Wow, now Monoprice has an all-tube (EL84) amp with phono for $329.99

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by action pact, Nov 5, 2017.

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  1. action pact

    action pact Music Omnivore Thread Starter

  2. noahjld

    noahjld Der Wixxer

    Very nice and a great price.
     
    PhilBiker likes this.
  3. Rentz

    Rentz Forum Resident

    Location:
    Texas
    Hmm wonder how good it is, I got one of those little $100 hybrid ones from them and it wasn’t that great
     
    PhilBiker likes this.
  4. BDC

    BDC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Tacoma
    I'd be curious if that pre out would work well for a sub.. If that's a tag strip build as others similar I've seen, that's a plus. For me, I need 4 inputs, phono/tape/cd/tv..... Though maybe there's a solution to which I'm not familiar.....

    I like the musicality of el84's from my experience with guitar amps, but they distort early. Though class A is another thing completely, as opposed to push pull guitar amps. I think class A or push pull would be better with a pair of 6L6s, a more robust tube with a lot of headroom in this type amp......
     
    Last edited: Nov 5, 2017
  5. Rentz

    Rentz Forum Resident

    Location:
    Texas
    For extra rca’s check out the schiit sys
    Passive rca switch with remote
     
    SandAndGlass likes this.
  6. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    Looks neat, but it is scary inexpensive.
     
  7. action pact

    action pact Music Omnivore Thread Starter

    I use one of those with a pair of Pioneer Andrew Jones bookshelf speakers in my living room, and it sounds really good for non-critical listening. The Bluetooth is really convenient.

    I wouldn’t expect this one to be a giant-killer, but I bet it’s better than OK.
     
    SandAndGlass likes this.
  8. Standingstones

    Standingstones Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Central PA
    Buy it and report back to us. Boom or bust?
     
    ls35a likes this.
  9. Rentz

    Rentz Forum Resident

    Location:
    Texas
    Oh yeah that cheap one isn’t bad by any means especially for the price, just wasn’t what I was looking for.

    This one looks promising if I catch it on one of mono prices sales I might bite
     
  10. telemike

    telemike Forum Resident

    Location:
    Greensboro, NC
    I like it. EL84 weird choice. 6L6 would be my voice or EL34 aka Dynaco.

    Would be a good match for Klipsch KG series.
     
    Giacomo Belbo likes this.
  11. Paully

    Paully De gustibus non est disputandum

    Location:
    Tennessee
    At that price, I would worry tht the output transformers would be pretty bad. I just haven't seen quality transformers at that price point, just for the transformers, much less high quality in a fully integrated amplifier. When we have built amps using really good parts, the price is usually around $1K for the parts alone.
     
  12. TarnishedEars

    TarnishedEars Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Seattle area
    For that price, I'd be willing to bet that they are using power transformers as output transformers.
     
    vconsumer and Paully like this.
  13. Richard Austen

    Richard Austen Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hong Kong
    I would strongly recommend you spend more and get something really nice - the KingKo KA101 which I reviewed is good enough to be a last stop for many audiophiles at $800US including shipping. King has worked on a lot of amps in china over the decades and notes that these really cheap tube amps while sounding poor can also be dangerous.
    The KA 101 is also EL84 based but is valve rectified and comes with more inputs and can be used as a power amp. You can buy a better preamp down the line. It also has meters and is auto-bias.


    Here is my review of the KA 101 KingKo Audio KA-101 integrated amplifier Review

    Granted it costs more than double the unit you're looking at but IMO it's better to wait 6 months or a year or however long it takes to get something that sounds like it is a $3K-$4k amp than something that sounds "okay for $300." Don't get taken by something that "looks sexy" - at least Shanling actually sounded pretty good to go along with their bling.

    [​IMG]

    Shanling CD-T2000 CD/SACD player review | TechRadar
     
  14. harby

    harby Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR, USA
    Well just add $500, and you can upgrade those.

    There's no reason why the Chinese can't clone a transformer with $5 of copper and $2 of iron though - that's the easiest thing to replicate. Just like the rest of this is probably based on some other design. However, with no-name Chinese capacitors and other parts that take more technical expertise to counterfeit, there's going to be other pain-of-ownership.
     
    bluemooze and EasterEverywhere like this.
  15. Tommy SB

    Tommy SB Forum Resident

    Location:
    Santa Barbara, CA
    I have to agree with you about the Shanling. Here's a subjective review I did back in 2004 on the SCD-T200. Very sexy player...

    Shanling/Underwood HiFi SCD-T200 Level-1 CD/SACD Player - AVRev.com
     
    Greenalishi likes this.
  16. Richard Austen

    Richard Austen Forum Resident

    Location:
    Hong Kong
    At least with Shanling you pretty much got what you paid for and in a nice package and it wasn't junk like much of what comes out of China. I don't even necessarily care that some companies used fake parts - if the price was low enough then what do you really expect? It's when it gets pricey and the parts are fake that is bothersome.

