Yaqin mc-10l el34

polkfarmboy

Just wanted to know if these amps are any good?

You get what you pay for and these go for 400 shipped but is there anything you can do to spice them up?

http://cgi.ebay.com/YAQIN-MC-10L-EL34-Class-Integrated-Tube-Amplifier-SV-/310229681814?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item483b214696

madmax

I noticed there are a lot of people talking about them while searching for my Yaqin stuff. I didn't read most of it but they seemed pretty happy. And that seller Tubestein has a great feedback list. Even the negatives are nothing worth worrying about.

polkfarmboy

This seems to be quite good for the money after further researching info but because its an integrated amp does this mean there isnt any point adding a preamp

I saw this pre and think its super cheap http://cgi.ebay.com/Xiang-Sheng-768A-Vacuum-Tube-Headphone-Pre-Amplifier-/310229682331?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item483b21489b

zingo

I have also heard nothing but good things. Some people switch out the tubes, the Yaqin's Chinese build quality seems to be better than most.

Another way to think of it is that you couldn't build that amp with those parts and tubes for their MSRP.

madmax

There would be no reason to add a preamp.

olilugo

I was looking at some of the pictures for this amp, and I have never understood why some amps have connections for speakers that are 8 ohms 4 ohms and ground?

some speakers for example are rated 8ohms but can go down to 2 ohms in certain conditions, and my questions is how does this relate to the settings of an amp?
would I use 8ohm because this is the nominal impedence?

This is why one of the reasons I actually went with my sunfire amp. It says that automatically handles 8, 4 and 2 ohms if necessary.

heiney9

Tube amps are different in that there are (2) taps for the output transformer. One is for 8 ohm (nominal) and the other is for 4 ohm (nominal). This is not how Soild State amps work, they don;t have output transformers.

Two completely different types of amplifier architecture. The (2) taps are wired into the output transformer differently based on the anticipated load. Many tube amps don;t like loads much below 4 ohms, but it really depends on the output transformers. That why they say "it's all about the iron" when referring to tube amps. The "iron" being the output transformers. Cheap transformers or incorrect transformers can seriously hinder the performance and sound quality of a tube based amplifier.

H9

zingo

You would be connecting your speakers to the amp based upon their nominal impedance rating.

polkfarmboy

If the speakers were 5 or 6ohm then what connections would you use?

heiney9

polkfarmboy wrote: »

If the speakers were 5 or 6ohm then what connections would you use?

Whatever the owners manual tells you.

Typically you could either one.

H9

michaeljhsda2

In the case of the SDA 1C's, should I use the 4 ohm taps? Seems like I've read that on here somewhere.

madmax

On SDA's the taps sound different. Unless the manufacturer gives clear advice not to then use the combination that sounds best.

michaeljhsda2

I tried the amp on both the 4 and 8 ohm taps and I didn't notice any difference in sound quality. Kept it on the 4 ohm taps. The amp has a warm, rich tone which I find very appealing. Very good bass response. Highs are not strained. Midrange simply sounds fantastic. Virtually dead silent background noise. The amp never strained at higher volumes. Later in the week I hooked it up to the 1.2TL's to see how it drove them. Again, no lack of power and the sound coming out of these speakers sounds better than I've ever heard. In fact the amp sounds so good to me that I just bought another one brand new (bias adjustments are on the outside). I'll replace the tubes with Russians for sure but I want to listen to it with the stock Chinese tubes first just out of curiosity.

Forgot to mention that I got a nice surprise from the seller. I paid for the 7-10 business day delivery and he said he would send it to me express. He shipped it out yesterday and I get it next Tuesday.

heiney9

Damn you! I'm trying to hold off spending any more money on gear as I've bought a lot lately. I don;t need this amp in the slightest but I want an EL34 based amp to try out. I already have 2 amps for my office rig.

I've been looking at this particular Yaqin and with your glowing reviews and Madmax's glowing reviews of the 300B based Yqin he just bought, I'm not sure I can hold out much longer .

Keep the impressions coming.

H9

michaeljhsda2

^^ ^^ I'm selling off my SS gear and I'm not looking back

heiney9

I just did a quick look at Ebay and it seems currently the seller Tubestein is no longer offering it for $399BIN w/free shipping.

michaeljhsda2

I didn't buy it from Tubestein. Can't remember the sellers name and my work computer won't let me go to Ebay. I can let you know later this evening. I think it cost around 432 shipped and he gave me the upgraded 3 day delivery for free without my asking.

zingo

Here is one for $439 including free shipping; and they claim it comes with Russian tubes instead of Chinese ones...

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-YAQIN-MC-10L-Class-Integrated-EL34-Tube-Amplifier-/280530727572?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4150ef3294

michaeljhsda2

Gonna roll some NOS Russian military 6P3S-E's and NOS 6N1P's in the new MC-10L tonight. The other MC-10L I bought on Agon already has the 6P3S-E's in it so I just need to replace the 6N1's with 6N1P's. These amps already sound fantastic so I'm curious to see if it gets better.

heiney9

The older 6N1P-EV's from the 60's and 70's are a very nice tube. I don't care for the more recent versions. They don't compare to NOS tubes like Amperex, Mullard, Valvo, Telefunken, RCA, etc. But not a bad tube and very inexpensive.

I had a dozen 6N1P's from the early 70's but I sold most of them and kept a couple pairs for myself. Look for those if you can. I have a pair from 1967 which are really nice too.

H9

michaeljhsda2

I'll be on the lookout for those that you mentioned.

On a side note, I bought the tubes from Jim McShane...excellent person to deal with.