I bought a yaqin mc10l today

michaeljhsda2 · September 2010

zingo wrote: »

Looks good! What will you be powering with it? Does it come with a remote?

No remote control :mad: It's just like the old days when I had to get off my butt to change the volume.:)

polkfarmboy · September 2010

Havent tryed biasing

My wifes due home in a couple of mins....should I hide it or I guess it could be the making of a stunning you tube video

inspiredsports · September 2010

polkfarmboy wrote: »

I'm scared that I might bust the connectors for the tubes .....do you have to realy force them down?

I probably take this to an extreme like everything else with this hobby, but I never touch tubes with my fingers. Oil on the glass surface causes heat to transfer differently and can cause a hot spot. Whether this causes shortened tube life is up for debate, but cleaning finger oil off if you have touched the glass might be a good idea.

polkfarmboy wrote: »

Havent tryed biasing

My wifes due home in a couple of mins....should I hide it or I guess it could be the making of a stunning you tube video

That video would be priceless!

polkfarmboy · September 2010

Guess who's doing foot massages , dishes ,vacuming and laundry for the next 2 weeks<<<

I think I love tubes now, the sounds so diff and I can already tell after a power down that it has not taxed my ears so much as the onkyo does

I will have to buy a digital voltage meter before I power it back up . I always thought my martin logan didnt have quite the slam that cones do but boy was I wrong. Even the electrostat panel has a new life

There's so much oomph in the mid bass that was non existent before .I can feel the wind blasting across my room carryin sweet music

This is the best $500 dollars I have spent

zingo · September 2010

polkfarmboy wrote: »

This is the best $500 dollars I have spent

Now that's awesome!

inspiredsports · September 2010

You're doing fine. A digital VOM is affordable enough, but don't get too hung up on trying to set an exact mv bias value. The analog meter you have is fine and you won't hurt anything or hear a difference if you are anywhere in the prescribed range.

I guess what I'm saying is that yes you will probably watch the bias closely during break-in, but don't forget to kick back and enjoy the music.

michaeljhsda2 · September 2010

Just curious...which ohm taps did you end up running your ML's from?

These amps are sweet sounding for sure.

BTW, hope I'm not thread jacking when I say that there's a helluva deal on one of these (extra quad of Tesla EL 34's, free shipping, 3ft pair of interconnects, no PP fee) on Ag*n. No afilliation.

polkfarmboy · September 2010

michaeljhsda2 wrote: »

Just curious...which ohm taps did you end up running your ML's from?
These amps are sweet sounding for sure.
.

I tryed the 8 ohm taps and 4 but thought the low end realy opend up with the 4 way more than it did with 8ohm

My wife was realy cool about my purchase suprisingly.... just kidding ,she frieked the F out but then I gave her a listen and dimmed the lights

I gave her a blast of mariah carey and she was in love and knows her songs very well so everythings great

I cant believe how loud this amp is and I have had it under half way the whole time . My martin logans are giving me my money back for sure. All my hard rock music has a harder hit without any harshness in the highs .....its very smooth

I can totaly see how people get addicted to tube sound . I just got done with pink floyd's The wall and it has a new lease on life .Tall the kickdrum and all the instuments have a nice texture unlike anything I have heard so far

kawizx9r · September 2010

What are you doing posting then?! GO ENJOY IT!

Lol, welcome to the wonderful world of tubes and enjoy your new amp!

-Freddy

heiney9 · September 2010

polkfarmboy wrote: »

Havent tryed biasing

My wifes due home in a couple of mins....should I hide it or I guess it could be the making of a stunning you tube video

Dude, you should have biased it the first time you used it. It's IMPORTANT. Chances are it came somewhat biased from the manufacturer, but NEVER count on that. If the tubes aren't properly biased you'll ruin the tubes or the unit or both.

Before you go any further, bias the power tubes!!!!

Congrats, you are now sliding down the rabbit hole!! It's FUN isn't it?

H9

polkfarmboy · September 2010

The tube amp came with no instruction?

I dont know what to bias or how to read this analog meter I borrowed ?

One thing I noticed was a weird smell from it

How can I tell if I have caused any damage?

heiney9 · September 2010

The smell is normal for anything that is new and generates heat, unless it's really smelly. I'm sure if you did a Google search there is much discussion on your amp since it's a fairly popular model. I also believe Zingo has addressed the issue in this thread. E-mail the company you bought it from and ask them.

Mostly if it's improperly biased the tubes will go, but there are caps and resistors in there that could be damaged too if you run the bias at one extreme or the other. It's not a difficult procedure at all. A digital volt/ohm meter is a little easier to use.

H9

polkfarmboy · September 2010

At lunch I may try using that analog meter . I understand it should read 350- 400 milivolts

heiney9 · September 2010

polkfarmboy wrote: »

At lunch I may try using that analog meter . I understand it should read 350- 400 milivolts

Sure, why not. Can't hurt anything. Make sure the volume control is at zero and nothing is hooked to the inputs, like a cdp, etc. ALWAYS have speakers hooked up when the unit is powered up.

