Which tube amp? Cayin A50T(El34) or Jungson v33 (KT88)

[osborne]

I am thinking of making my first plunge into Tube Amplifiers. I have whittled it down to either a Cayin A50T which has great reviews and the Jungson V33 which has absolutely none. The reason I am contemplating the Jungson V33 is because its a KT88 tube amp (and the J88d much acclaimed) , which I am told will provide less distortion and better suited to classical music as it has better bass and highs, tho i listen quite abit to vocals as well, which the EL34 are supposed to excel in. I am hoping to attach either my AAD C880 speakers 6ohms 93db sensitivity or my Onkyo OM1 speakers. Any comment would be welcomed. My budget is about $1k. I currently have a denon 1680(i think)av amp and wonder which tube amp would sound the best for my needs.

Thanks.

Edited September 6, 2012 by osborne

[Cafad]

Hi osborne. I have an EL34 integrated amp and I have to say that it does not lack for bass. I had heard that the KT88 has better bass but I certainly can't say that the EL34 needs any more than it already has. Those both look like nice amps, I suspect both will do a very good job.

Are you planning on buying them from overseas?

[osborne]

Hi Cafad, Thanks for your reply. Yes I am planning to import from cattylink. Did you get yours from overseas as well? I wonder if anyone else have had dealings with them. I must admit if all things equal, I am more attracted to the V33 just by pure looks, but then Its hard to ignore all the good reviews for A50T .

[Cafad]

I have had a few dealings with Cattylink and found them to be reliable, one bonus of buying from them is that they tend to (but not always) supply an english manual with each product. They do however also charge quite a high shipping fee. I have also bought from hiendking and while they tend to be a bit cheaper (in that they don't charge as much for shipping) they do not tend to supply a manual. Both sites are good to browse every now and then.

My EL34 is a Joe Rassmussen JLTI, which is a Yaqin custom modified by Joe down in Sydney. You can check out the details on Joes site, http://www.customana...ti_el34.htm�� it should be of interest to you.

Cheers!

Edited September 6, 2012 by Cafad

[DAMO 1147]

Did i see a cayin in the clasifies - $750.00 and mint i thought.

[Cafad]

Well spotted Damo, good thing one of us is on the ball. I think it may be in sale pending mode, someone has PM'ed about it. Certainly worth watching though, just in case.

[SteveC]

I just took delivery of the little appj el84 (aka miniwatt) to pair with Zu omen Bookshelves. Like you just wanted to try valves. Only had it running a few hours but sounds great. It's like getting a DAC upgrade. Everything seems more detailed. This is about the cheapest way to try tubes.

So far this is the best pairing with the Zu's. I tried 3 different SS amps but this just sounds so right. Nothing new here SET and these speakers go together but I was avoiding getting a tube amp for the usual reasons. Anyway back to the music.

[osborne]

Did i see a cayin in the clasifies - $750.00 and mint i thought.

think i've just missed out, thanks for that Damo.

@ Cafad, thanks, i will check out Hiendking, good to hear that you have dealt with them and that they are legit, as i've only read about cattylink other forums.

@guitarsteve, Thanks I am looking forward to tryig out a tube amp.

Wonder if there is anywhere in Sydney that I can audition an EL34 and a KT88 amp.

[houdinifangs]

Used valve amps show in the FS thread pretty regularly. Might be worth keeping a tight watch there for a little while. It would also be worth looking into Earles amps http://www.westonacoustics.com/service1.html

[Braddles 63]

Osborne

I got the Cayin from the FS thread. I have some Tekton Lore speakers (97db) and currently running them with a Traformatic Aries SE amp (6wpc). Wanted to see what a PP with some more WPC would do to them. I wont be keeping both amps so i will let you know if the Cayin isn't for me, if you havent found something in the mean time.

[frankn]

Check out my JLTi KT88 in FS section - bit more than you say you want to pay but a very good amplifier.

[Warren M.]

Frankn is offering a JLTi KT-88 Mk2 with KT-120 output tubes in the classifieds here. I have one of these and I can assure you it will demolish an unmodified Chinese KT88 or EL34 based amplifier at anywhere near the price.

I can tell you that I heard VTL valve monoblocks and preamp last Sunday at ASoN. Superb. But for $30,000+ I'm not so sure. Went home and put on a couple of the tracks we listened to (I borrowed the ASoN SACDs and CDs for the month) on my JLTi Oppo 95 playing through my JLTi KT-88 Mk2. The VTLs had way more power (than I need) and sounded superb, but I think the JLTi sounded better! Different system of course (and I've got the best SACD player I've ever heard), but the JLTi really is the equal of valve amps costing many times its price.

In a 5-way blind test a couple of years ago (I wasn't in ASoN at the time) a JLTi EL34 like the one mentioned somewhere in this thread, beat a swag of amps, all of which were significantly more expensive.

If you want to wait around (and hope that FrankN's JLTi is still available), I'll be running a double-blind test at ASoN on October 7, comparing my JLTi Oppo 95 with a stock unit. The amplifier will be my JLTi KT-88 Mk2. You'll hear 1st-hand what the JLTi amp sounds like. It was a presentation like this one last year which convinced me that I had finally found my amplifier!

Cheers

Warren

Edited September 7, 2012 by warrenmmmmm

[osborne]

@Braddles63, Ok Thanks, and if you decide to keep the Cayin, tell me what you think of it.

@Frankn & Warren, Thanks, will check them out.

@houdinifangs, thanks, have you auditioned them?

completely off topic, I wonder if I should get a DAC as i also intend to feed the amp with a squeezebox 3. wonder which would make a bigger splash on the sound quality, a DAC or a tube amplifier,