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Chinabest on ebay, good source of tubes, also first impressions of my Don Allen 45 amp

A while ago someone posted a thread asking if anyone bought from chinabest on ebay. I noted how I bought but was waiting. Well it took a little over 2 weeks but the tubes came. I will mention they came in a well padded/bubble wrapped plastic mailing envelope of sorts, yeah Id much rather see a well padded box! They had their original boxes which are thin and not terribly durable, and contained a small test card showing mu and v tested. Again they came unharmed to me and worked great.

I also while waiting for my amp to arrive bought a pair of matched NU tubes on the bay for comparison. They have black plates and an octagon around the 45 on the glass so Im guessing their RCA.

To start this, IMO there is no comparison as far as the NU and the TJ go. The TJ tubes are night and day better (TO MY EARS) on the amp. Don has noted he and others felt this way in testing too. The TJs just play louder without distortion and sound fuller, cleaner, far more spacious and just plain better. There was just NO comparison to be made by me it was sooo obvious. I even listened to the NU tubes at first as when the amp came my equipment was stacked so I could not use the TJ tubes as they are far taller. So I used the NU and was very happy. Then a few hrs past and I wanted to hear the TJ so I rearranged the equipment. And BAM I was blown away! If others prefer the older 45s, great, to each their own. This is just my experience.

This is my first 45 amp and only have experience with my other 300b amps on this rig. The first thing that hit me about this integrated 45 amp was the POWER. I will admit I was leery about getting this amp and being disappointed about the power output. But, for a really generic comparison, the 300b amps are 7 watts and this is a solid 2. It sounds like 5 as far as usable loud levels when compared to the 300b amps. This was tested on about 94 db fostex sig168 rear horns with a 1st order xover and a visaton horn tweeter. As I told Don I would without hesitation go with this 45 amp on that system and not feel cheated on power. Yes its a smaller room, about 15 x 15 and I use a powered sub wired in from the output of the 45 amp. Sound wise Ive never been happier.

Theres really nothing I can say about the amp beyond it does everything right. No your not going to play house party levels with this setup but thats not what I was after nor would most I think. I first got Dons phono pre and from the performance (and considering the low cost) I wanted to hear more of his work. I am now also using his modded philips CD player. I was also worried about getting a cheap CD player made in 1992 retaining its original DA and Clock while modding only the output stage to a tube output. I found the CD player at goodwill, it was a single disc as he usually finds the 5 disc models. So I tried it here at my apt and WOW, stock it sounds like %#$& as one would expect. But after sending it to him for the work, again no comparison. I just cant believe it. Its now smooth sounding with VERY detailed top end and a full bottom end. Very spacious sounding too. I dont feel Im missing any high rez detail with it. Plus its cool with his designs you can use different model tubes on the input of the amp and the out on the CD player. It was a night and day thing when I was rolling on the 45 amp. Im now sending him my 300b amps for the re-design and one of his pre amps to mate with em.

I could site here use all the fun audiophile terms to describe all this equipment. I really dont feel the need though. They all sound amazing! Im happy and dont feel the need to chance much other than my sub setup. Already have an idea for that, I suppose it doesnt ever totally end :-)

All the best

Dave


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Topic - Chinabest on ebay, good source of tubes, also first impressions of my Don Allen 45 amp - 2chJunkie 10:03:43 10/28/06 (13)


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