going on here ??? I had a similar Experience, with my Hypex UCD700 HG Power Amp what I used before the R8. First I had connected the Hypex straight with XLR - Cable to my Oppo 105 D and after I used the Musical Paradise MP701 MK2 as additional PreAmp and the Result was better with the PreAmp ! My Mate, who built and designed once Amplifier with T. Paravicini will not accept this as a Fact, he swears on passive " PreAmps " ! In his Mind, every additional Part in the Signal Path will degrade the Quality of the Signal ( full stop ) ...... so what is true ? Are there more Things between Heaven and Earth we don't knowabout ? Paul from PS - Audio made a couple of Videos on That, first He was in absolute denial that a good Tube PreAmp can enhance that what we hear from a HiFi - System, but now Paul has ended up building Tube PreAmps, designed by someone who knows what He is doing ....
Tubes came in ? Are people or companies sending you boxes of tubes? You seem to not known where these tubes came from, who sent them to you What is going on here?
It is just an expression, or an introduction to new inventory that has arrived. Sometimes when filming a Friday Tube Lab I'll make a linguistic error, because I shoot in the "one take format" I can't go back and edit the mistake, so I either reshoot or live with it. I would note it takes about 4hrs to make a Tube Lab, and I take that time out of my work day at valvesNmore. Rest assured I have paperwork on every single tube I buy for the store!
@@tubelab194 I thought so. Like your videos by the way. Only just subscribed to your channel. I live in Australia and I do recall vacuum tubes being manufactured here - but a long time ago. We had about 3 manufacturing plants in Australia. AWV factory (Sydney), Philips plant (Adelaide) and Western Electric plant (Melbourne). The first time I watched Television was in the late 1960s and that was a Philips Vacuum Tube Black and White TV. We also had another TV cabinet that had a receiver and turntable in the same unit. Very heavy electrical devices. But people repaired them when they broke down. Usually a blown tube. Cheers
It is just one example of Chinese products becoming world class. Kitchen equipment , hifi , TVs , Aircon , projectors , mobile phones , computers , EVs , the list just goes on and on. Well the govt must be doing something right for these companies to be so competitive.
I think world class is a stretch, but I agree, in many sectors they're headed in that direction. But they still can't build to the quality of something like a BMW, so everyone who can afford them buys German cars! I worked for a manufacturer and years ago had a conversation with his Chinese USA contact and she said some very interesting things. First number one thing in China is money #1, over everything. Second Chinese manufacturers have no interest in making something of high quality that will only sell 1000 units, they're only interested in millions of units, it's how they think, quantity= profit. Third, they hate their fellow factory owners and will loose money if necessary to undercut the local competition!
@@tubelab194 China is all abt mass production, tight margins and high volumes to achieve economies of scale and reasonable tolerances. It’s all about the huge population and mass market appeal. Also govt support if you are creating large number of jobs. Reaching critical mass to fend of competitors. Also suppliers and costs forces them to think vol.
Of course, but it's a Quality Budget push pull amp designed as a first introduction to tubes. So if you look at it that way, the feature makes sense. I had the cover off yesterday looking for possible upgrades to share on Tube Lab and couldn't find a single one! It's very well built, using good quality components (as far as I can tell visually). IMO it's a great option for someone who is just getting into tubes, wants to drive lower efficiency box speakers and doesn't want to buy a cheap throwaway Chi-Fi amp. On top of that, it has 9 tubes to roll - what fun!
Are you talking about the R8 sockets? I've been rolling customers sets of tubes in and out of the R8 for 1 1/2 years or more and the sockets have been perfect. 99% of all tube sockets used in new builds these days come from only a couple of Chinese manufacturers and they're making good stuff, I use them in my Kit Amps and we haven't had a single problem.
Teflon and ceramic gold plated tube sockets could be a lot better. The stock tube sockets contact the tube pin at two points only thus would cause issues in the long term.
