HiFi - Integrated amplifier advice.

Thanks.

Yep; single ended. It's a Tubelab SE design.

The input stage are 5842 valves. I bought a few of those as they aren't easy to find these days..
Power are 300b valves.
Yep, 5U4
Yep, James Audio 6123H OT's
James Audio 10H 200MA choke

Top plate is 2.4mm copper and hidden from view is one of these beasts

I run an umbilical to the Edcor 131 power supply which sits on the shelf below.

You've got me missing my amp building days, and it's been nice hearing terms like bias resistor bandied around. I never did hifi, all my amps being intended to distort in various ways (single ended class A always best for cleans though, PP A/B for drive tones). :D
 
I was about to suggest Exposure as they are, I think still British made, but then I checked out the prices. I am still using my Exposure X which must be getting on for 30 years old.
 
Exposure 2510 is a possible. It has tape in/out too.

It's about the top of the budget though and getting on for 3 x the price of a Chinese made / pretending to be British box from Arcam, Quad and the like.
 
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But no tone and balance controls.

Are we going anywhere with this?

:D

I may have to compromise to buy a higher end UK made amp but I might just relent and buy a Marantz/Yamaha. I don't know yet. At least I've got a vague idea of what's available now both British made and not and that's good as I had no real idea before I started this thread, as I said, I used to be really into hifi but I just haven't kept up for over 20 years or more now.

The one thing I think I'm going to insist on is that everything plugs in and works including my tape deck.
 
Well, this has all been a rather soul destroying exercise.

First I find that much of the UK hifi industry has simply melted away and now mostly only exists as the old names on Chinese made products and then I find that amps with balance and tone controls and tape in/out are very few and far between. Now I find that the few Japanese (and even these often aren't made in Japan anymore) options are problematic too as they wont fit the space I have and would need reorganisation, buying new furniture and disposing of the old. The Rega Elix R is British made and has tape in/out and fits the space but it has next to no on unit controls and relies on one of the crappiest cheapest looking remote controls I've seen.

I might just give up and replace the dial on my Arcam again. That should put the decision off for another 6 months until one of these crappy dials fail again.

Oh well. Thanks all who've been patient and contributed but I've just had enough disappointment and spent way too much time Googling for now so I'm going to give up.
 
Well, this has all been a rather soul destroying exercise.

First I find that much of the UK hifi industry has simply melted away and now mostly only exists as the old names on Chinese made products and then I find that amps with balance and tone controls and tape in/out are very few and far between. Now I find that the few Japanese (and even these often aren't made in Japan anymore) options are problematic too as they wont fit the space I have and would need reorganisation, buying new furniture and disposing of the old. The Rega Elix R is British made and has tape in/out and fits the space but it has next to no on unit controls and relies on one of the crappiest cheapest looking remote controls I've seen.

I might just give up and replace the dial on my Arcam again. That should put the decision off for another 6 months until one of these crappy dials fail again.

Oh well. Thanks all who've been patient and contributed but I've just had enough disappointment and spent way too much time Googling for now so I'm going to give up.

Sorry to read that you have not been able to find a solution. Also disappointed that so many British names have been acquired by the Chinese, no idea if R&D is still carried out in the UK or whether everything is now done in China.

Can I ask why tape is so important?

Hope you have more success next time.
 
Sorry to read that you have not been able to find a solution. Also disappointed that so many British names have been acquired by the Chinese, no idea if R&D is still carried out in the UK or whether everything is now done in China.

Can I ask why tape is so important?

Hope you have more success next time.
I don't think it's because they've so much been acquired by the Chinese. A lot of the UK hifi companies will do their R&D here, but the products will be built in a Chinese factory....due to cost savings...

Tape is important as Alan has said he wants to plug in his tape deck, so I would assume he has a collection of tapes, and still wants to make recordings...otherwise he could plug the tape deck into another input for playback only....
 
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Sorry to read that you have not been able to find a solution. Also disappointed that so many British names have been acquired by the Chinese, no idea if R&D is still carried out in the UK or whether everything is now done in China.

Can I ask why tape is so important?

Hope you have more success next time.

I have some old tapes I still listen to from time to time. I have a system upstairs that I could plug both my tape deck and CD recorder into to copy from tape to CD and I'll have to get round to that. Specifically I have tapes of people sadly no longer with us talking, telling stories and singing. Copying those to CD will enable me to listen and keep the recordings going but I do sort of like listening to the tapes they were recorded on as it's another link, I was there and I made the tapes. I wouldn't trust an in car cassette deck and the hifi one I have (a Denon) is the only thing I have at the mo that can play cassettes, other than in the car.

