$149 Monoprice Tube Hybrid Amp

Bob, how do you think this amp would perform with a pair of Wharfedale Diamond 10.2's?

 

It's not quite at the low end of what they recommend as it is really 15w RMS amp that can do ~25w peaks. That said, I would like to hear the combo on moderate material. I would think that on some material where you want to feel the SPL it would get to a strained sound very easily.

More efficient speakers, say 90dB or better, will play much better on dynamics.

 

Hello BuddhaBob, I wanted to thank you again for your tube recommendations, the other tubes must have been bad I replaced it with the other extra set I ordered and the amp sounds beautiful now, esp with Hi-Res music. Well worth the investment just glad I ordered extras.

BTW, Monoprice has a 50W tube amp w/ Bluetooth and Preamp out...if anyone is interested.

Peace and blessings,

Azekecse

 

That's great to hear and good thing you had spares. At those prices as shipped from RU, I always wondered if they were factory "seconds", but who knows? BTW, I had my MP amp out of rotation for a bit. Had my Dynaco 400 (re-capped and reliability mods) for a couple of weeks and I was going to put my quad KT88 amp online when I decided set up the MP for a quick listen. That was yesterday morning and it is still there today! It is noticeably less gritty sounding than the Dyna 400, distinctly smoother.

 

Mine doesn't like a normal line output from a standard CD player (2.0 V peak according to the player's specs). The input is overloaded and I get distortion. This might be the idea behind a tube guitar amplifier, but not for normal music listening. It seems to work fine with a lower line level, such a a DVD player I have, but that is not what I wanted to use with it. I rolled tubes and replaced the amp, and the results are consistent, so it is not a defect, just the way it is designed. As it is, I really have no use for it, except to tinker with. When happy with its input, the sound is pretty good through a pair of Elac B6 bookshelfs, and can drive them to pretty loud levels.

Anyone else have this issue?

Also, the treble and bass controls are reversed, I keep grabbing the wrong one...

 

I keep the volume straight up because it has so much gain and sounds best for me in that position. I have tried the Bluetooth but don't use it. I feed it through a preamp from multiple sources.

The reversed positions of the Bass and Treble knobs is contrary to most other gear, yes. I never use those controls but have tried them--odd that they are reversed though.

 

I use it with a CD player with no issues at all.

 

Wish I had a better experience to report.

I bought one of these in July, plugged it in, it worked, but I didn't listen too critically. Then in September I finally got around to setting it up in a bedroom system. And that's when I noticed the hum. Not too bad with loud music at a reasonable distance, but distracting for the quiet, late-night use I intended. And the headphone jack was entirely unusable, with more of a buzz than a hum.

So I got an RMA, sent it back, and my replacement arrived this week. It is far worse than the one I returned. I have now opted to take store credit instead of exchanging it again.

 

I really want to buy this amp.

My only concern is having to send it back in case I get a faulty unit. Living in the Dominican Republic makes it very costly to order merchandise online and sending it back as well.

I am looking to purchase an AT-LP120USB with Audioengine A5+ speakers as my first turntable setup. I would purchase this for headphone use and I was wondering of getting an amp to hook it up to powered speakers would be crazy or not.

Advice on this matter is appreciated.

 

I don't know if it's crazy, but I'm not sure what your thinking here is? Because if the speakers are powered, then you don't need, and can't use a separate amp to drive them. Unless these have the option to also run passively using an external amp? Well then, don't spend the extra money on self powered speakers, get some passive bookshelf speakers, like the highly regarded Elac B5 ($229 a pair).

If you're already sold on the Audioengine speakers and just need a good headphone amp, there are lots of good options, and cheaper than this $150 Monoprice amp.

 

Thanks for the advice, @SuperFuzz.

Basically, this would be my first turntable and the setup comes as a combo. The desire to use headphones has been on my mind since I decided I would get into this hobby.

I'm not necessarily set on the speakers, but the A5+ would also serve as part of my "home theater" as I would use the second RCA input for my TV. At this point, based on your recommendation, I might need to do a little more research.

