for the valve people

Residual value dude - your money would stay in the product, even if you sell it in 5 or 10 years time I would imagine.

Also, valve amp design hasnt changed much (although its wise to get a serviced and checked out one, to save you hastle)

 

I wouldn't worry TOO much about the transformers, they will be ok, perhaps not the bees nees, but adequate.

Its just the frequency extremes with cheap transformers, I have done a bit of reading about them, the core size, rather like speaker box size, sets the amount of bass the transformer can pass before saturating/ maximum inductance.
And the winding method sets the hi frequency.More elaborate arrangements can reduce leakage/ capacitance, which raises the cutoff. This is largely irrelevant, as its quite straightforward to get 30khz easily.
It is not the case tho that the midrange is unaffected, oddly, tranformers are supposedly pure resistive in the mid., but they all sound different...weird.
Small mains transformers get warmer,too.

 

Cheers for the comments guys. I'm beginning to think that for the cost of the monoblocks plus the preamp I'd be better off going for the WAD Kel84 kit and getting slightly more output power and better(?) transformers. Plus I'd get the joy of inhaling solder fumes and scope to tweak .

 

you might want to PM sideshowbob. He had a kel84 kit that he never put together. Dont know if he still has it or has sold it. nb He had a leak stereo 20 at one point too.

Chris

 

"not so sure about spending £300+ on an antique though"

I wouldn't be too worried on that front... For the last 10 years I have been using an old valve amp built in the early 1960's. Never missed a beat except for the occasional valve change. I wonder how many amps have been built and died in that time

Oh and BTW, it sounds very good too................

 

Well I finally decided to bite the bullet and ordered myself a Kel84 kit from WAD. I reckoned this was the best of both worlds as it will satisfy my DIY urges but at the same time is cheaper/easier than going the full DIY route. Thanks to everyone who made suggestions/comments/recommendations.

 

Its a really lovely amp, I used to have one, fine as long as your room isn't huge or your speakers tough to drive.
You won't regret it, do keep us informed when its built, just read the instructions a couple of times first, and then take it slow and easy. Better to take time on the build than to sort out problems later, can be a real pain.

 

Cheers for the recommendation Lt Cdr Data. I'm really looking forward to putting it together when it arrives. I reckon it shouldn't have too much trouble driving the 11L's, especially as I don't have a particulary large room or listen to my music that loud.

 

You'll probably be surprised just how much power a 2xEL84 amp actually gives in prictice - my amp also uses the EL84 in the same configuration (although it was built 40 years ago ! ), and its a lovely sweet sound........

 

Well having placed my order with WAD it appears that they've decided to revamp their range of kits. Apparently their replacing the Kecl82 with a single input version of the Kel84, and replacing the existing Kel84 with an 'upgraded' version for around £50 more. So it looks like I'll be changing my order to an 'upgraded' Kel84, just waiting for them to confim the prices/details by email this afternoon.

 

well I have just gotten Haden's pre, and its absolutely utterly sublime for the cash, £170 for a remote valve pre, who'd have heard of it?
I could be tempted with the powers. No qualms whatsoever.

 

Glad you like the pre-amp. I'm still leaning more towards the WAD kit as it offers the scope for tweaks/modifications and is a little bit less of an unknown quantity. I'll make my mind up when I get the 'new' prices confirmed by email.

 

Still have both. The Leak's a lovely thing, for the money a good condition example is well worth a punt. No idea about the WAD, it's still in bits.

-- Ian

 

LCD, is that sublime aesthetically or sonically or both ? If the latter I could be a bit tempted meself for the dosh. Any chance of a brief overview on the sound??

Cheers
Jeff

 

I dunno how it sounds, no problems with it, no buzz, doesn't look too hot, but sounds, well, nothing to compare it with.
Fairly transparent, lets all the character of the power amps thro.
No sonic problems. pretty good AFAICT, as good as anything out there for well, I don't think its worth paying anything extra, probably makes 1k kit look silly.

 

Well I've changed my order to the new 'upgraded' Kel84, so hopefully sometime in the next couple of weeks it'll arrive and I can report back on my experiences. Apparently the upgrade includes NOS Philips EL84's rather than the standard JJ ones, amongst other alterations.

 

Ive just got some of the power amps from Haden - really good guy. First lot went missing with the courier (useless idiots) and he posted me another set very quickly. The sound is very nice, but i do have a problem with hum through my speakers (is volume independent) and present without any input. Im going to try resiting them away from stuff and filtering the mains as well. The hum/buzz isnt very loud, but probably a little louder than id like really.

 

Hi - I rather think you'll like it.

I had it on demo at a bake off at my house about ..oh...18 months ago..maybe 2 years - my overall residing impression was that it sounded an awful lot better than a couple of hundred quid SHOULD sound.

If Im being really honest, Im expecting you to be posting in about a month to say that the Rotel amp you're currently using is on e-bay!! - but I'll wait and find out, who knows what you'll think?

 

Cheers Bottleneck. I must admit to being quite excited at the prospect of a new valve amp. I think the DIY/tweaking aspect really swayed my decision in the end, much as I'm sure the amps on EBay are good I couldn't pass up the chance to do some DIY and have scope to tweak. I'm just waiting for WAD to give me an expected shipping date, though they mentioned the lead time was around 10-14 days at the moment. I'll wait to reserve judgement but I feel you may well be right with your prediction. I'll probably post a thread in the DIY section detailing the build in case anyone is interested in what the WAD kits are like. Now all I've got to do is sit patiently by the letterbox and reterminate my speaker cable .

 

mate, just one other hint.

I'd get some silver hook up wire for when you make the amp up. Its a nice effect, for bugger all outlay.

You can get it for a couple of quid a metre (you wont need many !) from www.hificollective.co.uk and probably WAD themselves, and many other places too.

Good luck with the build, its a nice bit of kit.

Chris