Several names I remember still exist, Naim is now French and Gosh knows where they're made, the boss of Musical Fidelity retired, sold the company to an Austrian company who are transferring or have transferred design to Austria whilst making the boxes in China, Arcam have been sold a couple of times and I think are now owned by Samsung, made in China I think, Audiolab, Quad and a few others are owned by IAG who I think are British but they make their stuff in a large factory in China.
From wiki... "Employing 1500 people in the region" and "Design of the products is done by Chinese, American and European designers." So, to me these marques exist in name only. Linn still exist (I have an LP12) but I found their web site incomprehensible and quickly gave up :D Sugden are still going and making stuff in Yorkshire but having seen how some of their older stuff was made I struggle with the thought of paying £2k-3k or more even if they have the inputs and controls I want. That's maybe unfair to them, hopefully their current range is well designed and well made but I'd want to see inside the box for myself before giving them 1p.

Creek are still going but the i20 cost over £4k. However, the Riga Elex R is in range at just under £1k and the Roksan K3 is in range too at £1,300. These don't have balance and tone controls and I don't know if they have a mono switch either.

PS.
I had a Nytech CA252 years ago and they've been reborn in Wales, but too few inputs for me.
 
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I've spent an absolute age on this :D

I've just about given up on the Arcam as the dials are a constant annoyance and they've needed to be replaced or cleaned multiple times and it's just a merry go round I want to get off. Having said that it's been going or sort of going for decades. But I've had enough and the parts seem to unobtainable now anyway.

The modern new British amps that are available don't have the controls I'd ideally like and some lack just about any controls needing to be operated by the remote which I'm not a fan of. Some of the cheaper Japanese ones like the Yamaha and Marantz do have the inputs and controls but they wont fit on the shelf and reorganising the room would make finding an amp look easy.

I'll have to do something and as I don't think I can get the parts for the Arcam anymore so I'll have to either buy something new or buy something used.

I'll have a another think :D
 
I don't think it's because they've so much been acquired by the Chinese. A lot of the UK hifi companies will do their R&D here, but the products will be built in a Chinese factory....due to cost savings...

Not sure about this, please see Alan‘s posts. IAG I understand is Chinese owned.

Does it make any difference, probably not, times have moved on.

Like camera equipment, try before you buy if possible as one person’s great amp is another’s nightmare.

Unfortunately for Alan, nobody seems to make what he requires within the price range.
 
IAG is afaik UK based with the factory in China employing 1,500 people in the region according to Wiki. I suppose there's some benefit to the UK economy through employing a few staff and paying some tax but I bet those 1,500 jobs and no doubt more in the chain would be very welcome here too. The cost of doing business in the UK is IMO too high but some do manage.

It's not just the price range that's the problem it's more that the cheaper ones sometimes have the connections and controls whereas the more up market ones don't tend to. I think it's been the case for a long time as they're thought to not need them or to be purer without them. It's like higher end cameras not having a built in flash. I'd fit these things as what do you do if you have higher end kit but need the things it hasn't got? Buy another cheaper system to use alongside it? Of course cassette decks will be becoming rarer by the day so I expect the ability to connect them to be phased out as only older people and geeks will want to still use them. There are already amps without a phono input and CD's might go next and eventually I suppose everything will be streamed regardless of quality.

I might take the Arcam apart again tomorrow but whatever I do I will make a decision tomorrow :D

Thanks again all :D At least it's been a learning experience :D
 
Please let us know how you get on with it.

Yes, I'll post a mini review. It won't arrive for a few days yet but might come just in time as I may be having a little op on one of my feet next week and if it happens I might be stuck home convalescing and listening to music :D
 
no tone controls tho?

Very probably not. Ideally I'd like tone and balance controls and the ability to switch to mono but it seems that these things are getting rare... which I think is a shame. I'm hoping that there's some sort of "mode" including some of the things I'm missing as I did see that in one review but I can't remember what the amp that was for as I looked at so many. I'm not too hopeful.

In reality the vast amount of things I listen too wont need these things. I'll see how annoyed and irritated I get and if I do get too much so there's always the option of trotting upstairs to use my other system equipped with a Creek 4040 which has everything.

The other option of getting an amp with what I want would involve redoing the room or buying a used amp. Years ago when we got the kitchen done I persuaded the company that cut all the woodwork to make me a couple of cabinets and they are very nice and as they were designed by me they fit my needs perfectly. I could design some new cabinets but the cost and hassle would be significant whereas I can just slot this new amp in.

It may be an expensive mistake, I'll just have to wait and see as time will tell. I am a bit peeved that technology has moved on as imo it doesn't always do so for the best or rather for my best but hey-ho.

