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Affordable Valve Company FAQ ( Frequently Asked Questions )
 
 

Many of our customers ask similar questions.

It will be helpful to many people, if we have a "public" reply,
because some members of the public, probably have the similar questions,
and would like to know the answers to these questions.


28 November 2003
Hello
I am interested in one of your amps, the KT88. I use a denon dl103 MC cartridge
and Naim CD player, driving AE1 Series 2 speakers in a smallish room. Comments on matching would be welcome, plus MC input

AE ( Acoustic Energy ) speakers.

Our amplifiers works very well with AE ( Acoustic Energy ) speakers.

We believe that the "3 way" AE ( Acoustic Energy ) Evo 3 + a well designed valve amplifier
forms an amazing partnership, and will easily beat
most ( but not all )  £300 , £600 , £1,000 , £4,000 "2 way" or "2.5 way" speakers
+ "Class B" transistor amplifier
( when there is a human voice + bass drum AT THE SAME TIME. )

Human voices on well designed "3 way" speakers remains clear, and can still be understood,
even when there is a bass drum !

Most people will agree that metal cones / domes work especially well with with well designed valve amplifiers.

One of our customer is using our amplifier with the AE1 Series 2,
and I think that he is happy with the combination,
because he kept our amplifier,
and did not ask for his money back !

AE1 Series 2 are small speakers,
and you cannot use small speakers with 5 inch cones ( regardless of price or hype or BBC tiny toy LS3/5a Studio Monitors, which were never designed for "full range" music )
to reproduce 22 inch kick bass drums in a huge 20 feet by 20 feet room.

12 inch woofers will struggle to reproduce 22 inch kick bass drum in a 20 feet by 20 feet room.
Our Yamaha NS-1000M Studio Monitors with 12 inch woofers just about does it in our 20 feet by 12 feet room.
Yamaha NS-1000M are SERIOUS Studio Monitors with
12 woofers + 3.5 inch beryllium metal dome midrange + 1 inch beryllium metal dome tweeters.
JM Lab have "discovered" Beryllium metal dome tweeters in their £46,000 speakers !
But J M Lab midrange is much less exotic than our Yamaha a 3.5 Beryllium metal domes.
Our Yamaha NS-1000M 3.5 inch Beryllium metal dome midrange is more exotic than PMC 3 inch soft dome midrange used in their bigger studio monitors.  £1,400 PMC FB1 is not the same as PMC £7,500 studio monitors !
Yamaha NS-10M "Nearfield monitor" used in thousands of recording studios are not the same.
Our Yamaha NS-10M "Nearfield monitor" is nowhere as good as our SERIOUS Yamaha NS-1000M Studio Monitors.
If you see a smallish speaker with a white 6 inch cone in a black box in a recording studio , it is probably Yamaha NS-10M

If you have a smallish room 
and you do not listen to "heavy metal" at deafening level,
then small speakers are fine. 

Naim CD players

Naim CD players,  and almost any CD players, will work fine.

Our valve amplifiers are will produce sweeter treble with CD players WITHOUT LOSING THE TREBLE !
(or your money back, less £30)

Our valve amplifiers are will reproduce female voices with less sibilance (where a woman saying "his" sound like "Hissssssk")
(or your money back, less £30)

Sibilance on CD seems to be worse than Vinyl.
I and some of my customer really hate sibilance, 
and it is amazing that you could read Hi Fi reviews that does NOT mention how the equipment cope with sibilance
(where a woman saying "his" sound like "Hissssssk").
The 3 most irritating thing about substandard Hi Fi sets are harsh treble, sibilance and boomy bass !

Put a slightly bright CD player + slightly bright transistor amplifier + slight bright metal cone / dome speaker together
and you will have bright treble and sibilance that make you switch off the Hi Fi set within 10 minutes !

Denon dl103 MC cartridge and Phono stages

Denon moving coil cartridges have an excellent reputation.

If money is no object, we recommend EAR valve phono stage.

There is a clear audible difference between transistor phono stage
versus valve phono stages (that uses a few hundred volts).
(The difference is about 100 times the difference between cables, capacitors, and other "fashionable" nonsense.)

We are authorised reseller of E.A.R.,
and we will be pleased to offer you 1 month home trial , with £30 for return carriage, if you return it. 
We do not want a price war, but we will also be pleased to match prices on EAR phono stage.

Please remember that the cheapest EAR phono stage is not really designed for Moving Coil cartridges,
so it is normally better to buy the more expensive versions.

If you are absolutely strapped for cash,
you can still buy the cheapest EAR phono stage, plug in your moving coil cartridge,
and turn up the volume on our valve amplifier.
( Just as long as you remember to turn down the volume, when playing CD ! )

EAR valve phono stage and our valve amplifier are very quiet, with negligible hum , negligible hiss,
and this trick works fine.

I have tested it with our Audio Technica AT-F5 moving coil cartridges,
and absolutely no audible hum, no audible hiss, at the sofa.
(Just as long as I remember to turn down the volume, when playing CD !)

At a more affordable price , we recommend transistorised £45 Pro-Ject phono stage and £125 Pro-Ject phono stage.
The £125 Pro-Ject phono stage looks beautiful, sound great, reliable and is an affordable price.
The £45 Pro-Ject sound great, reliable and is an incredible price, but the box look a bit crude.  What do you want for £45 ?
Both the £45 phono stage and £125 stage are suitable for moving magnet and moving coil.

We are authorised reseller of Pro-Ject,
and we will be pleased to offer you 1 month home trial , with 65 pence for recorded delivery, if you return it. 
We do not want a price war, but we will also be pleased to match prices on EAR phono stage.

Not sure which one to buy ?
Tell us which phono stage you want to listen to,
pay us for the more expensive phono stage,
and we will send you 2 different phono stage for to to audition for one month.
Return carriage on the Pro-Ject is cheap, and it will only cost you 65 pence for recorded delivery,
and our Freepost label will pay for the rest of the postage.
 

 
 

Click here to go back to the  MAIN  PAGE
 

 
email from Belgium    7th November 2003
Hay, I have read everything on you site But, can I please see more pictures of your amplifiers? I mean, the inside (there's only one pic) you loudspeaker from 350 pounds, can you post some pictures, and what = drivers you use in them You say, that SOME solid state manufacturers use cheap semiconductors, = that's true What kind of components, do you use in your amplifiers I really want to know, besides the silver mica caps, what other types = you use and can I get it upgraded to better ones? Can you upgrade them with elna cerafine I would also upgrade the volume control to a goldpoint, and the signal resistors to Kiwame, Is that possible? ****************************************************** Can you amplifier handle complex trance music? Infected mushroom - the sen ****************************************************** PLEASE search for it!!! It's audiophile recording, and I am not kidding If you amplifier can play that correctly, I buy yours, this is one of the music that is hard to play, it's like driven the = apogee's, the music is fast and complex, the track is recorded very = well, the valve amplifiers that I heard, can not play it, maybe your = can, let me know!! Or try: Noise Maker from Infected Mushroom, it's wide spectrum with lot of magic = in the air, you must listen I have to say that I normally not listen to that type of music, BUT = that's REFERENCE music PLEASE replay me, thx!!! ps: happy with your brochure 


Reply

We probably have the widest range of customers in the world.  From 80 year old man to this young lady. 

What on earth is Complex Trance Music and Infected Mushroom ?  No, please do not answer that !
Old Timers might remember "Magic Mushrooms".
Are they the same as "Infected Mushrooms" ?  Please do not answer that either !

Our website has many reviews from many different customers, with very different Hi Fi systems,
and many different taste in music.  Since they have kept our valve amplifier,
and did not ask for their money refunded,  I think that our valve amplifier
is suitable for many different systems and different music !

--------------------------------

The main problem with Hi FI is that we have too many silly "fashionable" overpriced , over hyped components,
and most of them are a big con !

Audio Engineers have been investigating different components for over 50 years
AND EXPLAINING THE REASONS FOR THE DIFFERENCE.

If anybody was prepared to go to a BIG library in a LARGE city
and READ THE OLD BOOKS AND OLD MAGAZINE,
they will learn a lot of facts and knowledge.

Even 50 years ago, audio engineers knew that
"paper in oil" capacitors (no plastic film capacitors in those days) are better than electrolytic capacitors.

Even 30 years ago, I was reading that electrolytic capacitors, without a biasing voltage, is a bad idea.

For 50 years, Audio Engineers have known that ceramic capacitors exhibit piezoelectric effect,
have poor stability, and should not be used in the signal path, or filters.

I was using Elna Cerafine about 25 years ago in my own designs of "Class A" transistor amplifier.
My 15 years old Sony "High End" Esprite CD player have Elna Cerafine capacitors.
About 20 years ago, Mr Douglas Self also measure the low distortion of Elna Cerafine capacitors.
Gee Wezz, so the "fashionable" false guru have discovered "Elna Cerafine".
Please do not expect me to be excited by this miraculous "discovery" !

The problem is that most "fashionable" false gurus do not understand electronics,
AND THEY ARE TOO LAZY OR TOO PROUD
TO SIT DOWN AND READ A TEXTBOOK OR COMPLICATED TECHNICAL MAGAZINES
AND READ AND LEARN AND READ AND LEARN AND READ AND LEARN.
It has to be INSTANT gratification, WITHOUT 30 YEARS OF HARD WORK OF LEARNING.

"Fashionable" people will read one page of a "fashionable" magazine or worst still,
listen to some idiot on some internet forum, who learnt how to use a soldering iron, last month !
(He kept holding the soldering iron, by the wrong end, for one week,)
(until he discovers that he should hold the cold plastic part of the soldiering iron.)

"stepped attenuator" - please read my article on "leave the upgrades to the professional",
which explains, why the "typical" "stepped attenuator" spoils the sound.

----------------------------------------

Anybody who knows anything about electronics, will tell you that 

1. replacing one component with another component of the SAME value, will produce tiny difference
(probably due to tolerance, stray capacitance, stray inductance, etc)
This is what the "fashionable" false guru do, because, they do NOT understand electronics !
Why don't you ask them how an amplifier works ?  They will NOT know the answer

2. replacing one part with another part of DIFFERENT value will produce HUGE DIFFERENCE.
We understand amplifiers ( valves or transistors ) , and this is what we do !

Let us begin with the most important and expensive part of a valve amplifier.
We use big GBP 100 output transformer and huge GBP 250 "potted" output transformers.
The core of output transformers can "saturate" (overload) with loud bass note.
So we use a big output transformer to cure this problem.

Stray inductance and stray capacitance in big transformers can limit the high frequency.
So we use many layers of "inter leaved" winding to reduce this problem.

The bass of a valve amplifier depends on the "output impedance" (plate resistance) of the valve
reacting with the inductance of the output transformers.
A larger output transformer can have high inductance (for deeper bass), without core saturation (for powerful bass)

The bass of a valve amplifier also depends on the "output impedance" (plate resistance) of the valve.
"KT88 Triode Connected" will have lower output impedance (better bass) than "ultra linear" connection.

"KT88 Triode Connected" have EVENLY spaced curves (lower distortion) on the "valve characteristic graph"
"Ultra linear" have UNEVENLY spaced curves (higher distortion) on the "valve characteristic graph"

ALL OF THESE EXPLANATIONS ARE MEASURABLE,
AND WILL PRODUCE DEEPER BASS,
BETTER POWER HANDING OF DEEP BASS NOTES,
LOWER DISTORTION,
BETTER AMPLIFIER DAMPENING FACTOR FOR SPEAKERS,
ETC

Please believe me, the difference in sound
between BIG WELL DESIGNED GBP 100 and GBP 250 output transformers
versus the TINY output transformers used by "fashionable" false guru
is HUGE HUGE HUGE !

Who cares about GBP 10 capacitors ?
Who cares about GBP 20 volume control ?

GBP 250 output transformers are 100 times more important !

Our "KT88 Triode Connection - High End" uses
GBP 250 + GBP 250 of output transformers
GBP 150 HUGE mains (power) transformer
GBP 160 for 4 pieces of KT88 Triode connected
GBP 20 for 4 pieces of American 5670 triode valves.
So we have GBP 830 (about 1200 Euro) of transformers and valves.

Do you think that GBP 830 (about 1200 Euro) of transformers and valves
are more important than GBP 10 (about 15 Euro) capacitors and GBP 20 (about 30 Euro) volume control ?

If we could get the same quality of sound,
with GBP 10 (about 15 Euro) capacitors and GBP 20 (about 30 Euro) volume control,
we could have saved ourselves thousands of Euro !

--------------------------------------------------------------

Why don't you ask the "fashionable" false guru on internet forums
to explain output transformers and "triode connection",
in the manner that I have done.

"Fashionable" false guru cannot explain any technical details,
BECAUSE THEY DO NOT HAVE A BASIC UNDERSTANDING OF VALVE AMPLIFIERS,
so they ask you change one component for another component of the SAME value ! ! !
 
 
Question
Does this have line inputs or do you recommend a pre amp ?
Answer.
Our amplifier has line inputs.
You do not need the extra expense of a preamplifier.
Our amplifier is a loosely disguised power amplifier with
a passive preamplifier built in.
It must be the "shortest signal path" that you could possible have !
Personally, I think that preamplifiers are a waste of space,
in these days of "dedicated" phono stages,
and CD players with a huge 2 volt output,
and philosophy like "shortest signal path" (like Naim's idea),
and "less (bits & pieces in the way) is more !"
Just look at our customers comparison of our "loosely disguised" power amplifier with pre/power amplifiers that cost £2,000 or £3,000 or £4,000 or even £8,000
with a power amplifier that pumps out more than 300 watts !
However, after saying all that,
some of our customers like to use preamplifiers with our integrated amplifier !
If you already have a preamplifier,
try it with our valve amplifier and see / hear what you think.
If you do NOT own a preamplifier, you will be better off
spending the money of some CD of your favorite artist,
which will sound much more "musical" than a £1,000 preamplifier !
We also have an article explaining
Why you do NOT need separate preamplifier and power amplifier (click here for more details)
 
May 2004
> Hi. I have a teac p30 tran + sumo class a
> dac totem arrow speakers impedance 4 ohms 86 db
> 80 watt max fre response 40 hz 20 hz +3 db
> woofer 4 half inches an cone double magnet
> tweeter textile dome   Small room 12+14 feet Could you
> advise   valve amp to sound good with this kit.

