$149 Monoprice Tube Hybrid Amp

If you have even minimal DIY experience, you can rig these two units up for an awesome sounding tube hybrid amp: 6N3 x2 + 6Z4 Tube Preamp and the TPA3116D2 with a 12-24v laptop brick for the power supply. No soldering required, just making careful wire connections. Making an all-in-one chassis will always be more of a challenge, but I built mine for under $100.

 

Would be great to read a review

 

Was your room EQed? Until you do that they you need those bass and treble knobs. No matter what Ivor told you.

 

Yes, there are always dynamics of a room to consider...But generally, if you have a decent set-up, wouldn't you agree that volume is all that is required? It seems people went EQ crazy when cassette tapes and CD's came out with Dolby (high-end killer) mastering. Possibly the largest crock of bull-**** ever sold to consumers...

 

No, I wouldn't. We aren't talking about a cheap 10 band eq here, in this context we're talking about simple bass and treble controls. If we were serious we'd talk about the DSPeaker Dual Mode or the DEQX or something like that. You're room is the most important and most neglected part of your system. Every room is different, some are large, some small; some have high ceilings, some low; some have open floor plans that make make getting good sound difficult, some don't. Some form of room EQ would help most everybody to flatten out the sound of the room. The bass and treble don't do much, but they can help in some circumstances. The complaint has always been that you want to keep the signal path short. But I don't think it is going to matter with a $149 amp.

 

Yes. The amp in question probably will not see hardly any affect. I get what you are saying regarding rooms. Just today I was contemplating sound panels. Would not know where to start as far as my room goes...Guess some experimentation is necessary.

 

After reading this thread I picked one of the Miniwatt's up from Amazon and it was delivered today. I'm listening to it now and it keeps sounding better and better the longer I'm using it. I can't believe this was only $200, what a bargain. I'm using it to drive my Klipsch Chorus II's and it hits my preferred volume at about 3/4 of max. Right now I'm just running my turntable into my Parks Audio Budgie tube phono preamp and then into the miniwatt. My only question is I see some sort of transistor on a heatsink inside the miniwatt and was wondering if this is a true all tube amp or if there is a significant solid state portion? Either way it sounds nice but I'd like to go all tube at some point to see how I like it.

 

It's got to be great for that price

 

The transistor mounted to the heatsink is just the voltage regulator. The signal path is all tube.

Most tube amps these days have solid state regulation and rectification.

 

I hadn't seen this amp. So what do you use as a preamp? Amazon doesn't have Miniwatt stuff that I can find. Build looks pretty good. Hows the knob weight. Those tubes look a bit rough and ready, though. I seen an upgrade to Genalex tubes is an extra $300!

 

http://www.amazon.com/APPJ-PA0901A-6P14-Amplifier-Black/dp/B00APC0WWE
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0..._m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=02TMDMRHZP7YZQ9A980W

"Particularly Ideal for Vocal Music & Chords."

 

No preamp needed. I'll probably end up using my Peachtree Nova as a preamp that way I can change between inputs. The knob seems fairly robust for the money. I'm already doing research on upgrading the tubes.

 

I like the "Min" and "Max" on the volume control. Those knobs can be so damn confusing.
-Bob

 

So has anyone actually tried this yet? Right now I do all near-field listening using powered studio monitors, but have been pondering getting a set of bookshelf speakers (waffling between Wharfedale Dentons or ELAC B6s) and will need an amp...at this price I'm tempted to get one of these Monoprice amps just for the hell of it...

 

Received mine yesterday.

Brought it to work today and set it up with a pair of AR2ax's.





Listening to the mono Rubber Soul. Must say I'm impressed for an $150.00 tubed amp.

The sound is excellent. Of course I've only had it running for 20 minutes or so. I don't know if there's a break in period for it, guess I'll find out in time. There's plenty of power to drive the 2ax's, which aren't he most efficient speakers around.

I haven't tried the Bluetooth and probably won't.

I'm very happy with the purchase so far.

John

 

Nice, thanks for the update. I can't do d anything on the Bluetooth does it do aptx ?

Looks like out of stock, how many of you guys bought one ?

 

Yes, ETA for it to be back in stock is 11/12. They were also running that 10% discount through last weekend.

 

I'm shocked that this will drive the AR's.
... and I have a pair of AR4x's sitting here doing nothing...

 

I wonder if that Monoprice unit would drive my CV AT10's which are 6 ohm's ?

Update: The spec's state, My CV's have a min. power requirement of 5 watts. I need to get one of this little guys.

 

I was a little surprised too but they work (sound) find with it.

I'm sure your 4x's will sound very nice with it.

 

I'm giving it some serious consideration.... It would be a nice little desktop amp for the office, combined with some Pioneer SP-BS22-LR's.

 

Saw one review on Amazon where the guy said he opened it up and the tubes glowed but we're not connected to anything in the sound chain? No idea if the guy is legit.

 

Sounds like a mushrooms to me.

 

What's that mean?

 

I've got the Nobsound (hate that name though), the non Bluetooth model. It came with Chinese tubes which I changed for some Russian tubes from eBay and there is definitely an effect on the sound. Of course all subjective but the stock tubes kind of muffled the sound - too much low end and lopped off treble. Got a much better balanced sound with tube replacements that cost me about $30 including shipping.

I ordered my amp for $89.99 plus shipping off eBay and am very satisfied with it. The tone controls are kind of weird as I feel they distort the sound whether you increase or decrease the bass/treble. I just leave both on 0 and sounds very nice. I wanted to go all out and spend several hundred dollars on something high end but the missus is always interrogating me on my LP and equipment expenditure so went budget. Gamble paid off.