 

So I gather you can get the turntable and Audioengine speakers as a package deal? If so, and you just want to add headphone listening capability, you could look for a small headphone amp with RCA inputs, and just and just connect it to the RCA line output on the back of the A5+ speaker. (I assume that the RCA output works even if you have the speakers turned down... but I couldn't tell for sure from quickly reading over their website.)

And if it's tubey sound you want, I can recommend the headphone amps made by Garage1217. I own the Horizon, but their cheapest model is the Starlight - check them out here: Project Sunrise Horizon Polaris Solstice Ember Starlight Factory Built RTR and DIY Kit Headphone Amplifier Ordering »

 

Excellent!

Thanks again for the help. @SuperFuzz

 

The smaller 15W/channel Monoprice tube amp is on sale for $79.99 today.
Tube Amp with Bluetooth 15-watt Compact Stereo Hybrid - Monoprice.com »

 

I see that on Amazon the item in the OP is on sale, apparently.

https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-11...1482344961&sr=8-1&keywords=monoprice+tube+amp

 

Please do and report back.

 

Hmm.... and I have the next week and a half off from work too...

 

A first impression would also be welcomed.

 

The reports in online reviews of buzzing sounds and other "quality control" issues are keeping me from pulling the trigger and getting one of these Monoprice hybrid tube amps...

I've just moved into a new house, and my lovely partner Sara has given me substantial usage of the front living room as a media storage and stereo-only listening area (the back den will be a separate home theater/surround setup).

I pulled older equipment out of storage, saving them from being sold in our upcoming garage sale. I didn't have extra speakers so I just bought a pair of Elac B6 Debut bookshelf speakers. For source I'll use my old Denon 3910 universal player (which only seems to fail at playing DVD-Audio discs lately, which is fine since I'll mostly use it for CD/SACD in this stereo-only setting).

For amplification, I'm torn between bringing my old Denon AVR-3801 receiver back into service (which truthfully I think sounds more warm and musical than the Denon AVR4311CI that replaced it...), buying a $400-500 compact integrated amp like the NAD D3020 or the PSAudio Sprout, or buying one of these Monoprice hybrid tube amps for about $200-250.

I'm not even sure if I'm asking for advice or recommendations; for now I think I'll give the Denon AVR-3801 a try and see how it sounds with those Elac speakers. Maybe it'll sound good enough that I'll lose any desire to swap out the Denon receiver for that listening station. But perhaps if I read enough reassurances about build quality and musical-compatibility with Elac B5/B6 speakers, I might be persuaded to give one of these Monoprice hybrid tube amps a chance...

Craig.

 

Such a cool concept and the price is hard to resist...however the recent feedback on these still indicates there are quality control issues and people are returning units sometimes 2 times or more. I don't have the time or patience for that!

 

I have the PS Audio Sprout. Love it. But the tinkerer in me wants to try tube amplification.

 

I've moved mine to a large guest room with a pair of Klipsch VF-35s, low-priced towers and over 90dB efficiency. I can link to them with Bluetooth when I just want "something" on to listen while I am nearby.

When we have guests they can use Bluetooth or headphone out direct into the amp.

The only real weak point in my specific MP amp is the headphone amp which I never use. With low impedance headphones there is hum between tracks. Something over 50 ohms is best.

 

I've got a pair of B&W 684. Will the 50 watt amp run these well?

Also I have project debut Carbon that I plan to use with the set up. I was planning on getting a rolls pre amp. Will this set up work well?

 

I got myself a Monoprice 25W Tube Amp and I love it. I am upgrading my tube as well. Thanks @BuddhaBob for the suggestion.

I have a weird problem however. I hear static from the RCA source when the volume is not in the min position. But if I switch to Bluetooth then I hear static when the volume is in the min position. The static doesn't appear with normal volume at all for Bluetooth.

@JackJD Do you have a picture of your foil-tape applied? It would really help me perform the same mod. Thanks.

 

I'm sorry, I'm moving stuff around right now, so the Amp is boxed-up in storage; I can't take any photos.

It has been a while, so I don't even remember the specifics to describe the how/where procedure to you. Once more, I'm sorry to be of so little help...