Home-made valve amplifiers

[acalex]

Happy new year to everybody to start! :cheers:

I was in Poland for Xmas and met a friend of mine (another Italian who married a Polish girl :roll who got me curios about a tiny shop in Italy where there is an old guy building tube amplifiers. He makes amps in the range of 2k - 10k eur and they look very beautiful. I was thinking to take a flight and go listen to some of them...

Just wondering...did anybody have any experience with home-made amplifiers? I would guess they would be much better in terms of price/quality ratio given the fact they won't spend much money in marketing and they are usually targetting a niche of people who really loves this kind of stuff (the website is super simple and quite ugly itself), am I wrong?

Thanks as usual!

 

[acalex]

Ups...put twice the same image...sorry can't edit!

 

[CnoEvil]

It may well sound glorious, but the usual caveats apply

- May need sensitive speakers
- Has it passed all safety standards
- Back up / parts / service....reliable
- Continuity, if it's a one man band

Very interesting all the same.

Happy New Year

Cno

 

[oldric_naubhoff]

I would guess they would be much better in terms of price/quality ratio given the fact they won't spend much money in marketing and they are usually targetting a niche of people who really loves this kind of stuff (the website is super simple and quite ugly itself), am I wrong?

happy New Year to you too. absolutely correct. boutique hi-fi makers that's where the best sounding gear usually comes from. for example you've got Pass Labs, now full blown hi-fi company but some years ago it was just Nelson Pass making his own class A amps for people who know what they are looking for. now he's got another niche company, First Watt, where he offers more unconventional designs made in small runs. many great brands start like this but some don't grow but just stay small. I would personally rather trust hand made gear than some mass production.

another small brand I came upon, which has great reputation, is Australian Supratek. essentially 2 man perfectionist valve jobs.

 

[oldric_naubhoff]

Just wondering...did anybody have any experience with home-made amplifiers? I would guess they would be much better in terms of price/quality ratio given the fact they won't spend much money in marketing and they are usually targetting a niche of people who really loves this kind of stuff (the website is super simple and quite ugly itself), am I wrong?

I would guess they would be much better in terms of price/quality ratio given the fact they won't spend much money in marketing and they are usually targetting a niche of people who really loves this kind of stuff (the website is super simple and quite ugly itself), am I wrong?

happy New Year to you too. absolutely correct. boutique hi-fi makers that's where the best sounding gear usually comes from. for example you've got Pass Labs, now full blown hi-fi company but some years ago it was just Nelson Pass making his own class A amps for people who know what they are looking for. now he's got another niche company, First Watt, where he offers more unconventional designs made in small runs. many great brands start like this but some don't grow but just stay small. I would personally rather trust hand made gear than some mass production.

another small brand I came upon, which has great reputation, is Australian Supratek. essentially 2 man perfectionist valve jobs.

 

[oldric_naubhoff]

Just wondering...did anybody have any experience with home-made amplifiers? I would guess they would be much better in terms of price/quality ratio given the fact they won't spend much money in marketing and they are usually targetting a niche of people who really loves this kind of stuff (the website is super simple and quite ugly itself), am I wrong?

I would guess they would be much better in terms of price/quality ratio given the fact they won't spend much money in marketing and they are usually targetting a niche of people who really loves this kind of stuff (the website is super simple and quite ugly itself), am I wrong?

happy New Year to you too. absolutely correct. boutique hi-fi makers that's where the best sounding gear usually comes from. for example you've got Pass Labs, now full blown hi-fi company but some years ago it was just Nelson Pass making his own class A amps for people who know what they are looking for. now he's got another niche company, First Watt, where he offers more unconventional designs made in small runs. many great brands start like this but some don't grow but just stay small. I would personally rather trust hand made gear than some mass production.

another small brand I came upon, which has great reputation, is Australian Supratek. essentially 2 man perfectionist valve jobs.

 

[tino]

They look fantastic ... but (a) are you sure you have tried or experienced enough different valve amps to make an informed decision about this one (b) prepared for a bit of fiddling / maintenance if and when things (the amp or the old man behind it) go pop?

I like the idea of valve amplifiers but only after experimenting with something more mainstream / modest would I consider a unique proposition like the one you have mentioned ... I'm not a connoisseur of these things. But hey, if you like the look and it sounds great ... why not?

PS Buon Anno! :cheers:

 

[acalex]

It may well sound glorious, but the usual caveats apply - May need sensitive speakers - Has it passed all safety standards - Back up / parts / service....reliable - Continuity, if it's a one man band Very interesting all the same. Happy New Year Cno

Yeah I know, you are perfectly right...you need to think about different things before getting too excited. But I like the idea of having an unique product which has been home made. Still didn't dig into any technical spec...but I think before making any decision would be worth trying this way also...

The place where this guy has the shop is Brescia...very close from Orio al Serio (Bergamo) airport...where a certain Irish low cost airline has its main hub in Italy...so it would be very easy and cheap to fly there and have a listen...anybody wants to join? :dance:

 

[acalex]

They look fantastic ... but (a) are you sure you have tried or experienced enough different valve amps to make an informed decision about this one (b) prepared for a bit of fiddling / maintenance if and when things (the amp or the old man behind it) go pop?

I like the idea of valve amplifiers but only after experimenting with something more mainstream / modest would I consider a unique proposition like the one you have mentioned ... I'm not a connoisseur of these things. But hey, if you like the look and it sounds great ... why not?

PS Buon Anno! :cheers:

Buon anno anche a te Tino!

Not, for sure I have not enough experience to make an informed decision, thats for sure...but I guess in the end as you said...if it looks great and sounds wonderful (or at least on my ears), why not? Then of course as Cno said, need to think about a lot of different things also...but I think definitely worth a listen. I will also email the guy to check if maybe something else is working with him...usually these kind of people in Italy are very approachable as they won't get a lot of contacts...

Wanna join for a quick trip to Brescia to have a listen? :cheers:

 

[acalex]

happy New Year to you too. absolutely correct. boutique hi-fi makers that's where the best sounding gear usually comes from. for example you've got Pass Labs, now full blown hi-fi company but some years ago it was just Nelson Pass making his own class A amps for people who know what they are looking for. now he's got another niche company, First Watt, where he offers more unconventional designs made in small runs. many great brands start like this but some don't grow but just stay small. I would personally rather trust hand made gear than some mass production.

another small brand I came upon, which has great reputation, is Australian Supratek. essentially 2 man perfectionist valve jobs.

Yes, this is what I thought also. This guy apparently is specialised in valve amps only...and he gets the valves from a specific country only (not sure but I think this friend said Czech Republic). The model that I posted is an integrated amp with 8 ohm exit, 12W power and 852b valves (are those any good?). No idea about the price....

 

[acalex]

In the meantime I just got an answer from the Jadis manufacturer (I got a response from Mr Jadis in person ) saying that they produce these amplifiers for 4 ohm speakers (which apparently are common high-end speakers) so there won't be any problem with my RX6 ( I sent to him the impedence curve sent by Monitor Audio technical department). He also said thet D88S is a much better amp (of course it costs twice as much!!!)

 

[landzw]

A friend of mine, his Dad made his own tube amps and paired up with some QED static speakers it sounded sweet!