------------------------------------------------------

80 watts Power handling ?
-----------------

Totem Acoustic must joking
when they claim that their speaker with TINY 4.5 inch drive units can cope with 80 watts !

November 2003 issue of Hi Fi Choice tested
the BIGGER GBP 2500 Totem Forest with the BIGGER 6.5 inch drive unit,
and they measured up to 3% distortion for the 13 watts bass.
( Most transistor amplifier CLAIM 100 times less distortion ! )

If the BIGGER GBP 2500 Totem Forest with the BIGGER 6.5 inch drive
is producing up to 3% distortion  for 13 watts of bass,
how can Totem Acoustic claim that
the SMALLER GBP 1000 Totem Arro with a SMALLER 4.5 inch drive unit
can cope with 80 watts !

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Frequency response and 8 db too much treble
-------------------------------------------------

Totem Acoustic frequency response of 40 Hertz to 20 kilohertz + - 3 dB is debatable.

The frequency response curve of the Totem Arro shown in
http://www.audio-ideas.com/reviews/loudsepeakaers/totem arro.htm
tells a TOTALLY different story !

The + 8 db hump at around 6 kilohertz to 12 kilohertz is totally NOT HIgh FIdelity.
This will exaggerate the treble by a HUGE amount !
Inexperienced listeners will say "listen to the treble detail" !
Experienced listener will say "too much treble, too bright, etc" !

To put things in perspective,
"High End" speakers like B&W Nautilus 802 has tiny "hump" & "dips" of 2 dB.
Totem Arro + 8 dB hump is totally unacceptable for "High End" !

It is amazing that there are so many ?professional? Hi Fi reviewers,
whose ears are so lousy
that they do not notice that the frequency response is so uneven
that certain instrument will be exaggerated,
and certain instrument will disappear into the background !

Have the hearing of these ?professional? reviewers been damaged by too much loud music ?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

There is a difference between "High Price" and "High End"
----------------------------------------------------------

There is a difference between "High Price" and "High End".

An example of "High End" speaker is GBP 6000 B&W Nautilus 802
These are HUGE speakers
containing 8 inch woofer + another 8 inch woofer + 6.5 inch midrange + tweeter.
Whether or not they are worth that kind of money is debatable,
but you get a HUGE amount of speaker !

An example of "High Price" but NOT "High End"
is the GBP 1000 Totem Acoustic Arro.
You get 4.5 inch drive unit + tweeter.
4.5 inch ?bass? units are NOT "High End" ! !

A REALISTIC price for 4.5 inch drive units is GBP 1 (Chinese price) to GBP 50 (Western retail price).
Yes, you get middleman selling 4.5 inch speakers for hundreds of pounds,
to earn HUGE amount of profits.
I can also sell our GBP 700 valve amplifier for GBP 3000,
but what does that prove ?
(other than there is somebody stupid enough to pay GBP 3000 for an GBP 700 amplifier !)

If you go to
http://www.audio-ideas.com/reviews/loudsepeakaers/totem arro.htm
you will find the suggested retail price is 1299 dollar , in the year 1999.
"Audio Ideas" is Canadian, so 1299 dollar could be 1299 Canadian dollars.

If you go to
http://www.audioreview.com/Main+Speaker/Totem+Arro/PRD_120706_1594crx.aspx
you will find that the Canadian shop price is about 1200 Canadian dollar,
which is GBP 491 (at exchange rate of 2.44)

GBP 491 is a realistic price for sweet little tiny "life style" speakers,
to keep women happy !

But, I think that the English price of
GBP 1000 for 4.5 inch drivers in a tiny box,
is lousy value for money !

------------------------------------------

If you go to
http://www.audioreview.com/Main+Speaker/Totem+Arro/PRD_120706_1594crx.aspx
you will find a lot of owners saying that they like the speakers,
but they admit that  LOUD DEEP bass is not very good, and the speakers cannot go loud.

Sorry, but if I pay GBP 1000 for speakers (which sell in Canada for GBP 491),
I expect good bass.

I suggest the first thing that you do is to change your speakers
to "High End" "3 way" speakers with 6.5 inch metal cone + 5 inch metal cone + tweeter.
These speakers are "High End" if you use any WELL DESIGNED "push pull" valve amplifier.
The price these "3 way" speakers is a hilarious GBP 250 !
There is a difference between "High Price" and "High End".

Partner these "High End" "3 way" speakers with GBP 3000 Audio Research VALVE amplifier
or GBP 3000 Conrad Johnson VALVE amplifier or our affordable GBP 700 VALVE amplifier,
put on some music with some LOUD DEEP bass, and you will hear a HUGE DIFFERENCE.

As I said before.
There is a difference between "High Price" and "High End".

Of course, our GBP 1800 speakers with 10 inch woofer will have much better LOUD DEEP bass.
But even the 6.5 inch woofer will easily beat the bass of the Totem Arro !
This may not sound obvious,
but 6.5 inch woofer + 5 inch midrange + tweeter adds to up more than 3 TIMES BIGGER moving area.

The speaker designer who has cones with 3 TIMES BIGGER moving area,
had a HUGE design advantage, and can produce a much better sound !
The speaker designer and the accountant who can move the production to a country with cheap labour and plentiful supply of cheap wood (i.e. plenty of forest to cut down. Over the last few hundred years, Western countries has cut down down 99% of their forest, so wood is expensive in the West ! )
has a huge advantage in cost.
That is why the "high end" "3 way" speaker is a hilarious GBP 250 !

1st class speaker designer, bigger cones, bigger box, plentiful supply of cheap trees / wood, cheap labour
adds up to "high end" "3 way" speakers ! 

smaller cones, smaller box, expensive Western prices for wood / MDF, expensive Western labour adds up to "high price" (but NOT "high end") "rather average" "2 way" speakers ! 
 
May 2004
>I am from Singapore and am very interested in
> buying the EL34 40w / 40w SILVER amplifier.
>
>I am looking at a brushed aluminium face plate
> instead of the gold plate.

We sell the "international" Audio Institute VR-110
for GBP 500

You pay us an extra GBP 200 to modify (in England)
the GBP 500 "international" Audio Institute VR-110
to become our GBP 700 "EL34 Silver"

Dealers who say that the
the GBP 500 "international" Audio Institute VR-110
or the GBP 600 TAC 34
are the same as our GBP 700 "EL34 Silver"
are LAIRS !

If you live in England,
we can send you BOTH the
GBP 500 "international" Audio Institute VR-110
and our GBP 700 "EL34 Silver",
and you can hear and decide if the
GBP 200 that you pay to modify the amplifier
is worth the GBP 200 or not !

----------------------------------------------------------

> Also, I already have the EL34 tubes (they are
> Mullard). I plan to get the other tubes myself.

If you want to tamper with our RELIABLE amplifiers,
please do NOT buy our amplifier.

We are fed up of idiots who tamper with our amplifiers.

If our customer prefer our amplifiers to
GBP 3000 Naim pre/power/power supply
GBP 8000 Chord pre/power/power supply
Quad pre/power
Audiolab pre/power
Michell Alecto power
Plinius 1000 watts monoblocks
I am serious 1000 watts + GBP 8000 JM Lab Mezzo Utopia.
I am serious, these speakers cost GBP 8000
WHY THE BLOODY HELL DO YOU WANT TO TAMPER WITH OUR AMPLIFIERS !

 
 

>I built a Williamson amp back in 1952 (I
> was 14) using the Wireless World article by DTN
> Williamson.
> As you can guess, it was great - the
> Partridge OP transformer cost ?12 - a week's wages
> at the time!

Unlike the usual "bull" from ?valve?experts?
in Hi Fi magazine and internet forum,
about the over-hyped importance of volume control, wires, different type of "plastic film" capacitors, resistors,
and all the other insignificant points,
Mr Williamson said that
the MOST important component is the output transformer !

The high price was cause by
the HUGE HUGE HUGE "proper" Williamson output transformer !

The "proper" Williamson output transformer
is HUGE for such a modestly powered "KT66 Triode Connected" amplifier !

The HUGE HUGE HUGE "proper" Williamson output transformer 
makes the transformers on the Roger Cadet , Leak Stereo 20 and Quad II
look like tiny toys !

Mr Williamson's contemporary criticised the size of
Mr Williamson's output transformers,
but Mr WIlliamson is still remembered,
whilst his contemporaries have faded away !

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

>I currently have ESL63s and wonder how
> your valve amps cope with these?

One of our many "Research & Development" speakers are
Quad ESL 57.

Customer have also bought (and kept) our amps for

Quad ESL 63 ,

the new Quad ESL 989 (or something like that)

GBP 3500 Martin Logan electrostatics with built in 10 inch woofers

------------------------------

However after saying all of that,
you really need a 14 feet by 14 feet panel to go down to 20 Hertz,
so you cannot expect DEEP bass from 3 feet panel speakers !

What is also disappointing is that Electrostatic speakers are
famous for NOT being able to handle power.

So, you end up with a HUGE speaker that
does NOT have DEEP bass,
and cannot go "head banging" loud.

-------------

Needless to say,
SOME of our customers have LOUD DEEP bass that
owners of Quad ESL 57 and Quad ESL 63
can only dream about,
because they use 

GBP 8000 J M LAb Mezzo Utopia with 10 inch woofers + 5 inch midrange + tweeter

Used price is GBP 800 to GBP 1600 for Yamaha NS-1000M Studio Monitors
( with 12 inch woofers + 3.5 inch BERYLLIUM METAL dome midrange + 1 inch BERYLLIUM METAL dome tweeter )
( GBP 46,000 JM Lab speakers and VERY "High End" , insanely expensive JBL use BERYLLIUM METAL dome tweeter )

Linn Isobariks
( 2 pieces of the FAMOUS 13 inch by 9 inch woofer called Kef B139 (one woofer is hidden behind the other !) )
( + 2 pieces of FAMOUS Kef B110 , which is a 5 inch midrange used in the infamous BBC LS3/5a (one midrange is pointing upwards !) )
( + 2 pieces of tweeter (one tweeter is pointing upwards !) )
( Needless to say, this is an unusual design, and some people loves them, and some people are not so keen ! )
( Customer say that the bass is awesome !  )
( This result is to be expected , for 2 pieces of FAMOUS Kef B139 in a HUGE box ! )

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Quad ESL 63 and ESL 57 loses treble above 15 kiloHertz !
Even my old ears can notice the difference.

Quad ESL 57 and Quad 57 sound strange,
because they sound bright (too much treble),
but they loses treble above 15 kiloHertz !

I hope that the DVD Audio people do not "start creating trouble"
with their claims that you need "super tweeters" that goes up to 40 kiloHertz !
Some how or another, I do not think that any DVD Audio people who believes
that you need to go up to 40 kiloHertz will ever buy Quad ESL 57 or ESL 63
which can only go up to 15 kiloHertz, before falling away !

(If you are VERY lucky,)
(some LUCKY samples of Quad ESL 57 and Quad ESL 63 have slightly better treble)

The ESL 63 sound too bright for the frequency response curves,
( even though it loses HIGH treble above 15 kiloHertz ! )
until you realize that
the "one third octave smoothed" frequency response curve has hundreds of "tiny peaks and humps".

A "conventional" "High End" moving coil tweeter would show a SMOOTH frequency response curve
because of the "one third octave" "smoothing".

If the "one third octave" "smoothing" cannot smooth out the frequency response curve,
there must be something dreadfully wrong with the tweeter !

The hundreds of "tiny peaks and humps" is
PROBABLY caused by hundred of resonances ,
and PROBABLY "constructive interference" and "destructive interference"
( which will be a problem, unless you have a "point source" ) 

If the claims for the ESL 63 is true,
and IF the ESL63 behaves like a "point source",
then the hundreds of "tiny peaks and humps" is
PROBABLY caused by hundred of resonances ,
so ESL 63 sound too bright (too much treble)
( even though it loses HIGH treble above 15 kiloHertz ! )

-----------------------

After saying all of that,

OUR VALVE AMPLIFIER WILL PRODUCE MORE BASS ON YOUR ESL 63
(than most transistor amplifiers)

OUR VALVE AMPLIFIER WILL PRODUCE SWEETER , NICER TREBLE ON YOUR ESL 63
(than most transistor amplifiers)
 

