2. amps-preamps
  3. 173969-1453

China built tube amps

Well I had an interesting conversation today. I contacted a large dealer and let him know I would like to buy a certain integrated tube amplifier that is made in China. I was told he wouldn't sell me one. He said they are all junk.  Prima Luna, Line Magnetic, Cayin, etc, etc, he said forget it. If you want a tube amplifier buy an American or European built unit that can be serviced.

So, I am new to valve amplifiers and I want to try one to understand what they're all about and sort of get my feet wet with tube rolling etc. I don't want to spend a lot of money at first which is why I was looking at Chinese built integrateds. So my question is, without getting into any particular brand other than what I have already mentioned, what is your experience with Chinese built tube amps? As a whole are they reliable? Am I wasting my money if I buy one according to this dealer? I have to admit I was rather taken aback by how adamant he was. Thoughts anyone?

128x128falconquest
catr's avatar
catr
7 posts
 

this topic/thread reminds me of the experience i had with a local singapore hifi shop owner selling out of beach road (not adelphi where 97% of all high end audio is sold in singapore), AV something something was the shop

wanted an audition of a class d amp, and sizing me up, he 'politely' bamboozled me with a demo of his (one speaker hooked up only) self modded Qacoustics speaker which even after mods, did not sound good at all.

(man he could talk and talk, but never once allowed me to listen to the amp i wanted to ...ahole...) 

anyway, discussion turned to me wanting to buy from china, since he was not gonna let me buy from him (wanted to sell me an italian amp that looked really shoddily made that was 2000% over my budget) and he WARNED me in no uncertain terms that the metals used in china amps CORRODED in singapore weather unless TREATED by HIM and HIM ALONE who holds the magic knowledge of china amp maintenance so i better buy through him instead

to date i never went back to that ogre's shop. i also bought a number of chinese amps with no corrosion issues even after many years of use

sellers, eh? 

dustyb13
17 posts
 

I have a Cayin integrated, not my daily piece but I really like it.  I've had no problems with it.

pesky_wabbit's avatar
pesky_wabbit
1,183 posts
 

@veerossi Doctor GOAT👍 🇨🇮

Assen 2015 🤗

knighttodd's avatar
knighttodd
205 posts
 

Just picked up a  Melody h6550 integrated. Can't really find any information on it. Anybody no anything about them. It has 4 electro harmonix kt88 tunes, 4 Melody 6sn7 that say Australia  and2 Melody 12ax7 that also say Australia. Could the smaller tunes be original? What could I use to replace these. The unit sounds great but the smaller tunes are showing some burn marks. Thanks 

perkri
908 posts
 

Once the warranty is up on something, any decent local tech should be able to fix a tube amp should something go  wrong with it. Not so much in the way of unobtanium parts inside a tube amp.

Replace the electrolytic caps every 30 years, and it’s should keep on keeping on.

60 year old diy Heathkit/Dynakit amps are still going strong. And they were built by someone’s uncle in a basement :)

More to discover