I'll come back and tell people what I think.
 
Fair play like, i'm off to PMT in Leeds this aft to check out a pair of active Yamaha HS8s as I have decided to start looking at the Active route.
 
Just thinking about that sketch above and 78's, I think I'm right in saying that some people saw the move away from 78's as a bad thing... I double checked and Wiki has an interesting page...

Enjoy! :D

 
Years ago I went to a hifi shop and listened to a Musical Fidelity amp and some Monitor Audio speakers and it was wonderful. Musical Fidelity exist in name only now with design passing to Austria and manufacture being in China but Monitor Audio are still going but I can't remember what those speakers were, maybe R151. I have a pair of R252's upstairs. Downstairs I have Tannoy of some sort.
 
Cool,
I fancy the Kef LSX or LS50 active speakers....
I have the passive LS50 speakers, which I've been very impressed with. There are now new versions of these and the active version (LS50 Meta and LS50 Wireless II), so maybe some bargains to be had with the originals.
 
Just thinking about that sketch above and 78's, I think I'm right in saying that some people saw the move away from 78's as a bad thing... I double checked and Wiki has an interesting page...

Enjoy! :D

It's astonishing what was possible even with the earliest technology. Here's a 78 of a recording from 1906, done without electricity. Caruso sang into a horn, and the air pressure drove a mechanical stylus that engraved the master recording.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vljpP34bo7s
 
Years ago I went to a hifi shop and listened to a Musical Fidelity amp and some Monitor Audio speakers and it was wonderful. Musical Fidelity exist in name only now with design passing to Austria and manufacture being in China but Monitor Audio are still going but I can't remember what those speakers were, maybe R151. I have a pair of R252's upstairs. Downstairs I have Tannoy of some sort.
I have a pair of Monitor Audio Bronze B2's in the Kitchen/Dining/Conservatory and a pair of Tannoy M1's in the front room. Both sound great. Monitor Audio used to have a base near Southend but i noticed the logo had been removed from the building when i passed earlier this year.
 
I have a pair of Monitor Audio Bronze B2's in the Kitchen/Dining/Conservatory and a pair of Tannoy M1's in the front room. Both sound great. Monitor Audio used to have a base near Southend but i noticed the logo had been removed from the building when i passed earlier this year.
Used to have a pair of Tannoy DC12's
Awesome sound...
TannoyTD12.jpg
 
I have a pair of Monitor Audio Bronze B2's in the Kitchen/Dining/Conservatory and a pair of Tannoy M1's in the front room. Both sound great. Monitor Audio used to have a base near Southend but i noticed the logo had been removed from the building when i passed earlier this year.

From wiki...

"In 1976, Monitor Audio brought its manufacturing process in-house and moved to a factory in the heart of Essex. In 2000, it moved to a larger facility in nearby Rayleigh, where it remains. Monitor Audio made the manufacturing move to China in 2004."

Although the above is slightly confusing they probably make stuff in China now. A shame imo. I see they bought Roskan, I hope they don't ship that out to China too.

My Monitor Audio R252's give a nice sound, not neutral at all but still nice whilst my Tannoys are more neutral.

I'm looking forward to my new amp coming now :D
 
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From wiki...

"In 1976, Monitor Audio brought its manufacturing process in-house and moved to a factory in the heart of Essex. In 2000, it moved to a larger facility in nearby Rayleigh, where it remains. Monitor Audio made the manufacturing move to China in 2004."

Although the above is slightly confusing they probably make stuff in China now. A shame imo. I see they bought Roskan, I hope they don't ship that out to China too.

My Monitor Audio R252's give a nice sound, not neutral at all but still nice whilst my Tannoys are more neutral.

I'm looking forward to my new amp coming now :D
Just checked and they are in the still in the same spot next to the A127, it looks like they have clad the building with a grey metal sheet as it was a grotty brick building with opaque wired glass windows.
 
I hope they're still making stuff there. One thing I remember about them from the days when I was into hifi was that they were known for nice woodwork. I can't really fault my R252's, they were cheap, they sound good (but not neutral) and they've certainly kept their good looks.
 
Nice one.

Are you running them from the laptop via a DAC?

yes, they taka a balanced 1/4 inch or XLR as they are classed as studio monitors.
you can run them in unbalanced mode though.
i am using a focusright scarlet solo as the DAC and pre-amp and connected to my laptop
using fubar 2000 as my software to play my digital files
 
i got mine from PMT Leeds
£399 for a pair of the Yam HS8s
£80 for the focusright scarlet solo
they gave me free cables which are 6m 1/4 to XLR balanced cables x2
 
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