The Monoprice hybrid amplifier is unboxed, hooked up and will go online presently.
Anyone care to guess the first song that I shall play through it?
(there are of course many apt choices given the backstory -- but one rose to the top for me very quickly).
Burning down the house? Ken beat me to it, first one that came to mind. Speaking of talking heads @mhardy6647
The Monoprice hybrid amplifier is unboxed, hooked up and will go online presently.
Anyone care to guess the first song that I shall play through it?
(there are of course many apt choices given the backstory -- but one rose to the top for me very quickly).
Burning down the house? Ken beat me to it, first one that came to mind. Speaking of talking heads @mhardy6647
Ding, Ding, Ding!
I guess I need to send you something now -- what do you "need" that I might have extras of?
This one seems to be working flawlessly out of the box. What's this, number four?
The general heft, fit and finish isn't bad at all for a ninety-nine dollar product.
The amber illumination (pilot light and meter light) is both apt and kind of scary at the same time.
Whatever is being done with them -- the tubes are run hard enough that the EL84s umm, 6P15s get pretty hot. Not EICO HF81 EL84 hot, but too hot to touch. The small signal tubes (6N1, whatever that is) run cool.
The amp does have an interesting bouquet. Slightly stale, musty, resinous and chemical, all rolled into one. It smells exactly like my grandparents' house in Glen Burnie, MD did -- ca. 1965. My grandfather was a dedicated smoker of very cheap cigars (El Productos -- my father called 'em "El Ropos") and the house bore mute testimony to it for many, many years.
The cassoulette of the amp isn't objectionable at all. I cannot smell it except right up by the tubes -- and my nose is pretty sensitive.
No flammulation, no funny noises, microphonics, etc.
I cannot tell with certainty from teh interwebs, but it seems like a 6922 might be close enough to whatever a 6N1 is to drop in. It would be nice to see some consensus on the point but I might just have to chuck a coupla cannon fodder 6922s in there and see what happens...
not tonight though.
Having played (no kidding) a bunch of Talking Heads 'greatest hits', I've moved on to the Wailin Jennys. They're Wailin' nicely enough.
I might work up the nerve to try the amp on some real loudspeakers... again, not tonight.
I cannot tell with certainty from teh interwebs, but it seems like a 6922 might be close enough to whatever a 6N1 is to drop in. It would be nice to see some consensus on the point but I might just have to chuck a coupla cannon fodder 6922s in there and see what happens...
I cannot tell with certainty from teh interwebs, but it seems like a 6922 might be close enough to whatever a 6N1 is to drop in. It would be nice to see some consensus on the point but I might just have to chuck a coupla cannon fodder 6922s in there and see what happens...
Judging by the extreme glow of that thing, I'd say....the wick is lit. Delayed fuse maybe ? Kinda like when we were kids and made that wick on the M-80's/quarter sticks long enough to buy us some time to get the heck out of the way.
What's the warranty on this thing....36 hours ?
HT SYSTEM-
Sony 850c 4k
Pioneer elite vhx 21
Sony 4k BRP
SVS SB-2000
Polk Sig. 20's
Polk FX500 surrounds
Cables-
Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable
Kitchen
Sonos zp90
Grant Fidelity tube dac
B&k 1420
lsi 9's
Comments
Desktop rig: LSi7, Polk 110sub, Dayens Ampino amp, W4S DAC/pre, Sonos, JRiver
Gear on standby: Melody 101 tube pre, Unison Research Simply Italy Integrated
Gone to new homes: (Matt Polk's)Threshold Stasis SA12e monoblocks, Pass XA30.5 amp, Usher MD2 speakers, Dynaudio C4 platinum speakers, Modwright LS100 (voltz), Simaudio 780D DAC
erat interfectorem cesar et **** dictatorem dicere a
Burning down the house? Ken beat me to it, first one that came to mind. Speaking of talking heads @mhardy6647
Ding, Ding, Ding!
I guess I need to send you something now -- what do you "need" that I might have extras of?
Carousel CD player?
The Ohio Players "FIRE".
Yup!
So... What's the initial verdict?
not tonight though.
Having played (no kidding) a bunch of Talking Heads 'greatest hits', I've moved on to the Wailin Jennys. They're Wailin' nicely enough.
I might work up the nerve to try the amp on some real loudspeakers... again, not tonight.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/6N1P
My amp is not in your house?
No it is holding up the lawn tractors axle off the ground.... outside
Yeah, the 6N1P I am very familiar with -- it's not completely clear to me that the Chinese 6N1 is "identical" to the Soviet/Russian 6N1P, though.
That is correct
It is in an undisclosed location -- Dick Cheney may be groovin' to some tunes on it, I suppose.
Naaah -- that's what the MC-2100 is for.
Actually, that's a joke. The MC-2100 makes a much better doorstop.
What's the warranty on this thing....36 hours ?
Sony 850c 4k
Pioneer elite vhx 21
Sony 4k BRP
SVS SB-2000
Polk Sig. 20's
Polk FX500 surrounds
Cables-
Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable
Kitchen
Sonos zp90
Grant Fidelity tube dac
B&k 1420
lsi 9's
Office: PC, EAR Acute CD Player, EAR 834L Pre, Northstar Designs Intenso DAC, PASS ACA Monoblocks, Denon UDR-F10 Cassette, Acoustic Technologies Classic FR Speakers, SVS SB12 Plus sub, MIT AVt2 speaker cables, IFI Purifier2, AQ Cinnamon USB cable, Groneberg Quatro Reference IC's
Spare Room: Antique Sound Labs Wave AV-8 Monoblocks, Tisbury Mini Passive Pre, Tjoeb 99 tube CD player (modified Marantz CD-38), Analysis Plus Oval 9's, Zu Jumpers, AudioEngine B1 Streamer, Klipsch RB-61 v2, SVS PB1000 sub, Blue Jeans RCA IC's, Shunyata Hydra 8 Power Conditioner
Living Room: Peachtree Nova Integrated, Cambridge CXN v2 Streamer, Rotel RCD-1072 CD player, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Polk RT265 In Wall Speakers, Polk DSW Pro 660wi sub
Garage: Cambridge Audio 640A Integrated Amp, Project Box-E BT Streamer, Polk Tsi200 Bookies, Douglas Speaker Cables, Shunyata Power Conditioner
That's what I am thinking.
In fact, early results suggest that this gizmo, as is, represents a great 99-dolla desktop/nearfield amplifier, except:
I wonder if I can figure out how to do something with the Bluetooth on it? I am pretty... shall we say... low tech. ...or is it old school?
https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=13194
If the OP paid more than $99 for it, I do apologize!
If we really do get rain later today (it's in the forecast), maybe even tonight!
HAHA!
So you like it for $99? What if it was $99.99? Would it still be good for the money?
That's a good question.
One of those Imponderables, I guess.
Either that, or the company should be renamed Oligoprice. Or maybe Oligoprices, to kind of maintain some consistency of pluralism.