Affordable
Valve Company
THE BEST
Valve / Tube Amplifiers and THE BEST Speakers
or MONEY
REFUNDED (less shipping charges.
equipment returned during 1 month home trial.)
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For more information, please click the underlined items
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Affordable
Valve Company Help List
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Do you have questions like Is your valve / tube amplifier suitable
for my speakers , my CD players , what Phono stage do you recommend ?
We have a huge amount of help pages.
Please click on
LATEST = help.htm has an index that will help
you to find question on this help page.
faq.htm for FAQ Frequently asked Questions
faq_high.htm for FAQ Frequently asked Questions
for expensive 'High End' equipment
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WARNING
Magma , Vincent T.A.C 34 , T.A.C. 88 valve amplifiers
are different to
'Modified in England by Lim Aik Leong' Affordable
Valve Company amplifiers (click here for more
details)
WARNING
Beware of counterfeit sold on
eBay
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Please
click here to visit (or buy) at our eBay store
GENUINE 'Modified in England by Lim Aik Leong'
valve amplifiers and speakers
sound much better than counterfeits
(
which might be cheaper or more expensive ! )
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| Why should you buy a valve amplifier ? (click
here for more details) |
| Can our £700 valve amplifier sound
better than £3,000 transistor amplifiers ? |
| Can our £700 ultra linear valve amplifier
sound as good as £3,000 ultra linear valve amplifiers ? |
| Why you do NOT need separate preamplifier
and power amplifier (click here for more details) |
| How can 100 watt amplifiers can damage your hearing
? |
Leave the upgrading to the professionals.
KT88 valves , 6550 valves , 300B valves ,
"Click stop" volume control , Alps volume control
, Panasonic volume control ,
"stepped" attenuator , heavy duty selector switch.
(click here for more details.) |
| Magma , Vincent T.A.C 34 , T.A.C. 88 valve amplifiers
are different to Affordable Valve Company amplifiers. |
| Reliability, repairs, replacement valves and
second hand amplifiers (click here for more details) |
FAQ Frequently asked Questions - Is your valve /
tube amplifier suitable for my speakers , my CD players , what Phono stage
do you recommend ?
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Updated on 26 December 2006 = Unbelievable
claims about amplifiers from Naim , Classe , Icon Audio , Prima Luna
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Unbelievable
claims about amplifiers from Icon Audio , Prima Luna , Naim , Classe
,
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There are dealers in Internet Forum, pretending to be innocent members
of the public,
making absurd claims that that Icon Audio valve amplifiers and Prima
Luna valve amplifier
sound better than our amplifier. These claims are absurd and nonsensical.
Please see below for our 1 month home trail,
which will prove that our competitors dealers claims are absurd and
nonsensical. |
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... 2006 issue of Hi Fi News magazine makes unbelievable claims that
the "Best amplifiers" are GBP 1000 Naim Nait and GBP 4000 Classe.
I think that our customers would disagree with Hi Fi News magazine
because ........ please read
Customers testimonials for "EL34" valve
amplifier (click here for more details)
Customers testimonial for "KT88 Triode
Connection" amplifiers (click here for more details)
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... 2006 issue of Hi Fi News magazine makes unbelievable claims that
the "Best amplifiers" are GBP 1000 Naim Nait and GBP 4000 Classe.
I think that our customers would disagree with Hi Fi News magazine
because
one of our customers had Naim pre / power and another customer had
Classe pre / power.
Both of these customer wanted to 'dip their toes into the water'
to see / hear if the hype about valve / tube amplifiers were true,
so they bought our GBP £250 valve amplifier on 1 month home trial.
Both of these customer preferred our GBP £250 valve amplifier.
This sound unbelievable until you read my article called
Can our £700 valve amplifier sound
better than £3,000 transistor amplifiers ?
