I want to pick some valveites brains

I have one atm, its great, personally, I have done a serious comparison of quite a few, I would rate this one and lim's about equal, I preferred lim's just, really just, but his isn't an option, I disliked lim's kt88 triode, it sounded wrongly balanced to me. I reckon the ouput transformers.They are like capacitors in that they are all different and you could play with many, yet none may be 'better'

One point tho' , you could maybe get a lim amp secondhand(his website is a right laugh eh?), they are very good, and all eastern amps aren't the same these two are VERY good indeed, there are some nastier ones around, you have to be careful, these are as good as any big brand. Croft have a nice philosophy.

The icon is great, you may find a tad bright for a valve amp, build is first rate, valves cheap and you can rebias and use 6550's which I really like, kt66 or kt88. They don't sound an awful lot different on this amp tho' I have tried.

Audio innovations s500 is reputed to be a tad unreliable, I think the 800 is meant to be better but that's 2nd hand info. I have seen a few for sale on ebay, 500s, so plentiful.

WADs are great, they need a little work as some of the resistors can go noisy and need replacing with hi watt variants, but they are fab, the kt88 is very good, bit pricy at the emporium methinks, the 6550 is superb indeed, better than lim's, it has a valve rectifier, and sounds lovely, soft yet detailed and addictive s/h around £500.

el34's typcially £10 each, 6550 £25, kt88 £30 last 3+ years. you can get them cheap from the states.

my pic, the icon if its at the right price, trouble free, power is plenty with the meadowlarks, should make a lovely combo, top build, looks great, sounds it too. Component quality is top, even the output transformers are stacked with great care, I have had a look and they are flawless. They are largely all much of a muchness, valve amps i would say. mmmostly...

I actually triode and pure pentode modded the icon, and none sounded much different, so its back as an ultra-linear..these are all connections of the ouptut valve to the output transformer, sometimes makes a difference.
This amp doesn't change character much at all.
One thing tho' there is 1/2 a mile of wire in the ouptut transformer, and this doesn't hurt things one bit, you will see, oh yesss preciousss you will ssseee!!

But it will be the beginning of a great thermionic adventure, and you will wonder how you ever managed with a transistor amp. valves really are better.
best phono stage to look out for is the ear 834p. there are better valve ones but at a good price its a true joy.

 

LS

You will have to let us know when/if you get something, and what you think.

 

Yeah course I will. I need to sell the Naims for what they're worth though first. someone offered me £300 I mean........
Ebay could be my friend!

 

Lordsummit

Unison Research are worth looking at. I heard their pre-power at the Bristol show last year [might be a hybrid, not sure] and the sound was lovely. They do 100% valve amps as well as hybrids, you might pick up a bargain secondhand. They have tape loops etc too, I think.

Paul

 

One of the ones I wanted to buy has been sold........ So it's back to the drawing board. I can't do anything until I've sold the Naims.
I've got some records to go on ebay as well, they might help, anyone want Solti's ring on vinyl, offers?

 

Don't post here often but seen this thread.I have an icon Audio MC 34-A and use it with a Naim CDX and Monitor audio Studio 20 sec's and I'm over the moon with it.I have not experimented with different types of valve only variants of the EL34 and prefer Svetlana's.
Had this amp a couple of years now and have had no problems with it.Built like a tank and doesn't disgrace itself with higher end kit.The guy at Icon is very helpful even though I bought the amp second hand.There is also a full upgrade path to current Stereo 40i model.

 

I think I'm going to buy a Chinese Icon, I'm going to check the old bank balance later, and then hopefully.............

 

have you ever looked at any of the eastern electric amps? i have the pre and have been very happy with it, but they also do a power amp which is supposed to be sublime. you might want to have a look:

www.eeaudio.com

the build quality of the eastern electric products seem a step above much of the chinese output. you can also buy them direct from the european distributor for a tidy saving!
just a thougt...

 

Out of my league pricewise I suspect............

 

i think you can get the power amp for around 500gbp at current exchange rates...

 

Too rich for me my friend. I'm looking at the bottom of the bucket for a plaything to start with!

 

i thought that was about what the icon's were?

 

Er no........ I'll tell all soon!

 

Right should be arriving on Tuesday, it's got a gold front apparently so that should look nice!
I bought it from here. Seems like a thoroughly nice bloke. Am looking forward to hearing how it sounds now

 

You'll love it mate, best thing I ever did was to get a valve amp. Edenlake also sell svet valves at a good price it might be worth ordering some. If you dont mind soldering changing the caps also makes a big difference.

 

Looks like Eastern Electric are doing a valve CDP to go with their pre and power. That makes a whole system available for about 1,500. Sounds like decent VFM.

At 8w though, perhaps the Icon was a better bet for you LordSummit anyway given that your speakers aren't of the very efficient type.

 

Yeah I kind of figured that the icon clone was the best bet. I like the ML's so I don't really want to get rid of them

 

all i can say is the eastern electric pre punches well above it's weight with a little judicious tube selection... the six moons website has glowing reviews of the various eastern electirc pieces...http://www.sixmoons.com/audioreviews/eelectric3/stack.html