 
Question from American  (Part 1 & Part 2)
Question from eBay member in April 2006 = 
Dear Lim, How are you doing. This is ...... My brother ...... ordered your 2 silver mica + audio institute vr-110 valve amplifier for me on ebay, item #............. for 460 BP on april 8th. I just have a few questions i want to ask you about the valve amplifier. ......... I am still looking at your web site, it has a lot of very good information on it. ....................... 1- When you ship the amplifier can you please e- mail me (............) with a U.P.S. tracking number so I can be home when it comes. 2- Does it have a 1 henry choke in the mains supply for hum and to improve sound quality? 3- Does it have a filter to reduce ultrasonic noise from CD players? 4- Is the 2 silver mica + audio institute vr-110 valve amplifier a class A amplifier. Thank You very much .
Question 1  When you ship the amplifier can you please e- mail me (............) with a U.P.S. tracking number so I can be home when it comes.
Answer = o.k.
Question 2  Does it have a 1 henry choke in the mains supply for hum and to improve sound quality?
Answer =  Answer = Yes, your GBP £460 tube amplifier has a one henry choke / inductor
                 hidden inside the tube amplifier, to reduce the hum to negligible levels
                 and improve the sound..
There is so much nonsensical hype in the Hi Fi business
about Himalayan volume controls, Black Door capacitors,
cables made from silver plated moon rock,
sprinkled with snake oil on a full moon night by a naked virgin (male unfortunately),
that many people will not believe me when I say that choke / inductor can improve the sound.
I would like to explain why do you need capacitors and chokes / inductors in the power supply,
and how they can improve the sound.
American mains voltage is about 120 volts (varies with location, time of the day,
                    very cold or very hot day, everybody turning on their air conditioning)
American mains voltage is A.C. 'alternating current' , so the voltage will go from
120 volts .... 100 volts ... 50 volts  ... 0 volts ... - 50 volts ... - 100 volts ... - 120 volts ... - 170 volts ....
               (170 volts is 120 volts times 1.414)   (1.414 is the square root of two)
This might come as a shock to you but
YOUR MAINS POWER SUPPLY IS USELESS TO THE AMPLIFIER FOR MOST OF THE TIME.
Obviously, if your mains power supply is at 0 volts,
then your mains power supply is useless to the amplifier.
What is less obvious is,
your mains power supply is probably useless at 50 volts, 100 volts, 120 volts,....
for most amplifiers with a fair amount of of 'energy storing' capacitors, in the power supply,
When your American mains power supply is near the 170 volts limit,
then mains power supply will charge up the ' power storing' capacitors in the power supply.
Mr Morgan Jones book has suggested that
THE MAINS POWER SUPPLY IS USELESS FOR 90 PERCENT OF THE TIME,
IN ONE CALCULATED EXAMPLE.
You need brute force (only a few watts) to move your 12 inch woofer,
when there is a 22 inch kick bass drum.
If the music has a 22 inch kick bass drum,
when your mains voltage is at zero volts,
where is your amplifier going to get its power from ?
Most transistor amplifiers have ' energy storing' capacitors,
which stores energy,
when your American mains power supply is near the 170 volts limit.
This ' energy storing' capacitors will power your amplifier,
and ATTEMPT to reproduce the 22 inch kick bass drum.
Unfortunately, 'energy storing' capacitors are pretty useless,
when compared to rechargeable batteries.
You will have trouble getting enough 'energy storing' capacitors
to power a cassette player for five minutes !
So, if the 22 inch kick bass drum, is VERY LOUD,
and it happens at the wrong time,
when your mains voltage is low,
the transistor amplifier will ATTEMPT to reproduce the 22 inch kick bass drum,
drain all the energy from the pretty useless ' energy storing' capacitors,
run out energy, HALFWAY THROUGH THE BASS DRUM,
and the 'bass slam' collapses.
Audio engineers close their eyes to this problem by using taking
an 'average' measurement on hundreds of  CONTINUOUS sine wave
and an UNREALISTIC PURELY RESISTIVE 8 OHM LOAD.
Please could audio engineers examine the work done, 40 years ago,
and test amplifiers with square wave,
tone burst (especially when the mains voltage is going down to 0 volts)
and a REALISTIC ' three way'  loudspeaker load with 
HUGE INDUCTANCE (of the voice coil and cross over, bearing in mind, modern-day cross over frequency for the woofer can be as low as 150 hertz, in our ultra high end loudspeakers) and 
HUGE CAPACITANCE (bearing in mind that, modern cross over frequency for the woofer
can be as low as 150 hertz, in our ultra high end loudspeakers).
Most modern audio engineers, do not really get involved with an 'in depth'' study of inductance and 'back E.M.F.' electromotive force.
When you try to push current into an inductor,
the inductor will resist, and produce ' back E.M.F.' electromotive force.
The inductor is behaving like an erratic, badly behaved battery !
If you have trouble achieving stability in a transistor amplifier, because you are using huge amount of negative feedbacks), what will happen to the stability of the transistor amplifier, when trying to drive an inductor (speaker voice coil) that is behaving like an erratic, badly behaved battery ?
What is even worst, is when the current stops suddenly,
the indictor (speaker voice coil) will VERY VICIOUSLY produce a HUGE voltage pulse that
CAN BE BIGGER THAN THE ORIGINAL MUSIC !
If you have trouble achieving stability in a transistor amplifier, because you are using huge amount of negative feedbacks), what will happen to the stability of the transistor amplifier,
when trying to inductor (speaker voice coils) produces a HUGE VOLTAGE PULSE,
that is bigger than the original music.
What will happen to the 'negative feedback loop' when these HUGE VOLTAGE PULSES enters the 'negative feed back loop' because the feedback resistor is connected to the inductor (speaker voice coil) ?
Before audio engineers thinks that inductors do not cause problems, please look at the data sheet of L293 and L6203 drivers for stepper motors.  These integrated circuits are basically transistor amplifiers.  What is the difference between a 12 inch woofer and stepper motor ?  They both convert electricity into motion.  Just look at the huge number of diodes + snubber / Zobel network used for the circuit diagrams.
40 years ago, audio engineers realise that inductors (voice coil + crossover + speaker cables)
& capacitors (cross over + long speaker cables) can causes problems,
so audio engineers started to put in snubber / Zobel network into transistor audio amplifiers ! 
Unfortunately, 40 years later, many modern audio engineers do not understand
why you need a snubber / Zobel network in transistor amplifiers.
'Energy storing' capacitors are pretty useless, when compared to rechargeable batteries.
It will be extremely difficult to power a cassette player with 'energy storing' capacitors for 5 minutes !
If 'energy storing' capacitors are pretty useless,
and do not store enough energy for a VERY LOUD BASS SLAM,
WHEN THE MAINS VOLTAGE IS FALLING TO ZERO,
what can we do ?
The answer is to use an 'energy storing' choke / inductor
We use 1 Henry 'energy storing' choke / inductor
which is the inductor equivalent of
1,000,000 micro farad capacitor,
WHICH IS MANY MANY MANY TIMES BIGGER AND BETTER THAN
'You might find 10,000 micro farad capacitors in a budget transistor amplifiers.'
'You might find 50,000 micro farad capacitors in a good quality transistor amplifiers.'
On top of that,
50,000 micro farad capacitor found in good quality transistor amplifier might be charged up to 50 volts,
whereas
our 1 Henry energy storing choke/inductor is CHARGED UP TO HUNDREDS OF VOLTS.
How much energy does our one Henry energy storing choke/ inductor store ?
Playing a CD at the realistic life size volume (pretty loud).
Leave the CD player playing.
Switch off our high end tube amplifier or ultra high end tube amplifier, and
THE AMPLIFIER CARRIES PLAYING LOUDLY,
FOR 6 SECONDS, AS THOUGH NOTHING HAS HAPPENED !
AND THIS IS AT THE REALISTIC LIFE SIZE VOLUME (PRETTY LOUD)
AFTER SIX SECONDS, THE MUSIC BECOMES SOFTER, FOR ANOTHER SIX SECONDS.
IT TAKES A TOTAL OF 12 SECONDS FOR THE MUSIC TO DIE AWAY !
IF THAT DOES NOT HELP
TO PROVIDE THE BRUTE FORCE TO REPRODUCE A HUGE 22 INCH THE BASS DRUM,
WHEN THE MAINS VOLTAGE IS NEARING ZERO VOLTS,
I DO NOT KNOW WHAT WILL !
OUR HIGH END TUBE AMPLIFIER + OUR ULTRA HIGH-END TUBE AMPLIFIERS
HAVE EXCELLENT BASS (if the tubes / valves have not been worn out),
AND USUALLY HAVE BETTER BASS (usually more bass + deeper bass) THAN MOST TRANSISTOR AMPLIFIERS
AND MOST TUBE / VALVE AMPLIFIERS.
The amplifier that you have bought from our eBay listing is a high-end tube amplifier,
at a hilariously low price.
You have every right to be sceptical, until you have heard it !
The most expensive and the most important component of a high-end tube amplifier
are the expensive transformers (the three big black alarm of metal at the rear of the amplifier)
Please compare the size of our big expensive transformers with
the size of transformers in US $3000 tube amplifiers !

Please compare the size of our big expensive transformers with
the size of the transformers in the famous Dynaco stereo ST-70 (35 watts + 35 watts)
After looking at the photograph, you might think that our claims of superb sound quality
might be possible, and you have made an excellent buy on eBay.
There are 6 instances where customers can disagree that
our High End amplifier and Ultra High End power amplifier has excellent bass
1. Customer listens to the old transistor amplifier by
    turning up the bass control to maximum (which will ARTIFICIALLY boost the bass)
    turning up the treble control to maximum (which will ARTIFICIALLY boost the treble / high frequency)
    and switching on the loudness control (which will ARTIFICIALLY boost the bass and treble / high frequency)
    This is NOT HIgh FIdelity, which is the ACCURATE reproduction of sound,
    without ARTIFICIALLY boosting the bass, so that the bass instrument drowns out the singer's voice.
2. Customer listens to the budget transistor amplifier which has
    ' hidden' loudness control SWITCHED ON PERMANENTLY.
    You cannot switch the loudness control off.
     The loudness control will ARTIFICIALLY boost the bass and treble/high frequency.
     This is NOT HIgh FIdelity, which is the ACCURATE reproduction of sound,
     without ARTIFICIALLY boosting the bass, so that the bass instrument drowns out the singer's voice.
This ARTIFICIAL BASS BOOSTING would have been so blatantly obvious
in SERIOUS British hi-fi magazine 40 years ago,
when SERIOUS British hifi magazines would measure amplifiers,
to make sure that there is nothing odd/wrong with the amplifier.
Unfortunately nowadays, most hifi reviewers will not even know how to measure amplifiers,
and some Hi Fi reviewers (with 6 inch speakers) will be WRONGLY impressed with the ARTIFICIALLY BOOSTED bass and give it an excellent "'spiced up' review !
My golden ears can tell you that 'loudness control' sound absolutely awful
when using WELL DESIGNED (that need not be be expensive) BIG 10 inch or 12 inch woofers
in HUGE CABINETS.
If you have small 5 inch or 6 inch speaker with insufficient bass,
a LITTLE BIT of bass boost MIGHT help its sound a bit more palatable,
( but it is far inferior to WELL DESIGNED (that need not be be expensive)
        BIG 10 inch or 12 inch woofers in HUGE CABINETS. )
3. Customer owns an old valve amplifier, that was designed for crystal / ceramic cartridges.
     ( Crystal / ceramic cartridge has been obsolete for about 30 years,
           and you have trouble buying one in high street shop )
    If you plug a turntable with a crystal/ceramic cartridge into his old valve amplifier,
    the old valve amplifier will boost the bass to ROUGHLY the correct level.
   ( Vinyl records are DELIBERATELY produced with too little bass and too much treble/high frequency.
      The 'phono stage' ' phono preamplifier' has to DELIBERATELY boost the bass,
      and DELIBERATELY reduce the treble/high frequency,
        so that the final result is ROUGHLY correct.)
Unfortunately, when he plug a CD player into his old valve amplifier,
his old valve amplifier will WRONGLY, ARTIFICIALLY boost the bass,
so you end up with much, much, much too much bass.
This is NOT HIgh FIdelity, which is the ACCURATE reproduction of sound,
without ARTIFICIALLY boosting the bass, so that the bass instrument drowns out the singer's voice.
When he is playing a vinyl record,
he would plug is turntable into a separate ' phono stage' ' phono preamplifier'
which has already CORRECTLY boosted the bass,
and correctly reduce the treble/high frequency.
Unfortunately, when you plug a separate ' phono stage' ' phono preamplifier' into his old valve amplifier,
his old valve amplifier will WRONGLY boost the bass AGAIN.
THE BASS HAS BEEN WRONGLY BOOSTED TWICE, AND THAT IS WRONG.
This is NOT HIgh FIdelity, which is the ACCURATE reproduction of sound,
without ARTIFICIALLY boosting the bass, so that the bass instrument drowns out the singer's voice.
For some odd reason, the amplifier designer did NOT put a 'flat frequency response' input
in the old valve amplifier,
so you could NOT (if you are fussy about High Fidelity ACCURATE REPRODUCTION of sound)
plug radio tuners, cassette recorders (popular in those days), etc into his old valve amplifier.
4. The tubes last for about 2 to 3 years, if you switch on the amplifier for 3 hours a day.
    do NOT leave the amplifier on continuously for 6 months,
     or you will wear out the valves VERY QUICKLY
    Worn out tubes have lousy bass.
5. Our 300B Parallel Single Ended tube amplifier WITHOUT FEEDBACK has very good human voices,
    but the bass is only adequate for 6 inch speakers.
   If you want a 300B tube amplifier for HUGE 10 inch or 12 inch woofers in huge cabinets,
   our Ultra High End 300B parallel Single Ended tube amplifier WITH FEEDBACK
   or
   our Ultra High End 300B Push Pull tube amplifier WITH FEEDBACK
   has EXCELLENT BASS
6. Customers who insist on using SMALL 5 inch or SMALL 6 inch speakers
     (especially if they have a 20 feet room),
      and absolutely refuse to listen to my advice 
      and buy our WELL DESIGNED 100% boom free 10 inch or 12 inch speakers,
      with price as  low as GBP £650 to GBP £4,000. 
       Of course you can also buy other brands, but they can be very expense.
       2 of our customers use J M Lab Mezzo Utopia with 10 in woofer + midrange + tweeter,
       but they cost about GBP £8000 (about USD 14000) a pair.
       Our customer also use our 20 watt + 20 watt tube amplifier with 
       Yamaha NS-1000M with 12 inch woofer + exotic 3.5 inch Beryllium metal dome midrange 
                                          + 1 inch exotic beryllium metal dome tweeter,
       HUGE B&W  802 (old version) 
       HUGE Kef 107 , etc
 

 
 

Selling valve amplifiers are very different to selling transistor amplifiers.

I get VERY technical questions
that transistor amplifier salesman do NOT have to answer.

To make matters worst,
the knowledge of valve / tube of many ?valve?experts? in internet forums
(and salesmen in internet forums disused as innocent members of the public)
and many Hi Fi magazines are not very goods.

I have read a HUGE number of MISLEADING INFORMATION about valve / tubes in internet forums
and Hi Fi magazines (including Hi Fi magazines that are supposes to specialist in valve amplifiers ! )
.
These MISLEADING INFORMATION will cause many eBay members to the WRONG BUYING DECISION.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

These are some question from a valuable eBay customer from America,
who bought one of our amplifiers.

I would like to the valuable America eBay customer for his questions,
and I hope that my replies to him
will help other eBay members to make the CORRECT buying decision,
and buy our eBay listing of our amplifiers,
so that I can make some profit and pay eBay their sales commission !

-----------------------------------------

How can you be sure that the TECHNICAL ADVANTAGES of our amplifiers listed on eBay are correct ?
Please look at the marvellous feedback about the quality of the sound of our valve amplifiers from eBay members ?
(Thank you to all the eBay members for their support and marvellous positive feedback.)
 