Both of these customer kept our GBP £250 valve amplifier for
many months,
before taking the plunge and upgraded to our more expensive GBP £1000+
valve amplifiers
These customers got about 80 percent 'trade in' price for our GBP £250
valve amplifier,
because they were upgrading to a very expensive amplifier. |
We CANNOT give you 80 percent 'trade in'
if you are upgrading from our GBP £250 valve amplifier to our
GBP £650 valve amplifier |
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MONEY BACK GUARANTEE (less shipping charges.
equipment returned during 1 month home trial) that .......
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| our GBP £250 VALVE amplifier will sound 2 times to 100 times
better
(depending on how fussy you are) than
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| GBP £4000 Classe transistor amplifier
that Hi Fi News magazine unbelievably claim to be the 'Best amplifier'.
Ha ! Ha ! Very funny.
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| GBP £1000 Naim Nait essentially 'Class B' Transistor amplifier
that Hi Fi News magazine unbelievably claim to be the 'Best amplifier'.
Ha ! Ha ! Very funny.
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| GBP £50 to GBP £100000 DIGITAL amplifiers / CLASS D amplifiers |
| GBP £500 to GBP £100000 HYBRID amplifiers |
GBP £500 to GBP £100000 TRANSISTOR amplifiers / pre / power
/ monoblock / power supply
There is no need to 'mess about' with upgrading power supply,
if the amplifier was designed and built with a SERIOUS power supply.
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Like our main power transformer (in our more expensive amplifiers)
that weighs 8 kilogram (about the weight of a COMPLETE transistor 'typical'
amplifier)
+ high voltage 1 Henry choke / inductor (in our more expensive amplifiers)
+ high voltage capacitors.
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| Musical Fidelity did NOT invent chokes / inductors for power supply
! |
Does your expensive 'Flat Cap' or 'High Cap' power supply
have High Voltage 1 Henry chokes / inductors ? |
High Voltage 1 Henry chokes / inductors
is the equivalent of High Voltage 1,000,000 micro farad capacitor. |
Many transistor amplifier boost of LOW voltage 50,000 micro farad capacitors,
which stores much much much much less energy ! |
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MONEY BACK GUARANTEE (less shipping charges.
equipment returned during 1 month home trial) that .......
our GBP £250 VALVE amplifier will sound 2 times to 10 times better
(depending on how fussy you are) than
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GBP £600 Icon Audio valve amplifier and
GBP £700 to GBP £1200 Prima Luna valve amplifiers (including
Prima Luna Monoblocks),
(Please compare the size of the output
transformers)
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MONEY BACK GUARANTEE (less shipping charges.
equipment returned during 1 month home trial) that .......
our GBP £408 VALVE amplifier will sound 2 times to 10 times better
(depending on how fussy you are) than
GBP £900 to GBP £1800 Icon Audio valve amplifier
(Please compare the size of the output
transformers)
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MONEY BACK GUARANTEE (less shipping charges.
equipment returned during 1 month home trial) that .......
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our GBP £750 to GBP £1400 'Triode connection' VALVE amplifier
will sound 2 to 10 times better (depending on how fussy you are) than
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GBP £3000 to GBP £100000 'Ultra Linear' VALVE amplifiers
like Audio Research (same British distributor as Prima Luna)
(There is a difference between 'High Price' and High End'.)
(It is naive to assume that expensive amplifiers sound better than
cheap amplifiers.)
(Please compare the size of the output transformers.)
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GBP £3000 to GBP £100000 hyped up 300B , 845, etc 'Single
Ended' valve amplifiers
like GBP £30000 to GBP £60000 Audio Note Ongaku
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Most Single ended amplifier have lousy bass.
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Many Single Ended amplifier hums !
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For all practical intent and purposes,
our superior valve amplifier have do NOT hum,
unless you put your ear next to the speaker
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(There is a difference between 'High Price' and High End'.)
(It is naive to assume that expensive amplifiers sound better than
cheap amplifiers.)
(Please compare the size of the output transformers.)
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Why don't you ask for 1 month home trial of amplifiers
from Naim , Classe , Icon Audio, Prima Luna, Audio Research and us
and make up your own mind.
