Russian Tube Preamp, No Return, Here I go again

@ lewm
"In support of what Chak says about expedited shipping, I have purchased various capacitors from Russian vendors on eBay. The shipping time is very short, sometimes as little as 4-5 days. Much faster than buying from Canada, most of the time. I stopped using one Canadian parts supplier because customs was so slow."...............



Its actually your countries customs that delays parcels from delivery.
NOT the country shipped from. That works both ways. From your country to here in Canada , then it’s Canada customs who delays its release for delivering.... sometimes it sails right through after a quick check.....other times not so much....their is a human element to it....literally luck of the draw of how/when package is cleared....
The best experience I have always had is with Royal mail out of Britain to Canada post for delivery.
The US/Canada border...crap shoot and sometimes the bs "brokerage" and other various charges we get burnt for from the brown shirts....

In any event....I hope the OP gets his purchase quickly and it exceeds his expectations. ...
Cheers

My statement stands as written. Why the difference between the two countries is probably explained in your post. I have had some bad experiences with merchandise coming from Canada into the US. In one case, my turntable was delivered to someone in Iowa. (I live in Maryland.)  The remedy for that was to send it back to Canada and THEN to me. One Canadian who wanted to buy something from me (the opposite direction of shipping) asked me to send it to an address in North Dakota. He planned to drive across the border to pick it up, rather than to endure the customs delays (and worse, damage sometimes).

@ chakster.  

You right, It is stupid to say there is no audiophile scene in Russia and nobody tried to say that. High End shows festivals, stores and shops does exist in Moscow and few other sites, but equipment production sector is extremely narrow there, it’s almost nothing compared to what we have here in US or Europe, Japan. However tech guys from Russia does play big role in world industry (BAT, Lamm Industries etc...) probably business climate is just not right there, or government priorities is in another universe:)

... probably business climate is just not right there, or government priorities is in another universe:)

Absolutely! Right

drease

Square Trade

because I made an offer, they accepted, eBay generated an invoice that didn’t offer the option.

I hadn’t noticed the option on the original listing, until I had already paid,

Sooo, it is up to me to buy a separate square trade warranty myself. I’m gonna open the preamp up first, have a good look, then test it, decide then.
...........................................

The plan of mice and man: (mostly Vintage). Everything revised since joining this forum.

One of these days I will take some photos and post them here.

Play it on small system as ricmci suggests:

1. shop/garage system: CD; Vintage Technics SL-J33 TT; Vintage Tandberg SS receiver; two vintage pairs of small speakers

and: to look for smoke as tablejockey joked about.

or, as I finally got aewarrens joke: see if it is Roland DARK SOUND!

2. Next in main system, sound shootout against my Vintage McIntosh tube tuner/preamp mx110z to my Chinese built Cayin tube amp to my oldest component: speakers with Electro-Voice drivers made in 1958. Vintage JVC Tt with 2 Vintage arms, and the new long Russian Blackbird, the source of this ’Russian Again" discussion.

3. Then upstairs to complete my happy office system:

a. Streaming/CD via computer

TT/R2R side by side on 3 shelf high bookcases (nice stand up operating height). This little preamp will sit on one side, an old RCA 45 player other side (for looks, never hooked it up).

b. Mitsubishi Vertical Turntable LT-5V (I traded Bill for my Fisher 800C)

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mitsubishi-LT-5V-turntable-Calibration-and-Tune-up-service/292662721073?has...

c. Teac X2000r R2R used vertically for the first time, now wearing it’s Mickey Mouse Dust Cover

https://www.google.com/search?q=teac+x2000r+dust+cover&rlz=1C1SQJL_enUS881US881&sxsrf=ALeKk0...

bring up my Vintage (also 1958) Fisher 80Z Mono Blocks (mine don't have cages or faceplates, they were concealed in original console)

https://reverb.com/item/18222527-fully-restored-pair-of-fisher-80az-monoblocks-30wpc-mono-power-amps...

Vintage B&W bookshelf speakers ear level, Vintage Velodyne Sub.

I installed a very quiet exhaust fan in the far corner of the ceiling that I use in the summer to pull the computer monitor’s heat out of here, it will now do some winter work I expect.

hmmm, maybe I’ll put the Mono Blocks on top, left and right of the TT/R2R: in sight, right above their speakers, heat starting from a height closer to the ceiling, move the new preamp into the shelves below.
..................................

"Yeah, that’s the ticket"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyp9fh-u4w8