Question from American  (Part 1 & Part 2)
Question from eBay member in April 2006 = 
Dear Lim, How are you doing. This is ...... My brother ...... ordered your 2 silver mica + audio institute vr-110 valve amplifier for me on ebay, item #............. for 460 BP on april 8th. I just have a few questions i want to ask you about the valve amplifier. ......... I am still looking at your web site, it has a lot of very good information on it. ....................... 1- When you ship the amplifier can you please e- mail me (............) with a U.P.S. tracking number so I can be home when it comes. 2- Does it have a 1 henry choke in the mains supply for hum and to improve sound quality? 3- Does it have a filter to reduce ultrasonic noise from CD players? 4- Is the 2 silver mica + audio institute vr-110 valve amplifier a class A amplifier. Thank You very much .
Question 1  When you ship the amplifier can you please e- mail me (............) with a U.P.S. tracking number so I can be home when it comes.
Answer = o.k.
Question 2  Does it have a 1 henry choke in the mains supply for hum and to improve sound quality?
Answer =  Answer = Yes, your GBP £460 tube amplifier has a one henry choke / inductor
                 hidden inside the tube amplifier, to reduce the hum to negligible levels
                 and improve the sound..
There is so much nonsensical hype in the Hi Fi business
about Himalayan volume controls, Black Door capacitors,
cables made from silver plated moon rock,
sprinkled with snake oil on a full moon night by a naked virgin (male unfortunately),
that many people will not believe me when I say that choke / inductor can improve the sound.
I would like to explain why do you need capacitors and chokes / inductors in the power supply,
and how they can improve the sound.
American mains voltage is about 120 volts (varies with location, time of the day,
                    very cold or very hot day, everybody turning on their air conditioning)
American mains voltage is A.C. 'alternating current' , so the voltage will go from
120 volts .... 100 volts ... 50 volts  ... 0 volts ... - 50 volts ... - 100 volts ... - 120 volts ... - 170 volts ....
               (170 volts is 120 volts times 1.414)   (1.414 is the square root of two)
This might come as a shock to you but
YOUR MAINS POWER SUPPLY IS USELESS TO THE AMPLIFIER FOR MOST OF THE TIME.
Obviously, if your mains power supply is at 0 volts,
then your mains power supply is useless to the amplifier.
What is less obvious is,
your mains power supply is probably useless at 50 volts, 100 volts, 120 volts,....
for most amplifiers with a fair amount of of 'energy storing' capacitors, in the power supply,
When your American mains power supply is near the 170 volts limit,
then mains power supply will charge up the ' power storing' capacitors in the power supply.
Mr Morgan Jones book has suggested that
THE MAINS POWER SUPPLY IS USELESS FOR 90 PERCENT OF THE TIME,
IN ONE CALCULATED EXAMPLE.
You need brute force (only a few watts) to move your 12 inch woofer,
when there is a 22 inch kick bass drum.
If the music has a 22 inch kick bass drum,
when your mains voltage is at zero volts,
where is your amplifier going to get its power from ?
Most transistor amplifiers have ' energy storing' capacitors,
which stores energy,
when your American mains power supply is near the 170 volts limit.
This ' energy storing' capacitors will power your amplifier,
and ATTEMPT to reproduce the 22 inch kick bass drum.
Unfortunately, 'energy storing' capacitors are pretty useless,
when compared to rechargeable batteries.
You will have trouble getting enough 'energy storing' capacitors
to power a cassette player for five minutes !
So, if the 22 inch kick bass drum, is VERY LOUD,
and it happens at the wrong time,
when your mains voltage is low,
the transistor amplifier will ATTEMPT to reproduce the 22 inch kick bass drum,
drain all the energy from the pretty useless ' energy storing' capacitors,
run out energy, HALFWAY THROUGH THE BASS DRUM,
and the 'bass slam' collapses.
Audio engineers close their eyes to this problem by using taking
an 'average' measurement on hundreds of  CONTINUOUS sine wave
and an UNREALISTIC PURELY RESISTIVE 8 OHM LOAD.
Please could audio engineers examine the work done, 40 years ago,
and test amplifiers with square wave,
tone burst (especially when the mains voltage is going down to 0 volts)
and a REALISTIC ' three way'  loudspeaker load with 
HUGE INDUCTANCE (of the voice coil and cross over, bearing in mind, modern-day cross over frequency for the woofer can be as low as 150 hertz, in our ultra high end loudspeakers) and 
HUGE CAPACITANCE (bearing in mind that, modern cross over frequency for the woofer
can be as low as 150 hertz, in our ultra high end loudspeakers).
Most modern audio engineers, do not really get involved with an 'in depth'' study of inductance and 'back E.M.F.' electromotive force.
When you try to push current into an inductor,
the inductor will resist, and produce ' back E.M.F.' electromotive force.
The inductor is behaving like an erratic, badly behaved battery !
If you have trouble achieving stability in a transistor amplifier, because you are using huge amount of negative feedbacks), what will happen to the stability of the transistor amplifier, when trying to drive an inductor (speaker voice coil) that is behaving like an erratic, badly behaved battery ?
What is even worst, is when the current stops suddenly,
the indictor (speaker voice coil) will VERY VICIOUSLY produce a HUGE voltage pulse that
CAN BE BIGGER THAN THE ORIGINAL MUSIC !
If you have trouble achieving stability in a transistor amplifier, because you are using huge amount of negative feedbacks), what will happen to the stability of the transistor amplifier,
when trying to inductor (speaker voice coils) produces a HUGE VOLTAGE PULSE,
that is bigger than the original music.
What will happen to the 'negative feedback loop' when these HUGE VOLTAGE PULSES enters the 'negative feed back loop' because the feedback resistor is connected to the inductor (speaker voice coil) ?
Before audio engineers thinks that inductors do not cause problems, please look at the data sheet of L293 and L6203 drivers for stepper motors.  These integrated circuits are basically transistor amplifiers.  What is the difference between a 12 inch woofer and stepper motor ?  They both convert electricity into motion.  Just look at the huge number of diodes + snubber / Zobel network used for the circuit diagrams.
40 years ago, audio engineers realise that inductors (voice coil + crossover + speaker cables)
& capacitors (cross over + long speaker cables) can causes problems,
so audio engineers started to put in snubber / Zobel network into transistor audio amplifiers ! 
Unfortunately, 40 years later, many modern audio engineers do not understand
why you need a snubber / Zobel network in transistor amplifiers.
'Energy storing' capacitors are pretty useless, when compared to rechargeable batteries.
It will be extremely difficult to power a cassette player with 'energy storing' capacitors for 5 minutes !
If 'energy storing' capacitors are pretty useless,
and do not store enough energy for a VERY LOUD BASS SLAM,
WHEN THE MAINS VOLTAGE IS FALLING TO ZERO,
what can we do ?
The answer is to use an 'energy storing' choke / inductor
We use 1 Henry 'energy storing' choke / inductor
which is the inductor equivalent of
1,000,000 micro farad capacitor,
WHICH IS MANY MANY MANY TIMES BIGGER AND BETTER THAN
'You might find 10,000 micro farad capacitors in a budget transistor amplifiers.'
'You might find 50,000 micro farad capacitors in a good quality transistor amplifiers.'
On top of that,
50,000 micro farad capacitor found in good quality transistor amplifier might be charged up to 50 volts,
whereas
our 1 Henry energy storing choke/inductor is CHARGED UP TO HUNDREDS OF VOLTS.
How much energy does our one Henry energy storing choke/ inductor store ?
Playing a CD at the realistic life size volume (pretty loud).
Leave the CD player playing.
Switch off our high end tube amplifier or ultra high end tube amplifier, and
THE AMPLIFIER CARRIES PLAYING LOUDLY,
FOR 6 SECONDS, AS THOUGH NOTHING HAS HAPPENED !
AND THIS IS AT THE REALISTIC LIFE SIZE VOLUME (PRETTY LOUD)
AFTER SIX SECONDS, THE MUSIC BECOMES SOFTER, FOR ANOTHER SIX SECONDS.
IT TAKES A TOTAL OF 12 SECONDS FOR THE MUSIC TO DIE AWAY !
IF THAT DOES NOT HELP
TO PROVIDE THE BRUTE FORCE TO REPRODUCE A HUGE 22 INCH THE BASS DRUM,
WHEN THE MAINS VOLTAGE IS NEARING ZERO VOLTS,
I DO NOT KNOW WHAT WILL !
OUR HIGH END TUBE AMPLIFIER + OUR ULTRA HIGH-END TUBE AMPLIFIERS
HAVE EXCELLENT BASS (if the tubes / valves have not been worn out),
AND USUALLY HAVE BETTER BASS (usually more bass + deeper bass) THAN MOST TRANSISTOR AMPLIFIERS
AND MOST TUBE / VALVE AMPLIFIERS.
The amplifier that you have bought from our eBay listing is a high-end tube amplifier,
at a hilariously low price.
You have every right to be sceptical, until you have heard it !
The most expensive and the most important component of a high-end tube amplifier
are the expensive transformers (the three big black alarm of metal at the rear of the amplifier)
Please compare the size of our big expensive transformers with
the size of transformers in US $3000 tube amplifiers !

Please compare the size of our big expensive transformers with
the size of the transformers in the famous Dynaco stereo ST-70 (35 watts + 35 watts)
After looking at the photograph, you might think that our claims of superb sound quality
might be possible, and you have made an excellent buy on eBay.
There are 6 instances where customers can disagree that
our High End amplifier and Ultra High End power amplifier has excellent bass
1. Customer listens to the old transistor amplifier by
    turning up the bass control to maximum (which will ARTIFICIALLY boost the bass)
    turning up the treble control to maximum (which will ARTIFICIALLY boost the treble / high frequency)
    and switching on the loudness control (which will ARTIFICIALLY boost the bass and treble / high frequency)
    This is NOT HIgh FIdelity, which is the ACCURATE reproduction of sound,
    without ARTIFICIALLY boosting the bass, so that the bass instrument drowns out the singer's voice.
2. Customer listens to the budget transistor amplifier which has
    ' hidden' loudness control SWITCHED ON PERMANENTLY.
    You cannot switch the loudness control off.
     The loudness control will ARTIFICIALLY boost the bass and treble/high frequency.
     This is NOT HIgh FIdelity, which is the ACCURATE reproduction of sound,
     without ARTIFICIALLY boosting the bass, so that the bass instrument drowns out the singer's voice.
This ARTIFICIAL BASS BOOSTING would have been so blatantly obvious
in SERIOUS British hi-fi magazine 40 years ago,
when SERIOUS British hifi magazines would measure amplifiers,
to make sure that there is nothing odd/wrong with the amplifier.
Unfortunately nowadays, most hifi reviewers will not even know how to measure amplifiers,
and some Hi Fi reviewers (with 6 inch speakers) will be WRONGLY impressed with the ARTIFICIALLY BOOSTED bass and give it an excellent "'spiced up' review !
My golden ears can tell you that 'loudness control' sound absolutely awful
when using WELL DESIGNED (that need not be be expensive) BIG 10 inch or 12 inch woofers
in HUGE CABINETS.
If you have small 5 inch or 6 inch speaker with insufficient bass,
a LITTLE BIT of bass boost MIGHT help its sound a bit more palatable,
( but it is far inferior to WELL DESIGNED (that need not be be expensive)
        BIG 10 inch or 12 inch woofers in HUGE CABINETS. )
3. Customer owns an old valve amplifier, that was designed for crystal / ceramic cartridges.
     ( Crystal / ceramic cartridge has been obsolete for about 30 years,
           and you have trouble buying one in high street shop )
    If you plug a turntable with a crystal/ceramic cartridge into his old valve amplifier,
    the old valve amplifier will boost the bass to ROUGHLY the correct level.
   ( Vinyl records are DELIBERATELY produced with too little bass and too much treble/high frequency.
      The 'phono stage' ' phono preamplifier' has to DELIBERATELY boost the bass,
      and DELIBERATELY reduce the treble/high frequency,
        so that the final result is ROUGHLY correct.)
Unfortunately, when he plug a CD player into his old valve amplifier,
his old valve amplifier will WRONGLY, ARTIFICIALLY boost the bass,
so you end up with much, much, much too much bass.
This is NOT HIgh FIdelity, which is the ACCURATE reproduction of sound,
without ARTIFICIALLY boosting the bass, so that the bass instrument drowns out the singer's voice.
When he is playing a vinyl record,
he would plug is turntable into a separate ' phono stage' ' phono preamplifier'
which has already CORRECTLY boosted the bass,
and correctly reduce the treble/high frequency.
Unfortunately, when you plug a separate ' phono stage' ' phono preamplifier' into his old valve amplifier,
his old valve amplifier will WRONGLY boost the bass AGAIN.
THE BASS HAS BEEN WRONGLY BOOSTED TWICE, AND THAT IS WRONG.
This is NOT HIgh FIdelity, which is the ACCURATE reproduction of sound,
without ARTIFICIALLY boosting the bass, so that the bass instrument drowns out the singer's voice.
For some odd reason, the amplifier designer did NOT put a 'flat frequency response' input
in the old valve amplifier,
so you could NOT (if you are fussy about High Fidelity ACCURATE REPRODUCTION of sound)
plug radio tuners, cassette recorders (popular in those days), etc into his old valve amplifier.
4. The tubes last for about 2 to 3 years, if you switch on the amplifier for 3 hours a day.
    do NOT leave the amplifier on continuously for 6 months,
     or you will wear out the valves VERY QUICKLY
5. Our 300B Parallel Single Ended tube amplifier WITHOUT FEEDBACK has very good human voices,
    but the bass is only adequate for 6 inch speakers.
   If you want a 300B tube amplifier for HUGE 10 inch or 12 inch woofers in huge cabinets,
   our Ultra High End 300B parallel Single Ended tube amplifier WITH FEEDBACK
   or
   our Ultra High End 300B Push Pull tube amplifier WITH FEEDBACK
   has EXCELLENT BASS
6. Customers who insist on using SMALL 5 inch or SMALL 6 inch speakers
     (especially if they have a 20 feet room),
      and absolutely refuse to listen to my advice 
      and buy our WELL DESIGNED 100% boom free 10 inch or 12 inch speakers,
      with price as  low as GBP £650 to GBP £4,000. 
       Of course you can also buy other brands, but they can be very expense.
       2 of our customers use J M Lab Mezzo Utopia with 10 in woofer + midrange + tweeter,
       but they cost about GBP £8000 (about USD 14000) a pair.
       Our customer also use our 20 watt + 20 watt tube amplifier with 
       Yamaha NS-1000M with 12 inch woofer + exotic 3.5 inch Beryllium metal dome midrange 
                                          + 1 inch exotic beryllium metal dome tweeter,
       HUGE B&W  802 (old version) 
       HUGE Kef 107 , etc
 

 
This part 2 of the answer.
Please read part 1 above
Question from eBay member in April 2006 = Dear Lim, How are you doing. This is ...... My brother ...... ordered your 2 silver mica + audio institute vr-110 valve amplifier for me on ebay, item #............. for 460 BP on april 8th. I just have a few questions i want to ask you about the valve amplifier. ......... I am still looking at your web site, it has a lot of very good information on it. ....................... 1- When you ship the amplifier can you please e- mail me (............) with a U.P.S. tracking number so I can be home when it comes. 2- Does it have a 1 henry choke in the mains supply for hum and to improve sound quality? 3- Does it have a filter to reduce ultrasonic noise from CD players? 4- Is the 2 silver mica + audio institute vr-110 valve amplifier a class A amplifier. Thank You very much .
This part 2 of the answer.
Please read part 1 above

Answer = Yes, it has silver mica capacitors which function as ultrasonic filters and improve the square wave performance.
 