If their amplifiers are so good, they will not be afraid of a 1 month
home trial. |
Please tell the dealer that you will be auditioning their valve or
transistor amplifier against
a GENUINE 'Affordable Valve Company' Triode Connection valve amplifier
MODIFIED IN ENGLAND BY LIM AIK LEONG (beware of fakes),
and you should be able to hear the dealer cringe ! |
IF I AM LYING, WILL I OFFER YOU 1 MONTH HOME TRIAL,
AND LOSE MONEY BECAUSE I WILL END UP WITH USED VALVE AMPLIFIERS,
IF OUR VALVE AMPLIFIER SOUND WORSE ? |
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New articles added to the website.
Much more interesting and thought provoking than many Hi Fi magazines.
Better advice and more technically correct than most Hi Fi magazines
(which are usually filled with absurd technical errors)
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Example of typical advice in Hi Fi magazines
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Readers SMALL 6 inch speakers
cannot imitate / reproduce HUGE 22 inch kick bass drum and HUGE 32
inch kettle drums
cannot fill HUGE 20 feet rooms with LOUD BASSy music.
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Typical Hi Fi magazines advice is
change the CD player, interconnect, loudspeakers cable, etc.
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Please could somebody explain to me ..........
how can changing the CD player, interconnect, speaker cable, etc.
make SMALL 6 inch speakers imitate / reproduce HUGE 22 inch kick bass
drum
and HUGE 32 inch timpani / kettle drums and fill HUGE 20 feet room
with LOUD BASSy music ?
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SERIOUS bass instruments must be huge.
Likewise, SERIOUS bass speakers and cabinets must be huge.
Just look at GBP £6000 huge B&W Nautilus 802 or GBP £13000
huge B&W Nautilus 800 |
How about some sane advice like .......
WELL DESIGNED (that need not be expensive) BIG 10 inch woofers in BIG
cabinets
are better suited to imitating / reproducing HUGE 22 inch kick bass
drums
and HUGE 32 inch timpani / kettle drums.
More sensible advice at help.htm#10sep2006 |
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| New in December 2006 = Recommended valve / tube amplifier for GBP £1440
ProAc Studio 140
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Ultra High End '3 way' speakers with 10 inch woofer (for
bass that is 10 times better than small 6 inch speakers)
+ 5 inch separate dedicated coated paper midrange (for VERY REALISTIC
HUMAN VOICES)
+ 1 inch soft dome tweeter (for sweeter treble than metal domes)
More information at 10_5_1.htm |
| New in October 2006 = The sound of EL84 valves versus EL34 valves
at help.htm#vel84 |
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Important buying advice
FAQ Frequently asked Questions - Is your valve
/ tube amplifier suitable for my speakers , my CD players , what Phono
stage do you recommend ? How does your amplifier compare with other valve
amplifiers like Radford, Quad ?
The most important and expensive
part of the valve / tube amplifier
are the transformers (the 3 black
lump of metal at the rear of the amplifier)
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Our amplifier are the amplifier
on the left, with the BIGGER transformer.
You might recognize our competitor
on the right, with the SMALLER transformer
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Even our GBP £250 amplifier got bigger
transformers !
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The most important and expensive
part of the valve / tube amplifier
are the transformers (the 3 black
lump of metal at the rear of the amplifier)
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Our amplifier are the amplifier
on the left, with the BIGGER transformer.
