General Asylum

Posted by Caucasian Blackplate (P) on November 22, 2017 at 10:12:42

In Reply to: RE: I understand the China thing but... here is my take as a fan of Chinese high end equipment posted by bullethead on November 22, 2017 at 05:40:16

Having repaired and bench tested 3 or 4 different Chinese tube amps every year for the last couple of years, I would say that I have yet to even have anything come across my bench that actually meets the manufacturer's specifications.

There's a good thread on another forum about the Yaqin MC-100B putting out about 18W (it's supposed to be 60W) with some other issues as well. The last Chinese amp I had on my bench was designed and distributed by an American company, and it was a push-pull EL34 amp rated at 45WPC at 5% THD. It made 3.5W at 5% THD (the amp was brand new, sealed from the factory).

A lot of the reliability issues I end up seeing are with power transformers not wound properly for US voltages and a little bit small for the intended use. They seem to go pop after about 4 or 5 years of normal use, and the steel covers put over them don't help. It's pretty brutal when I had someone a repair bill for $400 on their $650 Chinese amp, but it's worthless scrap unless they repair it.

The actual performance problems tend to come from poorly designed/manufactured output transformers. This is also something that can be fixed down the road.