Answer = . A man shouting as loudly as possible produces
20 TIMES LESS THAN 1 WATT.

Even if you are using inefficient speakers that are only 1 percent efficient (and the other 99 percent of the watts is wasted as heat , etc)
you only need 5 watts to REPRODUCES A MANS SHOUTING AS LOUDLY AS POSSIBLE.

If you have a man shouting as loudly as possible in your living room,
how long will it be before your neighbour starts banging on the wall ?

HOW MANY WATTS DO YOU THINK THAT YOU NEED ?

----------

Most DOMESTIC speakers are useless at handling power for DEEP BASS NOTE (at 40 Hertz or less).
(The loudest sound on most recording are the bass instruments)
(Most PA Public Announce speakers get around the problem of handling LOUD DEEP bass at 40 hertz, by designing PA Public Announcement speakers NOT to move at 40 Hertz, and NOT to produce 40 Hertz sound ! )
Even 12 inch domestic speakers are pretty useless !
Of course, 1 piece of  6 inch domestic speakers are totally useless for LOUD DEEP 40 Hertz bass note in 20 feet room (which does not have 12 decibel bass boost / resonance at about 50 Hertz of a 10 feet by 10 feet by 10 feet room.)
If you do note believe me, please email the loudspeaker manufacturer with one simple question.
How much distortion for 20 watts of DEEP BASS (at 40 Hertz) for the 12 inch speakers ?
It will be MANY MANY MANY PERCENT OF DISTORTION
IT WILL BE SO BAD,
THAT YOU WILL NOT EVEN GET A REPLY FROM THE LOUDSPEAKER MANUFACTURER !
---------------
HOW MANY WATTS OF DEEP BASS (at 40 Hertz) DO YOU THINK THAT YOUR SPEAKERS CAN COPE WITH ?

-------------

Amplifier is 'Class A' to about 8 watts and then switch over automatically to 40 RMS watts + 40 RMS watts.

THIS IS BETTER THAN TOO MUCH CLASS A
WHICH WILL CAUSE 'GRID BLOCKING'
AND BLOCK /  MUTES THE MUSIC FOR A FRACTION OF SECOND,
WHENEVER YOU OVERLOAD THE AMPLIFIER.

The 'control grid' of the tube / valve is normally very well behaved, if you apply a LARGE NEGATIVE VOLTAGE (including the music signal) to the 'control grid'.

If the music signal is VERY LOUD, the voltage at the 'control grid' might become POSITIVE, and then THE CONTROL GRID BECOMES VERY BADLY BEHAVED AND PRODUCE CURRENT (like a diode), and charge up the coupling capacitor, which BLOCKS THE MUSIC. It will take a moment for the coupling capacitor to discharge, but there will be GRID BLOCKING (which means no music), until the coupling capacitor discharge.  You avoid this by making the bias MORE NEGATIVE, meaning 'Class A' to about 8 watts (which is MORE THAN ADEQUATE FOR DOMESTIC SPEAKERS !  PLEASE ASK THE LOUDSPEAKERS MANUFACTURER HOW MUCH DISTORTION FOR 8 WATTS OF DEEP BASS (at 40 Hertz).  The answer is so bad that you will NOT get  reply from the loudspeaker manufacturer, who absurdly claims that his loudspeakers can handle hundreds of watts WITHOUT QUOTING ANY DISTORTION FIGURES !  Who wants to buy a loudspeaker that produces 50 percent distortion at 100 watts ?  )

-----------------

 
So the shocking advice is -------

Fixed / Adjustable bias (which is MUCH superior to 'automatic cathode bias') is better,
if you bias it to MUCH LESS than the MAXIMUM Class A power.

A good question is 'How MUCH LESS than the MAXIMUM Class A power ?'.
But before anybody gets too obsessed with this question.

TRIODE CONNECTION IS MORE IMPORTANT (to my Golden Ears).

ULTRASONIC FILTERS WITH SILVER MICA CAPACITORS ARE MORE IMPORTANT (to my Golden Ears).

WELL DESIGNED (that need not need expensive) 3 WAY SPEAKERS ARE MORE IMPORTANT (to my Golden Ears).
 
 

This is coming from a guy who says "stop going on and on about cables"
because the difference between cables is so small,
that I am not sure if there really is a difference or it is my imagination !
So, if I say there is a HUGE difference,
you will hear the difference !

 

 
 
 
Question in May 2006 = I am have had an interest in hi fi for many years and have recently made my first exploration into valve amplification using what I assume is one of your major competitors' models, the Prima Luna prologue One. 
I am however intrigued by your products (and your comprehensive website!) and wonder if you had any 
views on this product compared to yours. I am also impressed by your attempt to dismiss many of the 
many vested interest hi fi myths that seem designed to cloud what should be an enjoyable pastime. 
Answer = 
SERIOUS High End systems must have
GOOD bass, GOOD midrange and GOOD treble.
Stereophile magazines measurement show that
Prima Luna Prologue 1 valve / tube amplifier
can only produce about 3 watts of deep bass
at a deep 20 Hertz (for about 2 to 3 percent of distortion).
(This problem is PROBABLY caused by the output transformers being too small.)
What Hi Fi review of one of the Prima Luna and said that
it did not have enough bass.
Something along the line of  'did not even try (for bass)'
(words in brackets are my own)
Hi Fi News reviewed the Prima Luna 1
and did not say anything particularly rude about the bass of the Prima Luna 1
The 'group' distributor of Prima Luna , Audio Research and Sonus Faber
spend thousands of pounds on advertisements in Hi Fi News.
Hi Fi News reviewed the Prima Luna II and said that that had better bass.
Unfortunately, the reviewer did NOT say how did Prima Luna improve the bass.
Was it by using bigger output transformer (which is good)
or was it by an artificial bass boost (which is bad) (it is amazing how this manages to impress inexperienced listeners and some reviewers who do NOT measure the frequency response of amplifiers) ?
I do not know how Prima Luna II managed to get more bass,
and I would like to know how they did it.
It is a shame that the Hi Fi News review 
did not measure the frequency response of the Prima Luna II.
It is a shame that the Hi Fi News review 
did not measure the bass power the Prima Luna II at 20 Hertz (a very demanding test !)
It is a shame that the Hi Fi News review
did not take off the top cover off the Prima Luna II,
so that we could see how big (or how small) the transformers are.
In order to get good bass for a SERIOUS High End system, you need
BIG transformer
+ 'push pull' operation
+ Fixed / Adjustable Bias
Fixed Adjustable bias is 100 times superior for bass
(if you own a revealing Ultra High End '3 way' speakers with 10 inch or 12 inch woofers in huge cabinets)
to Automatic Cathode Bias (usually called Automatic bias) because .............
Automatic Cathode Bias (usually called Automatic bias) is inferior, give poor bass damping, reduces the power, bias changes towards Class B whenever the valves are overload, juts look a the lousy bass responses BEFORE NEGATIVE FEEDBACK is applied.
Look at Mr Morgan Jones excellent book called 'Valve Amplifiers' analysis of Mullard 5-20
and you will see why 'Automatic Cathode Bias' (usually called 'Automatic Bias') is a silly idea.
Also look at why you should NOT apply negative feedback to the cathode of vales of the phono stage / phono preamplifier  designs in the same book + apply the same logic to apply negative feedback to the cathode of EL34 , KT66 , KT88 valves by having TOO SMALL a bypass capacitor.
Please ask Prima Luna to take off the cover off their Prima Luna I , Prima Luna II
and show you the size of their output transformer.
AND COMPARE THE SIZE OF THE OUTPUT TRANSFORMERS
WITH OUR GBP £250 40 WATT + 40 WATT AMPLIFIER !
This is a photo our GBP £250 Amplifier with ANOTHER of our competitor amplifier !
There is no doubt that our competitor amplifier looks much more pretty,
but MONEY BACK GUARANTEE (less shipping charges, within 30 days) that our GBP £250 40 watts + 40 watts VR-70E amplifier sound MUCH MUCH MUCH BETTER than Prima Luna, especially for LOUD DEEP BASS note + clarity of singers voice (i.e. singer is not blur , congested like she has a blocked up nose) ESPECIALLY THERE THERE ARE LOUD BASS NOTES, if you are using WELL DESIGNED (that need not be expensive) 3 way speakers.  LOUD DEEP bass note will overload 6 inch speakers in 2 way or 2.5 way speakers, so human voice will blur , congested like the singer has a blocked up nose.
SCEPTICAL .... Please look at what our valued eBay customers say about out GBP £250 40 watts + 40 watts VR-70E EL34 valve / tube amplifier at
http://feedback.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback&userid=affordablevalvecompany
Needless to say, our GBP £408 EL34 Triode Connected VR-70E with 4 pieces of SILVER MICA capacitors (ultra sonic filters) + ANOTHER 2 pieces of SILVER MIC capacitors (to SLIGHTLY bypass the cathode resistor of the concertina / 'split load' phase splitter, increase the ultrasonic output of ONE side of the 'push pull' so that it is more equal (and opposite) to the ultrasonic output of the OTHER side of the 'push pull'.  Since the ultrasonic output of BOTH sides of the 'push pull' is more equal, this will to improve the square wave performance) will sound 10 times better (to MOST (BUT NOT ALL) Hi Fi Enthusiast than the Prima Luna I or Prima Luna II with EL34 or KT88 valves OR MONEY REFUNDED (less packing + shipping charges, within 30 days)
How does the Prima Luna compare with our GBP £650 'High End EL34 Triode Connected - Chinatown' amplifier with BIG OUTPUT TRANSFORMERS (that look as big or bigger than most GBP £3000 valve / tube amplifiers)
or GBP £1400 'Ultra High End KT88 Triode amplifier - Lim Aik Leong Signature' with HUGE HUGE HUGE POTTED OUTPUT TRANSFORMERS ?
Ha Ha ! You are joking, of course !

 
 