You might recognize our competitor
on the right, with the SMALLER transformer
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| WARNING = BEWARE OF COUNTERFEIT
ITEMS FROM CHINA |
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The following eBay items in January 2006 have
NOT been MODIFIED IN ENGLAND
by AFFORDABLE VALVE COMPANY of ENGLAND |
| http://cgi.ebay.com.cn/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=5853986894 |
| http://cgi.ebay.com.cn/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7382301846 |
| http://cgi.ebay.com.cn/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7382399247 |
| Our cheapest model are the ORIGINAL Chinese model |
We will match the lowest price + shipping + British duty + British
VAT ,
from eBay sellers with 10 or more feedback, and some form of 'proven
track record;
and give you 2 year British / European / USA guarantee.
and 240 + - 10% volt version GUARANTEE RELIABLE IN BRITAIN AND EUROPE
(with 6 years experience),
or 120 volt + - 10% version GUARANTEED RELIABLE IN USA , AMERICA
(with about 4 years experience).
and NOT the Chinese 220 volts + - 10% . |
We will NOT match prices from eBay NEW member with 0 feedback.
It is your business,
if you want to buy expensive equipment from NEW ebay members with 0
feedback. |
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| WARNING = BEWARE OF COUNTERFEIT
ITEMS FROM CHINA |
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| The more expensive models have been MODIFIED IN ENGLAND by us. |
| English labour is expensive, so the prices are MUCH HIGHER. |
However, as you can see from the customers reviews,
the AUDIBLE improvement is worth the extra cost. |
If you want us to match price for the ORIGINAL UNMODIFIED Chinese version,
please tell us the competitor eBay item number, and WE WILL MATCH THE
PRICE. |
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| WARNING = BEWARE OF COUNTERFEIT
ITEMS FROM CHINA |
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We are real, we exist. We sold our first
EL34 valve amplifier in September 1999,
and our valve
amplifiers have proven their reliability for over 6 years.
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Our amplifiers AND VALVES are guaranteed
for 2 years
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Most of the time, our local shops do NOT
stock
Hi Fi News , Hi Fi Choice & Hi Fi World.
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These magazines might appear on the
shelves for a few days,
and then our local shops do NOT restock with
Hi Fi News , Hi Fi Choice & Hi Fi World.
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It is probably that way for most of England,
except for BIG newsagents in BIG railway or BIG
tube stations in BIG cities.
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We get MUCH MUCH more response
from 150 of GBP £2 eBay listing,
than GBP £1000 a month of advertisement
in Hi Fi News , Hi Fi Choice & Hi Fi World.
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So, we have given up wasting our money
by advertising in Hi Fi News , Hi Fi Choice &
Hi Fi World
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"What Hi Fi" magazine is found in my local
shops, but their advertising rates is
MANY times more than the other magazines !
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We will have to double our selling price,
if we wanted to pay for advertising in "What
Hi Fi magazine".
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We export world wide using RELIABLE UPS courier.
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Hi Fi Myths versus Scientific Facts , 300B valves
do have cathode , solid state power supply versus valve power supply, Magma
EL34 valve amplifiers , Vincent T.A.C. EL34 valve amplifiers , reliability,
repairs, replacement valves and second hand amplifiers (click here for
more details)
FAQ Frequently asked Questions - Is your valve / tube
amplifier suitable for my speakers , my CD players , what Phono stage do
you recommend ?
Why should you buy a valve amplifier ? (click
here for more details)
How can £700 valve amplifier sound better
than £3,000 transistor amplifier ? (click here for more details)
Speakers are important !
Try our £350 "3 way" speakers
or £1,800 "3 way" speakers
and you will be shocked at the difference !
