savatage1973
Addicted Member
Not bashing Chi-Fi, or trying to start (yet another) trade-war, but just a simple question--are the cheap/inexpensive Chi-Fi tube products really that good of a deal?
I was with a friend last night (OK--we were both imbibing, a bit), and this issue came up. Are those inexpensive Chi-Fi amps really all that "inexpensive" in the long-run? He has a few, and I've worked on a handful of them (for him and others), but it just seems that the first thing that everyone does is scrap all the junk tubes that generally come with them, and replace them with better NOS Euro or US tubes ($$$), and then proceed to "upgrade" or "mod" them to optimize performance--more $$$.
So, all said and done, was that "cheap/inexpensive" Chi-Fi amp really any less expensive than a comparable amp from another source? My tube amps are all US-built, he has both US and Chi-Fi amps, and even he agreed that he spent more on tubes and upgrades/mods on the Chi-Fi than what he could have bought a used US or Euro tube amp to start with.
What say you?
I was with a friend last night (OK--we were both imbibing, a bit), and this issue came up. Are those inexpensive Chi-Fi amps really all that "inexpensive" in the long-run? He has a few, and I've worked on a handful of them (for him and others), but it just seems that the first thing that everyone does is scrap all the junk tubes that generally come with them, and replace them with better NOS Euro or US tubes ($$$), and then proceed to "upgrade" or "mod" them to optimize performance--more $$$.
So, all said and done, was that "cheap/inexpensive" Chi-Fi amp really any less expensive than a comparable amp from another source? My tube amps are all US-built, he has both US and Chi-Fi amps, and even he agreed that he spent more on tubes and upgrades/mods on the Chi-Fi than what he could have bought a used US or Euro tube amp to start with.
What say you?