 
Question in May 2006 = Although I own a couple of Quad ESL63's and have been acquainted with Quad valve 
and transistor equipment over the years, my present system includes a Quad C.D
player, Quad 306 with passive volume control and transmission line speakers using 
Deutschephon 8" drivers and ceramic tweeters. My question is regarding your £250 
valve amp and your thoughts on its inclusion within my system.. Also query £408-£405 
Answer =
I think that the more expensive GBP £408 EL 34 Triode Connection - VR70E Lim Aik Leong Signature
is work the extra money.
However it is YOUR music, YOUR money, and YOUR ears,
so only YOU can make the final decision.
We can lend you BOTH the GBP £408 + the GBP £250 amplifier,
if you pay a GBP £408 deposit (mostly refundable, less shipping cost, within 30 days).
Our GBP £250 + GBP £408 + GBP £488 valve tube amplifiers are stable into difficult load,
and works well with our Quad ESL -57 electrostatic speakers,
so it should work well with your Quad ESL 63 electrostatic speakers.
Most people consider our Quad ESl 57 electrostatic speakers
to be better than the Quad ESL 63 electrostatic speakers.
One possible reason for this is that the ESL 63 muck about with the music electrically,
to introduce a delay, to TRY and produce a point source (but failed).
Surely, this 'delay' circuit must affect the sound + create all sort of weird phase problems.
However since we sell amplifiers on 1 month home trial,
I ask customers to have REASONABLE EXPECTATION.
You need a 14 feet (which is 1 quarter the wavelength of a 20 hertz sound wave) electrostatic panel
to reproduce bass down to 20 Hertz.
The 2 feet wide panel is a FAR TOO SMALL
+ THE BASS OF ELECTROSTATIC SPEAKERS ARE ALWAYS LOUSY.
 (Please ignore nearfield measurements which produce unrealistic bass measurements from panel speakers.
 Like an 'open headphones' produces good bass, when close to your ears.
'Open headphone' are totally useless for bass, if they are 10 feet from your ears !)
Although Quad ESL 63 electrostatic speakers + 'class B' transistor amplifier + CD players sound irritatingly bright,
and you want to throw something at the electrostatic speakers after half an hour,
MANY (but not all) samples of the speaker do NOT have any HIGH treble
(Please look at the measurements, before you disagree),
so cymbals is MUCH TOO SOFT + disappear into the back ground.
No SERIOUS amplifier with a FLAT FREQUENCY RESPONSE
and a GOOD SQUARE WAVE PERFORMANCE can correct this problem.
It is a fault with the speaker + the speaker designer.
How can a 2 feet speaker (REGARDLESS OF TECHNOLOGY OR HYPE)
produce 20000 Hertz better than a 1 inch polite soft dome tweeter ?
It cannot !
OUR VALVE AMPLIFIER WITH SWEET TREBLE
WILL STOP YOUR ESL63 FROM SOUND TOO IRRITATING BRIGHT WITH CD PLAYERS,
but cymbals disappears onto the background (which is a fault of the electrostatic speakers, please look at the lousy frequency responses graphs of electrostatic speakers for HIGH TREBLE).
10 inch or 12 inch speakers in HUGE HUGE HUGE transmission line (adequately stuffed with sound absorbent)
will produce excellent bass.
But putting a speakers into a cutesy 18 inch tall transmission line is somebody's idea of a joke !
Ignoring the discredited ?speaker? designer?
who WRONGLY claimed that sound absorbent slow down the speed of sound
by as much as 50 percent (ha ha, very funny) for the deep bass,
you need 14 feet (which is a quarter wavelength of 20 Hertz sound wave)
transmission line to get bass down to 20 Hertz.
Our 12 inch woofer in a 12 foot long transmission line is a SERIOUS transmission line.
We also have IMF TLS 50 mark 2 with 8 inch woofer (looks like Kef B200 with Bextrene cone)
and it is the size of a refrigerator !
Bass from a cutesy 18 inch tall transmission line should be better
than cutesy 6 inch speakers in smaller cabinets.
But bass from a cutesy 18 inch tall transmission line is lousy
(when compare to our SERIOUS TRANSMISSION LINES SPEAKERS)
so do NOT blame your transistor amplifier !
8 inch bass / midrange have fallen out of favour
because most people insist on using 1 inch dome tweeter,
so you need to crossover at 3000 Hertz to 4000 hertz
(because 1 inch dome CANNOT handle low frequency).
So, your bass/ midrange will have to go up 'almost flat'
to PREFERABLE TWICE OF THAT, to 6000 Hertz to 8000 Hertz
(because crossovers only stops the treble from reaching the midrange GRADUALLY.)
Assuming that
the frequency response of the Deutschephon 8 inch speakers
has worse high frequency than the 6 inch Deutschephon speaker,
the 8 inch speaker is about 5 decibel to 10 decibel down at 1000 hertz to 3000 Hertz.
Hum...... You must be joking.  This is NOT acceptable for  'High End' speakers.
This might be acceptable for budget speakers.
At 6000 Hertz, it is 30 decibel down !
Hum..... Please be serious, you must be pulling my leg !
8 inch bass / midrange have fallen out of favour
because most people insist on using 1 inch dome tweeter,
so you need to crossover at 3000 to 4000 hertz. 
So, your bass/ midrange will have to go up 'almost flat'
to PREFERABLE TWICE OF THAT, to 6000 Hertz to 8000 Hertz.
(because crossovers only stops the treble from reaching the midrange GRADUALLY.)
Please stop messing about with DIY (Do It Yourself) speakers
+ buy our GBP £650 speakers that has
BASS 10 TIMES BETTER THAN YOUR CUTESY 18 INCH TRANSMISSION LINE + QUAD ESL 63
HUMAN VOICE ABOUT 50 PERCENT TO 100 PERCENT (depending on how fussy you are)
MORE REALISTIC THAN YOUR QUAD ESL 63 ELECTROSTATIC SPEAKERS.
HUMAN VOICE ABOUT 100 PERCENT TO 200 PERCENT (depending on how fussy you are)
MORE REALISTIC THAN ANY 8 INCH MIDRANGE.
This is coming from a guy who says "stop going on and on about cables"
because the difference between cables is so small,
that I am not sure if there really is a difference or it is my imagination !
So, if I say there is a HUGE difference,
you will hear the difference !
 

 
Question in May 2006 = Some unauthorized repairmen are WRONGLY claiming that they can improve our amplifier with Canadian or Japanese transformers, other brands of Silver Mica capacitors, etc, changing to 'Automatic Cathode Bias'
IF YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE TECHNICAL DETAILS,
Please use your ears
+ buy our amplifier on 1 month home trail (less shipping + packing cost)
and 
AUDITION OUR AMPLIFIER AGAINST ANY AMPLIFIER THAT COST 3 TIMES MORE MONEY
LISTEN to DEEP BASS + clarity of human voices WHEN THERE IS A DEEP BASS AT THE SAME TIME (using well designed that need not bed expensive '3 way' speakers.
from GBP £900 to GBP £1,200 amplifiers that have received 'spiced up' reviews in some Hi Fi magazines (if you still believe what Hi Fi magazines says !  like, buy this GBP £4000 pieces of loudspeakers wire. It improves the bass.  like, buy GBP £2000 mains conditioner, improves bass, etc.  How can GBP £2000 mains conditioner + GBP £4000 speaker wire make a small 6 inch speaker imitate/ reproduce 22 inch kick bass drum ?   Please ask the Hi Fi reviewers who writes all these these 'spiced up' reviews to explain how !
MONEY BACK GUARANTEE (less packing + shipping cost, within 30 days) that our transformers + Silver Mica Capacitors + Plastic film capacitors will beats (or match) Western, English, Canadian, Japanese output transformers, Himalayan volume controlled, stepped attenuator, Black Door capacitors, silver plated moon rock, snake oil, etc.
Ask the UNAUTHORISED REPAIRMAN offering these ?upgrades? (or downgrades?) to MATCH OUR MONEY BACK GUARANTEE + 1 MONTH HOME TRAIL.  If the UNAUTHORISED REPAIRMAN is scared to offer you MONEY BACK GUARANTEE + 1 MONTH HOME TRIAL, then unauthorized repairman is  .................
One of the thing that annoys me is that dealers in internet forums (pretending to be innocent members of the public) are always saying that western and Japanese transformers are better.  This is not true.
British transformers are usually TOO SMALL. The British KT66 monoblock that is hyped up has such small transformer that it CANNOT EVEN PRODUCE 10 watts of DEEP BASS at 20 Hertz, even though it is rated at 15 watts (in the midrange).
 SERIOUS Single Ended transformer MUST have an 'Air Gap' (meaning you must NOT loose the bolts of the transformer, after the transformer factory has 'set' the 'air gap'.
You have to loose the bolt of the transformer to mount the Parallel Single Ended 300B output transformer to British DIY monoblocks kit. PLEASE LISTEN TO THE BASS WITH 10 INCH WOOFER OF THIS DIY MONOBLOCK AMPLIFIER KIT.  Please listen to the 'hum' from this DIY amplifier kit.
You have to loose the bolt of the transformer to mount the Single Ended 300B output transformer to a British power amplifier, with a 'spice up review'. PLEASE LISTEN TO THE BASS WITH 10 INCH WOOFER OF THIS AMPLIFIER.
Many Americans think that the famous brand of Canadian transformers are 'good value for money and competent,
but not many people would classify them as the best (except the repair man who is trying to charge you hundreds of pound)
Many Americans think that Japanese output transformer do not have enough bass. 
This is probably true, because the 'typical' Japanese transformers are expensive,
but comparatively small
and you need BIG output transformers for good LOUD DEEP BASS
American transformers are not that big either.
Please compare the size of output transformers of the famous Dynaco ST70 stereo 70 tube amplifier
or USD 3000 American tube amplifiers
versus our GBP £410 (about USD 700) tube amplifier.
Yes, it is true that Mcintosh MC 275 have HUGE HUGE POTTED transformers,
but how many working Joe can afford a McIntosh MC 275 ?
Again please look at the size of our HUGE HUGE POTTED transformers on our GBP £1100 (about USD 2000) amplifier + non magnetic STAINLESS STEEL (does NOT have 'rust pits' like chrome plated steel of the Dynaco ST 70 Stereo 70, etc)
After dealing with the BIG HUGE size needed for the bass,
our output transformers have
MANY MANY layers of interleaved winding
(needed for High frequency)
MONEY BACK GUARANTEE (less packing + shipping cost, within 30 days) that
our fixed / adjustable bias is 10 TIMES TECHNICALLY SUPERIOR to the 'Automatic Cathode Bias'.
Most SERIOUS High End equipment,
like most valve amplifiers that GENUINELY offer 40 watts or more of bass at LOW DISTORTION
(unlike the Stereophile test of a GBP £900 amplifier
(with 'spiced up' reviews in some British magazine,
but correctly described as What Hi Fi magazine as not having enough bass)
that CLAIMS top produce 40 watts (in the the midrange) but struggles to produce 3 watts of DEEP bass at 20 hertz)
(Please look at figure 7 at  http://www.stereophile.com/integratedamps/205prima/index3.html
 which shows 2 to 3 percent distortion at about 3 watts of DEEP bass at 20 Hertz.
5 volts times 5 volts divided by 8 ohms = about 3 watts)
are fixed / adjustable bias + DEEPER BASS 
(The bypass capacitor for automatic cathode bias' is usually too small
+ you have to restore the bass by 'negative feedback")
+ better bass damping (i.e. BOOM FREE if the speakers are WELL DESIGNED) 
(applying negative feedback to the cathode by bypassing the bypass capacitor that is too small is a bad idea.) (Please read Mr Morgan Jones book about why you CANNOT apply negative feedback to the cathode of phono states.  Same logic applies to EL34 ,KT66 and KT88 valves)
Ask the UNAUTHORISED REPAIRMAN offering these ?upgrades? (or downgrades?) to MATCH OUR MONEY BACK GUARANTEE + 1 MONTH HOME TRAIL.  If the UNAUTHORISED REPAIRMAN is scared to offer you MONEY BACK GUARANTEE + 1 MONTH HOME TRIAL, then the unauthorized repair man is  ..................

 
Question from on 22nd August 2006 = I have a small Italian speakers called Diapason Karis
which are detailed sounding and rich, but I have been told by an hifi shop that 
it requires high powered amplifiers to drive them at their best.
They also told me that valve amplifiers would'nt work well with them,
but I'm after a warm detailed sound. Is this true?
Answer = The technical knowledge of many staff in Hi Fi shops is very poor.
I have heard MANY complains from my customers,
who have been serious Hi Fi Enthusiasts for many years.
This is another example of
shop assistants who do NOT know what they are talking about.
Has the shop assistant tried out valve amplifiers with your speakers ?
Has the shop assistant actually heard a valve amplifier, in the last 2 years ?
Does the shop sell valve amplifier ?
MONEY BACK GUARANTEE (less shipping cost + small restocking fee +
equipment must be returned during 1 month home trial) that 
our cheapest GBP £250 valve amplifier will make
ANY small 5 inch speakers (including your expensive Diaphalon Karis , BBC LS3/5a , etc)
SOUND 2 TIMES BETTER than
100 watt to 5000 watt TRANSISTOR (urggh) or DIGITAL (even more urggh) amplifier
costing from GBP £100 to GBP £10000000 
with the biggest hyped up unbelievable review in Hi Fi magazines
You CANNOT get detailed sound from 5 inch speakers (at LOUD volume)
(especially if you have 20 feet rooms)
EVEN IF YOU USE 500 WATTS TRANSISTOR AMPLIFIERS
because ....
HUGE 22 inch kick bass drums will EASILY overload SMALL 5 inch  speakers.
Once the 5 inch speaker is overload, it will produce many percent of distortion.
This distortion might NOT be rattling or other horrible sound.
You hear this distortion as
blur , congested human voices (like the singer has a cold and blocked up nose).
Turn up the volume even more,
and the SMALL 5 inch speaker overloads so badly,
that you CANNOT even understand the lyrics of the song !
Did you say you wanted a 'detailed sound' ?
Does 'detailed sound' include understand the lyrics of the song ?
SERIOUS 'High End' Studio Monitors get around round this problem by
(and before you say it )
( No ! BBC LS3/5a and Spendor BC1 are NOT 'High End' Studio Monitors )
1. directing most of the HUGE 22 inch Kick bass drum to a BIG DEDICATED woofer
(preferably as big as possible).
2. directing most of the voices to a SEPARATE DEDICATED midrange
(usually 3 inch dome to 6 inch cone).
     The SEPARATE DEDICATED midrange is less prone to overloading,
     because most of the huge 22 inch kick bass drums are directed AWAY
     from this venerable 'smallish' speakers (when compared to SERIOUS 12 inch woofer)
There is a limit to what you can do with
small speakers, small cars, small engines, small etc.
Diapason Karis is a small speaker with 5 inch speaker.
5 inch speakers CANNOT handle power.
Please ask the manufacturer.
How much distortion for 10 watts of bass at 100 Hertz ?
How much distortion for 10 watts of bass at 40 Hertz ?
I doubt if you will receive an answer
There is a limit to what you can do with
small speakers, small cars, small engines, small etc
MONEY BACK GUARANTEE (less shipping cost + small restocking fee +
equipment must be returned during 1 month home trial) that our
Hilariously priced GBP £300 speakers with
BIG POWERFUL 8 inch woofer
+ 5 inch 'Ultra High End' coated paper midrange + 1 inch tweeter
( You might need a rolled up towel stuffed in the bass reflex port ! )
( More stock at end of October 2006 )
+ our cheapest GBP £250 VALVE / TUBE amplifier producing 40 watts + 40 watts
+ GBP £180 Sony CD player that takes 300 CD in a jukebox style tray
will SOUND 100 TIMES BETTER (warm, detail , lifelike voices, bass, etc )
that ANY small 5 inch speakers (including your expensive Diaphalon Karis , BBC LS3/5a , etc)
+ 100 watt to 5000000 watt TRANSISTOR or VALVE / TUBE or DIGITAL amplifier
costing from GBP £100 to GBP £10000000
with the biggest hyped up unbelievable review in Hi Fi magazines
ESPECIALLY IF YOU HAVE 15 FEET (or bigger) ROOMS
How is this possible ?
The answer is simply
There is a limit to what you can do with
small speakers, small cars, small engines, etc

 
 