    King uses OEM parts inside his amps and he doesn't try to stick a rubycon label over something to sell you name brand parts. He noted that the OEM he deals with make bigger name labels for those labels - and you pay for that. Like a THX amplifier that will meet certification all day but the company simply chose not to pay for the very expensive license (which you as a consumer have to pay for).

    Kevin Deal of Prima Luna compared his Prima Luna Chinese made amp to a well known Chinese amp brand's integrated that runs $1,000 here

    Now of course take what Kevin says with some grains of salt because what Prima Luna does a higher end better sounding amplifier line like Audio Note would view the PL amps as low end parts and Kevin of course is trying to sell you something. He compares the PL amp to a piece of junk and doesn't compare to say an Audio Note OTO for the same money. So things are relative. Still - PL's parts are good and "safe" and they sound good for what you're paying for.

     
    bluemooze and SandAndGlass like this.
  17. Tommy SB

    Tommy SB Forum Resident

    Location:
    Santa Barbara, CA
    Again I would have to agree, as I have had a fair amount of intimate exposure to Prima Luna.
     
    SandAndGlass likes this.
  18. action pact

    action pact Music Omnivore Thread Starter

    I think some of you are missing the point.

    I would never recommend something like this for a primary system. Of course a "real" hifi amp will beat it handily. But for an office or bedroom system, this would be pretty nifty.
     
  19. harby

    harby Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR, USA
    And for an office or bedroom system, this outclasses it 10x in power, 10x in THD+Noise, 10x in energy efficiency, + frequency response, but also plays USB, FM/AM radio, satellite radio, Bluetooth, network with Pandora and Spotify, hi-res DSD 5.6MHz and 384/32 digital, CD, phono, optical or coax digital inputs, and costs less from a company with a warranty.

    [​IMG]

    (and has a remote control and WiFi)
     
  20. EasterEverywhere

    EasterEverywhere Forum Resident

    Location:
    Albuquerque
    And only four tubes for the whole amp.A lot of older amps from back in the day use a quad of EL84s,my Fisher X-101 is one,but these amps had EL84s as a larger complement of tubes.

    I assume this is made in China?
     
  21. Benzion

    Benzion "Cogito, ergo sum" Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY
    No one noticed the lack of ground connection for the "phono" input? This thing must hum like a worker bee...
     
  22. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    Richard, I recently purchased a PrimaLuna Prologue Five from someone who bought it from Kevin during the close out sale that his company, Upscale Audio, is running.

    The five is KT-88 based 36-WPC and the Four is EL-34 based. They are selling at closeout, because these power amplifiers are no longer being manufactured. The remaining stock of the Five's are being sold for $1,099 and the Four's are selling for $200 less at $899.

    I consider these to be so particularly excellent prices, considering what quality tube amplifier's with the larger power tubes are selling for.

    Currently, I have eight tube amplifiers, with power ranging from the Rogue M-150 monoblock's at 150-WPC in the pentode mode and 75-WPC in the triode mode, to a small single ended pentode amp from Decware which produces all of 3.9-Watts.

    I have a vintage Scott 222C integrated and a Fisher 500C, and overall this amp just nails it. The Fisher sounds nice, but I need to get a case for it, it has been professionally restored by one of our members. The Scott has been restored some years prior to my purchase and I really like the sound of it. It utilizes tubes in the EL84 family and I really like its classic sound signature. It has an output of about 20-22 Watts and that is sufficient to drive the A7's and the vintage Wharfedale's. But I have some annoying hum issues and have it retired, for the time being.

    I like KT-88 tube amps. I know that many don't care for them, but KT-88 amps with modern amps are totally different than some of the same tubes in vintage amps that did not have ample enough power supplies and had that muddy sounding bass.

    The Prologue Five is the perfect overall amp. It is rated at more power than I will ever actually require, sounds good, has plenty of nice, natural bass and is completely silent, when no source is playing.

    The KingKo amp would work well for me, because, at 12-Watts, it has enough to power the A7's and I like the sound of EL-34's very much. And, it is inexpensive to operate, because of the reasonable prices on the EL84 tubes.

    But, for most people, who have speakers of a more normal efficiency of 87dB to 90dB, they could use an amp that has more oomph! The Five or the Four fills this requirement quite nicely.

    For the money, those looking to get into tubes, this is a great time to take advantage of these close-out prices.

    I feel that these are excellent tube amps and there is nothing that I am aware of that can match these at their price/performance level.

    And @Benzion (see above post) purchased on of Kevin's Prologue Four's back at the end of Summer.
     
    bluemooze and EasterEverywhere like this.
  23. Paully

    Paully De gustibus non est disputandum

    Location:
    Tennessee
    Well, in our defense I didn't see anything in the title or original post that indicated that.
     
    Standingstones likes this.
  24. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    Excellent point!
     
  25. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    Come on, get real, @action pact is a well known established and contributing member of this forum. Of course, he is not suggesting that a tube amplifier that retails for $329.99 is going to be "audiophile" quality anything.

    I don't believe that Bluetooth and audiophile even belong in the same sentence, let alone be touted as a feature on this amp.

    It is, what it is, nothing more.
     
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