Money back guarantee (less £30 return carriage)
that
our valve amplifiers + our recommended £350
"3 way" speakers
will produce clearer, more realistic, more believable
human voices (when there is a loud bass note)
than "2 way" speakers like £1699 Spendor
S8 , £624 Dynaudio Audience 52 , £379 Quad 11L , £300
B&W DM602 + £1500 AVI Laboratory Series , £550 Roksan Kandy
Mk III , £1000 Cyrus Pre X + £550 Cyrus SmartPower , £3490
Krell KRC-3 + £11997 Krell FPB400CX (click
here for more details)
Why should you buy our "3 way" High End speakers
with 10 inch woofers + 4.5 inch midrange + 1 inch tweeter ? (click here
for more details)
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Reliability & 2 Years Guarantee
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We have been selling the upgraded version for 3 years,
and they have proven their reliability ! |
| We guarantee everything (including the valves) for 2 years. |
I am amused that an American £4,000 valve amplifier
only has 90 days guarantee on their valves ! |
If you want 2 years guarantee on the valves,
buy our cheaper amplifier ! |
Why does "KT88 Triode Connection" sound so good
? (click here for more details)
Our Superior Chinese KT88 cost much more than the 6550 valves
used in £2,500 to £3,000 American amplifiers. |
So, we encourage you to compare our KT88 amplifiers
with £2,500 to £3,000 American 6550 amplifiers,
and hear the difference for yourself ! |
| You should buy Hi Fi equipment with your ears, and not your wallet
! |
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If you have a detached house, far away from neighbours,
and own big speakers with 12 in woofers,
and you like your music at very high levels (which will permanently
damage your hearing)
then our
£1,000 "EL34 Lim Signature" (40 watts
+ 40 watts)
£1,450 "EL34 High End" (40 watts
+ 40 watts)
are probably better for you. |
However, we strongly recommend that you listen to music at a much softer
volume
to prevent permanent damage to your hearing. |
Most people owning 6 inch speakers, living in terrace houses,
do not need more than 20 watts (with good bass),
from our "KT88 Triode Connection",
which has sweeter treble and more realistic human voice than "Ultra
Linear" amplifiers . |
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We apologize that parts of our website
might show the old prices.
MONEY BACK GUARANTEE (less UKP 30 for return carriage)
that UKP 700 "EL34 Silver" valve amplifier,
MODIFIED IN ENGLAND, will sound better
than any TRANSISTOR amplifier selling for UKP 1,000 to UKP 10,000 !
(Price is NOT a guarantee of sound quality !
Some products are overpriced and pretentious. )
MONEY BACK GUARANTEE (less UKP 30 for return carriage)
UKP 1,000 "KT88 Triode Connection - Lim Signature"
(click here for more details) , MODIFIED IN ENGLAND,
and UKP 1,450 "KT88 Triode Connection - High End"
(click here for more details) , MODIFIED IN ENGLAND,
will sound better than most VALVES or TRANSISTOR / VALVE HYBRID or
TRANSISTOR
amplifiers selling for UKP 2,000 to UKP 20,000
( including 300B single ended amplifiers, KT88 single ended amplifiers,
6550 Ultra Linear push pull amplifiers, etc.)
Customers Review of "KT88 Triode Connection"
amplifiers (click here for more details)
(Price is NOT a guarantee of sound quality !
Some products are overpriced and pretentious. ) |
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) for EXPORT customers
(might also be of interest to English Customers)
SMALL speakers are NOT designed for LARGE rooms
! (click here for more details)
Trust me, I am a Hi Fi Reviewer ( Part 1 - Introduction
)
Trust me, I am a Hi Fi Reviewer ( Part 2 - Listening
Panel Reviews )
Trust me, I am a Hi Fi Reviewer ( Part 3 - Boring
Technical Bits )
Richard Black's unprofessional review in Hi Fi
Choice Magazine
£600 Model EL34 Bright for Quad ESL-63
and Quad ESL-57
We often get emails from ABOARD saying that they have never heard of
us, or do we exist ?
For the more than 6 months,
we have half page advertisements in "Hi Fi News" magazine and "Hi Fi
Choice" magazine, since the May 2002 issue.
We will have half page advertisement in "Hi Fi World" magazine in the
December 2002 issue.
You will also find our TINY advertisement in some old magazines, over
the last 3 years.
We have been selling our EL34 valve amplifiers since 8th June 1999,
and our amplifiers have proven so reliable that
we have INCREASED OUR GUARANTEE FROM 1 YEAR TO 2 YEARS !
We guarantee EVERYTHING, including the valves !
We challenge our overpriced competitors to guarantee their valves for
2 years !
We answer our telephones 90% of the time from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. , 7 days
a week.
The other 10% of the time we are doing the banking, posting letters,
eating, etc !