Question from eBay member in September 2006 = Hello,
I owned one of these before and regret selling it. It sounded brilliant.
I still have 4 nos EL34's mullard, would these work ok if i bought the amp?
I also have some ecf 82s as well.
I have a audiolab 8000P while being powerful it does not have the same quality.
Just upgraded to B&W 603 s3 speakers would these go ok with the valve amp, Thanks 
Answer = PART 1 about changing Valves / Tubes
Our valve amplifiers and Chinese valves are very reliable.
Please do not change our VERY RELIABLE and SUPERIOR 'HIGH TECH" Chinese valves
with 1 year guarantee (for your GBP 250 amplifier)
or 2 years guarantee for our more expensive amplifiers
for other valves with a disappointing 90 days guarantee.
'Proper' genuine Mullard valves MADE IN ENGLAND are VERY EXPENSIVE.
How do you know that the British valves / tube are 100 percent new,
and not used and half dead ?
How do you know that the British valves / tube are not 'counterfeit'
and made in Russian or China ?
The chance of you finding 4 'properly matched' genuine MADE IN ENGLAND EL34 valves
is VERY slim (regardless of the 'matching valves' claims of the seller)
The most probably reason, why you come across
a few 'proper' genuine MADE IN ENGLAND EL34 or KT88 valves
is that they do NOT match, and was not used, because they did NOT match one another !
Our CHINESE VALVES ARE BETTER than British Mullard valves because ......
1. Our mutual conductance / transconductance is MUCH MUCH MUCH higher
    than the Russian valves that I have measured.
    Higher mutual conductance / transconductance
    means more electrons,
    means more current
    means more bass.
    THIS MEANS THAT OUR BASS + LOWER DISTORTION IS MUCH MUCH BETTER
    THAN THE DOZENS OF RUSSIAN VALVES THAT I HAVE TRIED.
     ( Assuming that you have seriously BIG 10 inch or 12 inch speakers.)
     ( Testing the bass of valves with small 6 inch speaker is a waste of time. )
2. Our guarantee is 4 times to 8 time longer than British Mullard valves,
    which is a typically a disappointing 90 days (even 40 years ago)
3. Modern Chinese vacuum pumps are MUCH MUCH MUCH better
    than 50 year old worn out Western vacuum pump,
    used in the dying Western valve / tube industry, just before transistors took over.
4. I believe our SUPERIOR 'HIGH TECH' Chinese EL34 valves have
    Graphite / carbon coating to reduce secondary emission.
    If you throw a pebble VERY HARD down on a shingle beach full of pebble,
    the thrown pebble might make OTHER pebble fly up into the air.
   To stop other pebble flying up into the air,
   you can put a blanket down on top of the OTHER pebbles.
   We have the same situation in valve / tube
   Some electron might hit the grey coloured metal plate (or glass) so violently,
   that it might dislodge other electrons AT RANDOM (which is bad 'secondary emission').
    ( It is like throwing a pebble, on a shingle beach full of pebble.)
    In order to stop this,
    you coat the glass and grey metal plates with finely powered graphite / carbon.
      ( It is like putting down a blanket on top of the shingle beach.)
    There is a brown colour in our Chinese valve after a few days 'burning in',
    which I believe is the graphite / carbon coating.
    This recommendation for graphite / carbon coating the grey metal plate + glass
    is NOT a new Chinese idea.
    It is an ancient WESTERN idea found in many WESTERN text books,
    but most Western companies and Russian companies could not be bothered
    to improve their Western and Russian valves / tubes.
    Sigh .....
    China being THE manufacturing country for the rest of the world,
    actually read the WESTERN text books seriously, 
    and IMPROVED THEIR EL34 VALVES.
    to produce SUPERIOR 'HIGH TECH' Chinese valves / valves.
    Can you suggest a reason why China is THE manufacturing country for the rest of the world ?
    Unfortunately, many valve ?experts? who do not know anything
    about RANDOM (bad) secondary emission,
    so they complain about the brown stuff in Chinese valves.
    Sigh ..... 
    Please do not believe these valve ?experts?
    (probably dealers in Hi Fi Forums pretending to be innocent members of the public)
    who invent the nonsensical hype about Western and Russian valves.
Cheap Mullard valves are MADE IN RUSSIA OR CHINA,
and usually have a disappointing 90 days guarantee.
So, you might as well stick with our VERY RELIABLE and SUPERIOR 'HIGH TECH'
Chinese valves with 1 year (with your GBP 250 amplifier)
or 2 years guarantee (with more expensive amplifier). .... 

 
 
Question from eBay members in 10 September 2006 = Hello,
I owned one of these ( VR-70E ) before and regret selling it. It sounded brilliant.
I still have 4 nos EL34s mullard, would these work ok if i bought the amp?. 
I also have some ecf 82s as well. 
I have a audiolab 8000P while being powerful it does not have the same quality.
Just upgraded to B&W 603 s3 speakers would these go ok with the valve amp, Thanks
John 
Answer = 
Affordable Valve Company
Are your valve / tube amplifier suitable for 6 inch speakers ?
( PART 1 )
Can your valve / tube amplifier make my 6 inch speaker sound better ?
Yes, ALL of our valve / tube amplifier (even our affordable GBP 250 'starter' amplifier)
can make your 6 inch speaker sound MUCH MUCH MUCH better,
but ....You MUST follow
Lim's rule for 6 inch bass / midrange speaker
and SIT ABOUT 6 FEET FROM 6 INCH BASS / MIDRANGE SPEAKERS
It does not matter if you are using 500 watts transistor amplifier or valve amplifier 
because there is a limit to what you can do with 
small 6 inch speaker, small car, small engines, small power tools, etc.
It does not matter if you paid GBP 300 or GBP 4000 for SMALL 6 inch speakers
because there is a limit to what you can do with 
small 6 inch speaker, small car, small engines, small power tools, etc.
You MUST follow
Lim's rule for 6 inch bass / midrange speaker
and SIT ABOUT 6 FEET FROM 6 INCH BASS / MIDRANGE SPEAKERS
so that we can offer you
MONEY BACK GUARANTEE (less shipping cost. equipment must be returned during the
1 month home trial) that  ...........
1. Music sounds 2 to 10 times (depending on how fussy you are) better than transistor amplifiers
    or your money refunded ! ( Less shipping charge. Good returned during 1 month home trial.)
2  Music sounds 50 percent to 5 times (depending on how fussy you are)
    better than most of our competitors valve / tube amplifier, 
    including most 'hyped up' valve power amplifier and most 'hyped up' valve monoblocks
      ( because most of our competitors output transformers are smaller )
      ( and overload too easily with LOUD DEEP bass from CD player.)
      ( There is a limit to how much LOUD DEEP bass you can put on an vinyl record )
      ( before one wiggly groove overflows into the nest wiggly groove.)
( If you are serious about bass, )
( buy a CD player + BIG 10 inch or 12 inch woofer in BIG cabinets  )
    Please ignore the bad marketing ploy of valve power amplifier or valve monoblocks with
    SMALLER output transformer or SMALLER power valve than
    our very affordable GBP 250 'starter' valve tube amplifier !
3. 'Push Pull' operation with largish output transformers mean that
     bass will match (or beat) most serious transistor and most valve amplifier
     This guarantee exclude some budget transistor amplifier or valve amplifier
     with 'hidden' loudness controls that ARTIFICIALLY BOOST the bass + treble
     to impress some Hi Fi enthusiast and some Hi Fi reviewers,
     but sound EXTREMELY IRRITATING to 'Golden Ears' Hi Fi enthusiast. 
4. Treble is 2 time to 10 times less irritating (depending on easily irritated your ears are.)
    than most transistor amplifiers WITHOUT LOSING TREBLE DETAIL.
    You actually get MORE TREBLE DETAILS, because most transistor amplifiers produces
     'Class B crossover distortion' that mask the SOFT treble details.
    This is really crucial if you are using metal dome tweeters
    + CD player + 'essentially Class B biased' transistor amplifiers.
     WELL DESIGNED (that need not be expensive) soft dome tweeters
     with reasonably flat frequency response and sophisticated COMPLICATED crossover
     (described bellow) suffer less from problems with irritating treble.
5. Irritating sibilance (when a woman says 'his' it sound like hissssssk')
    is greatly reduced by 2 to 4 times
    (depending on how fussy you are + what speakers you are using.) 
    when compared with transistor amplifiers.
     This is really crucial, if you are using 'essentially Class B Biased' transistor amplifier
     CD players + metal dome tweeter with metal or Kevlar fibre or glass fibre 
     or carbon fibre midranges (or bass / midranges)
     Coated paper cones or SOFT plastic cone midrange (or bass/midrange) + soft dome tweeters 
     suffer less from problems with excessive exaggerated sibilance.
6. Human voices is 50 percent to 3 times more realistic (depending on how fussy you are)
    with our 'Ultra Linear' 40 watts + 40 watts valve / tube amplifiers
    (when compared with most transistor amplifiers)
    Human voices is 2 to 10 times more realistic (depending on how fussy you are) with 
    our 'EL34 or KT88 Triode Connection' or 300B Triode 'Push Pull'
     20 watts + 20 watts valve / tube amplifiers
    (when compared with most transistor amplifiers)
     Please forget about the meaningless fancy prose of timing, speed, imaging, height, etc.
     THE MOST IMPORTANT SOUND ON THE CD OF YOUR FAVOURITE SINGER
     IS THE VOICE OF YOUR FAVOURITE SINGER.
( PART 2 )
Can your valve / tube amplifier make SMALL 6 inch speaker sound like
........ BIG 10 inch woofer + 5 inch midrange + 1 inch tweeter 
........  imitate HUGE 22 inch kick bass drum
........  fill BIG 20 feet rooms with LOUD party music ?
NOTHING IN THE WORLD can make
SMALL 6 inch speaker sound like
insanely expensive GBP 6000 to GBP 20000
in HUGE (the size of a fridge) cabinets
with BIG 10 inch woofer or HUGE 12 inch woofers
+ 5 inch or 6 inch midrange
+ 1 inch tweeters.
NOTHING IN THE WORLD can make
SMALL 6 inch speaker imitate HUGE 22 inch kick bass drums
or fill HUGE 20 feet room with LOUD party music.
Please do NOT believe 'spiced up' Hi Fi reviews making
absurd unbelievable claims that 6 inch speaker have fantastic bass
and can fill 20 feet room with loud party music.
If 6 inch speaker have fantastic bass and can fill 20 feet room with loud party music,
why do many famous manufacturers produce
insanely expensive GBP 6000 to GBP 20000
'3 way' HUGE (the size of a fridge) speakers
with BIG 10 inch or HUGE 12 inch woofers
+ typical 5 inch or 6 inch midrange
+ 1 inch tweeter ?
It does not matter if you are using 500 watts transistor amplifier or valve amplifier
because there is a limit to what you can do with 
small 6 inch speaker, small car, small engines, small power tool, small anything.
It does not matter if you paid GBP 300 or GBP 4000 for SMALL 6 inch speakers
because there is a limit to what you can do with 
small 6 inch speaker, small car, small engines, small power tool, small anything.
( Part 3 )
How do the Hi Fi industry persuade you that 
6 inch speakers have fantastic bass + can go loud ?
Many experienced Hi Fi dealer will NOT demonstrate small 6 inch speaker in 30 feet shops.
The dealer will say that the speaker are not connected up,
and he will connected up the speakers for you in their special demonstration room.
Sound impressive, does it ? Special demonstration room, helpful dealer, great service !
Many Hi Fi dealers will demonstrate SMALL 6 inch speakers
in 10 feet by 10 feet by 10 feet demonstration room.
The sofa has been pulled 3 feet away from the wall.
The dealer will put a shelve behind the sofa, so it does not look too odd.
The dealer will pull the speakers 2 feet away from the rear wall.
So, you are sitting 5 feet from the 6 inch speaker !
6 inch speaker are loud enough if you sit 5 feet from the speakers.
If you sit 15 feet from the speaker, you need 9 times more power
(ignoring reflections from the wall and floor)
(15 feet is 3 times bigger than 5 feet.  3 times 3 = 9 )
The air in the 10 feet by 10 feet by 10 feet room
will boom / resonate (eigentone) at about 50 hertz. 
This will create a HUGE bass boost of 12 decibels (or more) at about 50 Hertz.
So, you will be impressed with the bass !
Put the speaker in a NON CUBIC room like a 20 feet by 15 feet by 10 feet room,
and the HUGE bass boom at 50 hertz disappears,
(to be replaced by many smaller bass boom at many different frequencies (which might be less irritating)
and you will spend the rest of your life trying to find an amplifier
that will give you the same bass as a 10 feet by 10 feet by 10 feet room !
The 10 feet by 10 feet by 10 feet demonstration room doe NOT have any windows.
There is only one door. The salesman will close the door and say that
he does not want the noise in the shop to disturb your auditioning.
You are sitting in a SMALL PRESSURE CHAMBER, which will boost the bass.
Small pressure chambers like headphones that covers your ears with 'air tight cups'
usually have much more bass
than headphone with foam pad that rest gently on your ears.
Open the door and windows in a 20 feet room, sit 15 feet from small 6 inch speaker,
and you wonder why you cannot find an amplifier, CD player, cartridge, turntable, etc
to get the bass, the loud volume,
the clarity + low distortion (because the speaker is playing at a reasonably soft volume,
because you are sitting NEAR the NEARFIELD 6 inch speaker)
like the demonstration you heard in the dealer 10 feet by 10 feet by 10 feet demonstration room.
I would also like to add that some VERY serious Hi Fi enthusiast have got it wrong,
because they have a ?special? listening room that is 10 feet by 10 feet by 10 feet,
with a HUGE bass boom (12 decibels or more) at about 50 Hertz.
If you are serious about having a special Hi Fi listening room,
please look at page 439 of the 4th edition of Mr Martin Colloms excellent book
called High Performance Loudspeakers that say that the
minimum recommended IEC room is 20 feet by 13 feet by 8 feet tall
maximum recommended IEC room is 23 feet by 16 feet by 10 feet tall 
( PART 4 )
If you want to sit 15 feet from your speakers .........
If you want to sit 15 feet from from your speaker
you need '3 way' speaker with design features that
TRIES to prevent HUGE 22 inch kick bass drum
from overloading the 'typical' SMALL 5 inch or 6 inch midrange.
The crossover of  '2 way' speakers or '2 and a half way' speaker does NOT stop
HUGE 22 inch kick bass drum OVERLOADING the SMALL 6 inch bass / midrange.
(It does matter if you paid GBP 300 or GBP 4000 for your speakers.)
(It does not matter if you are using 500 watts transistor amplifier or valve amplifier.)
The 'typical' sub woofer does NOT stop
HUGE 22 inch kick bass drum OVERLOADING the SMALL 6 inch bass / midrange.
(It does matter if you paid GBP 300 or GBP 4000 for your speakers.)
(It does not matter if you are using 500 watts transistor amplifier or valve amplifier.)
6 inch bass / midrange speaker
are found in the typical '2 way speaker' and typical '2 and half way' speaker
with 1 or 2 pieces of 6 inch speakers + 1 piece of 1 inch tweeter.
( Adding the 'typical' sub woofer does NOT cure this particular problem. )
( PART 5 )
If you want to sit 15 feet from your speakers .........
If you want LOUD rock music or LOUD orchestral pieces .........
If you want to sit 15 feet from from your speaker
you also need complicated sophisticated crossover (described below) for the tweeter
If you want to sit 15 feet from your speakers
or LOUD party music or LOUD rock music or LOUD orchestral pieces
in BIG 20 FEET ROOMS,
you need BIGGER '3 way' speakers
with
8 inch or BIG 10 inch or HUGE 12 inch woofers
+ 'typical' 5 inch or 6 inch SEPARATE DEDICATED midrange
+ 1 inch tweeter
(ONE piece of 12 inch woofer is as big as about FOUR pieces of 6 inch woofers)
(ONE piece of 10 inch woofer is as big as about THREE pieces of 6 inch woofers)
(ONE piece of 8 inch woofer is as big as
about ONE AND TWO THIRD pieces of 6 inch woofers)
(when you calculate the moving area, without the 'useless' metal frame
and part of the 'useless' cone surround)
You also need more complicated sophisticated crossover with special features
to keep 22 inch kick bass drum and human voices (around 1000 hertz)
out of the TINY 1 inch dome tweeters,
that are tiny and EASILY OVERLOADED.
You need complicated sophisticated crossover for the tweeter like
(a) 18 decibels per octave filter , using at least 2 capacitors + 1 inductor for the tweeter
or
(b) 12 decibels per octave filter AND 'L pad' TURNED OWN LOW , 
using at least 1 capacitor + 1 inductor + 2 resistors for the tweeter
or
(c) 12 decibels per octave filter 
    AND 'Lim Aik Leong' notch filter tuned to fundamental resonance frequency of the tweeter, 
    to reduce the huge impedance at the resonance frequency.
    Cheap solution like ferro fluid (thick viscous oil + iron filing) does not work, 
     because the thick vicious oil become think and runny, once you turn up the volume, 
     and the voice coil and oil become hot.
     'Lim Aik Leong' notch filter is called 'Lim Aik Leong' notch filter because 
     'Lim Aik Leong' is trying to popularize
      complicated sophisticated notch filter tuned to the fundamental frequency of the tweeter,
      whist most manufacturers are doing the exact opposite, and trying to simplify the crossover
      and using a simple 1 capacitor 6 decibel per octave filter for the tweeter !
      Many modern manufacturer use simple 6 decibel crossover (using 1 capacitor)
      or 12 decibels per octave crossover (using at least 1 capacitor + 1 inductor),
                 WITHOUT 'notch filter, WITHOUT 'L pads' TURN DOWN LOW,
           so
      the portion of human voice and musical instrument (around 1 kilohertz)
       will EASILY OVERLOAD the TINY 1 inch tweeter
      and the treble get VERY HARSH
       when playing music at realistic life size volume in 20 feet room
                                         (and sitting 12 feet from the speakers)
       (It does not matter if you are using 500 watts transistor amplifier or valve amplifier.)
       (It does not matter if you paid GBP 300 or GBP 13000 for your speakers)
       So, we CANNOT recommend
      many Western speaker costing from GBP 2000 to GBP 20000
       for LOUD MUSIC in BIG 20 feet rooms,
       because many Western crossovers are not complicated or sophisticated enough
        for TINY 1 inch dome tweeters, that are EASILY OVERLOADED.
       A famous Western brand proudly boost that
       they only use 1 capacitor for a simple 6 decibel per octave crossover for the tweeter.
       (It does NOT matter if your speaker cost GBP 2000 or GBP 10000 or GBP 1000000.
       If uses 1 capacitor for a simple 6 decibel per octave filter for the tweeter,
        it is NOT suitable for LOUD MUSIC in BIG 20 feet room,
        (unless, the manufacturer can claim that their tweeter has Xmax that
       is MUCH MUCH larger than the Xmax of the typical tweeter.
       But most manufacturer do NOT tell you the Xmax of tweeter.
        Is the Xmax of most tweeter that bad  ? )
The BEST VALVE / TUBE amplifier in the world
CANNOT make the treble sound 'sweet'
if the tweeter is OVERLOADED (in 20 feet rooms)
by the part of the human voice (around 1000 Hertz)
or musical instruments (around 1000 Hertz).
You need complicated sophisticated crossover (described above)
to prevent the TINY 1 inch tweeter from being OVERLOADED
( PART 6 )
If you want LOUD music in 20 feet room ....................
Probably the cheapest NEW (not used) POWERFUL loudspeaker
suitable for LOUD MUSIC in BIG 20 feet room is our eBay GBP 650 listing
for MODIFIED IN ENGLAND BY LIM AIK LEONG GBP 650 powerful '3 way' speakers with
8 inch or BIG 10 inch woofer (tuned for deeper, boom free bass)
+ 5 inch midrange or 6 inch midrange
+ 1 inch tweeter
+ sophisticated 12 decibel pe octave filter for the tweeter
+ 'Lim Aik Leong' notch filter tuned to the fundamental resonance of the tweeter
+ Zobel network
using a total of 3 capacitors + 2 inductor + 2 resistor.
Surely, even the most cynical Hi Fi enthusiast, who are fed up with
unbelievable Hi Fi reviews about ?fantastic? GBP 4000 cables (money for old rope)
might give me the 'benefit of a doubt' that
3 capacitors + 2 inductor + 2 resistor for the tweeter crossover
might sound different to
some of our VERY EXPENSIVE competitors using
1 capacitor for the tweeter crossover for LOUD MUSIC in BIG 20 feet rooms.
(1 capacitor for the tweeter crossover for SOFT MUSIC in SMALL 10 feet rooms
MIGHT be o.k.)
(It is all about REAL REALISTIC power handling of 1 watt or less,
with LOWISH DISTORTION,)
(and NOT the absurd misleading claims that TINY 1 inch tweeters can handle 100 watts.)
(If you pump 40 watts through a tweeter,
the tweeter will become almost as hot as a 40 watt light bulb.
Your tweeter does NOT even get warm, because your tweeter is typically using less than 1 watt.)
(Wherever the difference is for the better or the worse,)
(you will have to audition the 2 VERY different approach to crossover design.)
(and make up your own mind)
( PART 7 )
If you want to better , louder deeper bass .........
If you want louder deeper bass,
you need bigger speaker with BIG 10 inch or HUGE 12 inch woofers
in HUGE (the size of fridge) cabinets.
Sub woofer can produce LOUD bass.
But the QUALITY of the bass of sub woofer in SMALLish cabinet is very poor
and full of 'bass doubling' or 'frequency doubling'.
These are 'Old timers' terminology for HUGE amounts of second harmonic distortion !
Professionals in the Hi Fi industry have know about this problem for 50 years (or more) !
When you shove 10 inch woofers into SMALLish cabinets,
the resonance frequency increase greatly.
The 'typical' sub woofer has a 'built in' amplifier that
will TRY to SEVERELY FORCE the poor 10 inch woofer to
produce bass BELOW the system NATURAL resonance frequency.
The poor 10 inch woofer has SEVERE DIFFICULTY in producing bass
BELOW the system NATURAL resonance frequency, 
so the only thing the poor SEVERELY FORCED AND ABUSED 10 inch woofer can do,
is to produce frequencies that is
TWICE the original frequency (we call this 2nd harmonic distortion)
or THREE TIMES the original frequency (we call this third harmonic distortion) , etc
Buy our ebay listing for our 'Sound Check 2' test CD, and you will find that 
LOUD 30 hertz or 40 Hertz from most 10 inch sub woofers in smallish cabinets
does NOT sound much  deeper than a LOUD 60 Hertz or 80 Hertz
BECAUSE YOU ARE LISTENING  TO HUGE AMOUNTS
OF 2ND HARMONIC DISTORTION AND 3RD HARMONIC DISTORTION !
Please ignore the 'smoke screen' that the 'built in' amplifier produces 0.001 percent distortion.
Ask the subwoofer manufacturer 'Is it 1 percent distortion or 20 percent distortion
or 50 percent distortion for 20 watts of 40 hertz
into the 10 inch or 12 inch sub woofer (and NOT the 'built in' amplifier).'
The distortion is so bad, that you will NOT get a reply !
Yes, when you put 30 Hertz into the typical sub woofer,
you can get loud bass,
but it is NOT 30 Hertz,
it is mostly 60 Hertz, 90 Hertz, 120 Hertz, etc
The bass from our BIG 10 inch woofers or HUGE 12 inch woofer
in LARGISH cabinets
TUNED BY LIM AIK LEONG IN ENGLAND
for 100 percent boom free and deeper bass
is 5 times to 100 times better (depending on how fussy you are)