H9

michaeljhsda2 · September 2010

Each EL 34 is labelled V1, V2, V3 and V4? Did you install the EL34's this way? The tubes were biased at the factory to spec. Just verify with the volt meter. Set the meter to millivolts. Insert the positive probe and negative probe into V1 area. Amp should be on and volume turned down.

madmax · September 2010

Congrats on the new Yaqin! I got one of their 300B amps a few months ago and the rest of the amps have been gathering dust ever since. I keep several different types laying around and hook up the ones that suit my mood at the time. The Yaqin is absolutely the best money I've ever spent on audio.

polkfarmboy · September 2010

I second that max , the tube amp has turned my 8 inch cones into subwoofers

I did make sure that V1 - V4 were all input right , they had stickers on them

If I power the amp up later and find all the readings are wrong does this mean I have caused damage to the transformer's etc??

michaeljhsda2 · September 2010

Then check the remaining 3 valves. As long as they are within 350 to 400 mv you are fine. Don't waste your time, plus there is no sense, in trying to make them all exactly the same number within the 350 to 400 range. Just sayin. Post your results if you don't mind.

michaeljhsda2 · September 2010

I'm pretty sure you did no harm. Just let the amp warm up and check the bias in V1. If it was biased too high the tubes would be really glowing super red hot and the smell would be overwhelming.

polkfarmboy · September 2010

I will do michael , I hope I have enough time at lunch to swing by walmart and pick up a digital voltmeter though as I have no clue on how to read that analog one

heiney9 · September 2010

polkfarmboy wrote: »

I second that max , the tube amp has turned my 8 inch cones into subwoofers

I did make sure that V1 - V4 were all input right , they had stickers on them

If I power the amp up later and find all the readings are wrong does this mean I have caused damage to the transformer's etc??

Don't worry about damage right now it's not very likely you've done any, just get the digital meter and take some readings. The Chinese gear is nice, but their quality control can be all over the board. Once you get the readings report back.

H9

madmax · September 2010

You would be better off to pick up a voltmeter at Radio Shack. Some of the department store ones don't even measure voltage correctly. For $30 you can find a decent one.

polkfarmboy · September 2010

I cant find milivolts on the digital multi meter ? man this is a pain

heiney9 · September 2010

polkfarmboy wrote: »

I cant find milivolts on the digital multi meter ? man this is a pain

Some meters have a "volts" setting, then you can adjust the scale after you make the "volts" selection. If not, you might have to do some simple math to convert the readings.

H9

zingo · September 2010

Agreed. I have a cheap Radio Shack one and it's never been wrong when compared against my father-in-laws commercial Fluke.

polkfarmboy · September 2010

I found the volts section but got no reading when I put the connections in the amp

michaeljhsda2 · September 2010

Practice getting readings on a 9 volt battery, AA battery, etc. to get an idea of how the meter responds.

polkfarmboy · September 2010

I'm gona go buy a better one later on tonight so I know its done right but right now I'm just listening down realy low

doctor r · September 2010

Just go to Radio Shack and get their Digital Multimeter. It is dark grey and has a catalog number of 22-813. This metter automatically adjusts the voltage scale to what you need. You just set it to "V" for voltage and your set. Incorrect bias will show itself in one of two ways. Bias current is the "idle" current of a tube. The current is controled by a voltage that blocks the the current. If you increase your idle voltage you actually decrease your idle current. (It can be confusing). If the bias voltage is to low the current can excede its normal range and cause the plates (the large metal areas that are visable) to turn red hot like a stove burner. If you have to high a bias voltage the current at idle is to low and you can have a very cold sterile sound and increased distortion. This is all based on the fact that you will be reading the actual bias voltage. Just to really confuse things amplifiers will sometimes have you reading a voltage across a built in resiter that actually represents a reading of the bias current. If this is the case then the reverse of the earlier effects will be noted (higher volatge reading on the meter would equate to a higher idle current and vise versa.)

heiney9 · September 2010

polkfarmboy wrote: »

I'm gona go buy a better one later on tonight so I know its done right but right now I'm just listening down realy low

It doesn't matter if you listen low or at normal volume, if the bias is too far off you shorten tube life and or components. Not saying you are, but just pointing out that just having the unit powered up with improperly biased tubes still can cause damage. Just in case you were thinking since it's playing at a low volume you can't do any damage.

I'm anal about this because I ruined a perfectly good NOS measuring RCA gray glass, black plate 6V6 power tube doing the exact same thing you are doing.................listening to an improperly biased tube amp because I wanted to hear it before properly checking everything. It was biased almost twice as high as normal and it took about 20 minutes to completely ruin a fairly expensive tube. So I know from experience and just trying to save you from making a mistake.

H9

I bought a yaqin mc10l today

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