Ask us to send you our FREE 60 pages colour brochure. It is easier to
read a printed page than the computer screen !
20 reasons why you should buy our valve amplifier
1. Guaranteed to cure the harsh sound of your
CD and metal cone / dome speakers,
or we will refund
your money (less £30 return carriage for 1 month home
trial) |
2. 40 watts or 20 watts Class A EL34 valve
amplifiers tuned with
6
SILVER capacitors,
American
Military 5670 valves,
Superior Chinese EL34 (much better than current production of Svetlana,
Mullard, etc)
Ferrite
ring mains filter on mains cable,
filter to reduce ultrasonic noise from CD players.
"EL34 Lim Signature" has additional tuning to control ultrasonic resonance
of "ultra linear" transformers
Other amplifier designers are blissfully ignorant of this problem,
just ask them for 10 kilohertz square wave of their amplifier.
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3. Massive transformers give more powerful
bass slam than most transistor amplifiers
and most 300B Single Ended amplifiers and most KT88 Single
Ended amplifiers. |
4. We have signed Testimonial forms to prove
that
90% of our customers prefer our "warm and old-valve" sound of our :-
£600 Model "EL34 Silver"
or £900 Model "EL34 Lim Signature"
to the transistor amplifiers listed below :- |
Arcam
110 preamplifier and 120 power amplifier expensive
Hi-Fi
Choice recommended (1992)
Arcam
A85 Diva expensive What
Hi Fi 5 stars award winner + Hi Fi Choice Best Buy
Arcam
Alpha 10 expensive
What
Hi-Fi 5 stars Supertest winner (1999) + Hi
Fi Choice recommended
Arcam
Alpha |
Audiolab
8000A expensive
Hi-Fi Choice recommended (1992)
Audiolab
8000S/SX
expensive |
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Audio Analogue Puccini SE |
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Aura VA-100 |
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Gamma Rhythm (Valve Single Ended amplifier) expensive |
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Heybrook Signature preamplifier + power amplifier
expensive Hi-Fi
Choice recommended (1992) |
| Linn
LK1 preamplifier and LK2 power amplifier expensive |
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Musical Fidelity Dr Thomas |
| Naim
NAC 72 , Hicap and NAP 180 very expensive
£2,600 serious money ! |
| Quad
34 preamplifier and Quad 405 power amplifier expensive |
|
Rotel RB971 power amplifier |
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Spendor D40 ( Did you know that Spendor made amplifiers
? ) |
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The sound of our valve amplifiers and speakers are so good, that
we can offer
Money Back Guarantee
of excellent sound
(less £30 return carriage for 1 month home trial)
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90% of our customers have bought and kept our valve amplifiers.
We have refunded money to 10% of our customers, who prefer transistorised
amplifiers. |
If you do not believe that valve amplifiers sound better than transistor
amplifiers,
we dare you to ask manufacturers of transistor amplifiers
to match our Money Back Guarantee !
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Shops want 50% profit
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You could buy our £900 amplifier in a shop for £1,350
or you could "buy direct" and "cut out the middleman" and
save £450 ! |
Rent and rates, wages, electricity, etc cost hundreds of pounds
a week,
so shop prices have to be much higher.
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| Click
here for the answers to all of
the following questions :-
Why should you buy a
valve amplifier ?
Why do valve / tube amplifiers
sound different to transistor amplifiers ?
"Hidden" distortion of transistorised
amplifiers
"Hidden" distortion of loudspeakers
If valve amplifiers are
so good , why aren't valve amplifiers
more popular ?
How much power do you
need ?
Cheaper valve amplifiers ?
Valve amplifier kits ? |
Affordable Valve Company , 11 Magdalen
Close , FREEPOST SEA0359 , Gillingham , Kent ME7 3BR
, England , United Kingdom
Telephone 01634 373410 anytime
Click here to
e-mail us at info@affordablevalvecompany.com
You are visitor number
since
28th August 1999
We
accept Credit Cards