 
 
Question from eBay member in September 2006 = 
Hello is the vr-70e power output 44 watts into 8 or 4 ohms
Thanks and best regards 
Answer = 
Please do not be too worried about the CLAIMED ohms of the loudspeakers
because most loudspeaker manufacturer do NOT care.
It is quite usual for modern speakers, described as 8 ohms,
to have resistance / impedance that fluctuate wildly from 3 ohms to 30 ohms
at different frequencies.
If you are very worried about 4 ohms or 8 ohms,
please buy our 'Triode Connection' 'Push Pull' amplifiers.
'Triode Connection' valve amplifiers are MUCH more 'forgiving'
of the absurd HUGE changes in impedance of many modern speakers
than 'Ultra Linear' valve amplifiers.
Our 'Push Pull' valve amplifiers with a bit of feedback
are MUCH more 'forgiving'
of the absurd HUGE changes in impedance of many modern speakers
than 'Single Ended' valve amplifiers without feedback.
( When auditioning 'Single Ended' amplifiers without feedback, )
( you must check the HUGE fluctuation in speaker impedance at different frequencies, )
( because THIS WILL AFFECT THE FREQUENCY RESPONSE )
( + TONE OF THE SPEAKERS !  )
There are connections at the rear of the amplifier for 8 ohms speaker.
There are connections at the rear of the amplifier for 4 ohms speaker.
If you have 6 ohms speakers, please try one connection and then the other connection.
This will 'maintain' the 40 watts power which is
10 TIMES TOO POWERFUL FOR THE 'TYPICAL 6 INCH SPEAKER
or ELECTROSTATIC SPEAKERS
The power rating of valve amplifiers are totally misleading !
Watts are TOTALLY MISLEADING, 
and a technical answer will not tell you what you really want to know.
Your real question is 'how loud will the amplifier will go.'
Our 'Push Pull' valve / tube amplifier with BIG valves + BIG output transformer
will sound LOUD LOUD LOUD LOUD LOUD (if your speaker are man enough)
+ have EXCELLENT BASS (if your speaker are man enough).
6 inch speaker will NOT go loud,
EVEN IF YOU USE 500 WATTS TRANSISTOR AMPLIFIERS
 Electrostatic speaker
WITHOUT SUBWOOFER 
WITHOUT CROSSOVER to stop huge 22 inch kick bass drum
overloading the delicate electrostatic panels
will NOT go loud, 
EVEN IF YOU USE 500 WATTS TRANSISTOR AMPLIFIERS
'Single Ended' Valve / tube amplifier with SMALL output transformer,
WITHOUT negative feedback
will NOT sound loud
and will NOT have enough bass
with 'typical' domestic speaker.
Why are Watts misleading ?
You will find that many of our competitors amplifier can produce a respectable amount of power
in the MIDRANGE FREQUENCIES.
But a man shouting as loudly as possible only produce 20 TIMES LESS THAN 1 WATT,
so the power in the midrange is irrelevant.
The LOUDEST SOUND on most recording are
BASS DRUMS + OTHER BASS INSTRUMENTS.
Please look at figure 7 at
http://www.stereophile.com/integratedamps/205prima/index3.html
and you will see that our competitors almost 40 watts amplifier
produces about 2 to 3 percent distortion for about 3 watts at 20 Hertz.
( 5 volts x 5 volts divided by 8 ohms = 3 watts )
Should our competitor describe their valve amplifier as 40 watt amplifier or 3 watt amplifier ?
Our 40 watts amplifier are
probably 10 times too powerful for your speakers
With your eBay name, you probably own small Quad speakers or Quad electrostatic speaker.
Neither of these Quad speakers can cope with 20 watts of DEEP BASS at 20 Hertz to 50 Hertz.
Please email the manufacturer and ask them.
How much distortion for 20 watt at 20 Hertz to 50 Hertz ?
I doubt if you will get a reply.
Please read my 7 page article on what you CAN and CANNOT do with 6 inch speaker
which is towards the bottom of the our eBay listing at
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5854205589
Most of the 7 page article also apply to electrostatic speakers,
that does NOT divert the bass to a conventional 10 inch subwoofer.
MOST subwoofer do NOT divert the bass AWAY from the delicate electrostatic panels.
You really need BIG POWERFUL 10 inch inch woofer in largish box to get power + bass.
This is why Martin Logan has added a woofer to their electrostatics speakers.
We have at least 2 customers using our amplifiers for 
VERY EXPENSIVE (a few thousand pounds) Martin Logan electrostatics with BIG woofer 
(One customer has a 10 inch woofer + electrostatic.)
(I am not sure of the size of the woofer for the other customer's Martin Logan)
We also have a customer using our amplifier for
Shackman electrostatics with HUGE 12 inch woofers.
We also have customers using our amplifiers  + Quad electrostatic speakers.
Regardless of whether you use 
500 WATTS TRANSISTOR AMPLIFIERS or our valve amplifiers
Quad electrostatic speaker CANNOT play LOUD rock music
and CANNOT play LOUD orchestral piece
and CANNOT produce LOUD DEEP bass
EVEN IF YOU USE 500 WATTS TRANSISTOR AMPLIFIERS.
Our valve amplifiers (even our GBP £250 valve amplifier) works well with the Quad electrostatics
+ sound VERY GOOD with Quad electrostatic.
We have a pair of Quad electrostatics, 
to make sure that our valves / tube amplifiers are remain stable,
whilst driving difficult capacitive load.
Some of our competitors GBP £3000 amplifiers have problems with capacitive loads.
Please look at figure 2 at
http://stereophile.com/integratedamps/898cj/index2.html

 
 
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