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I bought the amp new without valves so I could fit what I wanted! I fitted Psvane KT88-T Reference valves with TJ Full Music 6SN7’s & 12AX7’s, what joy! Straight out of their Big Box they sounded great, so smooth with a firm well controlled bass & great clarity. ( Note the FM 6SN7’s do sound a bit sharp until about 7 hours has pasted) The Bias was set after a 15 minute warm up & all was well. The sound was so good I canceled an evening out to stay in & play my records ( who needs a girl friend anyway). Set Bias in UL mode only! However after an hour there was a load hum from the right channel & I noticed the V3 tube was glowing bright orange!!!!!! I quickly powered the amp down (still using a Variac) I gave it 1 minute then slowly powered it back up to full voltage, all was well. I guessed the problem could be down to the Bias, when checked that valve (V3) it was well low (.41v) the others were also all over the place, remember I had set them only an hour ago! I guess the control grid on the V3 valve had failed due to the low Bias voltage which allowed the valve to run wild. The Bias was reset & all was well. I checked the Bias ever hour, (sounds excessive I know, but very necessary) they were swinging about all over the place. Set Bias in UL mode only! After about 5 hours they were starting to stabilize, in the next two hours they changed very little on the Bias voltage, now all seemed well. The amp sounds so good, very accurate, firm solid bass well controlled, instruments sound so real, I play a “Rickie Lee Jones” LP (180gram) & it sounded like she was in the room, I looked behind the sofa for the band, but no sign of them! nor could I find where Diana Krall had hidden her Grand piano in my lounge? The 88’s now have about 10 hours on them & about 24 hours on the Full Music tubes, so their far from being burn it, and can only get better, hard for me to believe that’s possible, it sounds so good now. If you go for some of these Exotic black bottle power tubes, check the Bias Every Hour for the first 6 hours. Set Bias at .55v for the first 15-20 hours then you can reduce it to .50v, unwise to go much lower, depending on valves in use. Order the 240 volt unit for the UK, don’t use the supplied power lead, it’s dangerous (Not fused). Set Bias at .55v for the first 15-20 hours then you can reduce it to .50v, unwise to go much lower, depending on valves in use. These are really great amps out of the box, but changing the coupling caps for a decent make takes it to a new level.Read full review
Verified purchase: No
Simply put this Chinese amp sounds amazing with a good source and easily drives my roksan tr5. Upgrading valves can be worthwhile. Be aware that these amps are designed to run 220v with only a little wiggle room. My supply voltage averages at 250v which would stress this amp too much. Simply use a variac and meter to get the correct voltage, then bias your tubes.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
have owned a number of Yaqin amplifiers all very reliable. this monoblock amplifier is without a doubt the best so far. very smooth sounding amplifier with plenty of spare volume even to drive hard to drive speakers. an ideal amp to use with electrostatic speakers.
Verified purchase: No