Disappointed in my Tubecube 7 amp.

Its also possible you do not have a lemon, and just do not enjoy the sound this amp makes. I've heard amps that others gush over and I just didn't care for. I've also liked things that other people hate.
 
Surely most people can tell the difference between a bad sounding amp and one that sounds great. With the right speakers the N3 sounds great.
 
A lot of this stuff is subjective though, what I think sounds bad you might like. Thats part of why I prefer to deal in numbers whenever possible, it takes the personal preference out of it.
 
gadget73 said:
A lot of this stuff is subjective though, what I think sounds bad you might like. Thats part of why I prefer to deal in numbers whenever possible, it takes the personal preference out of it.
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Do you believe that 6moons would give their yearly Realization Award to the APPJ/MW if it sounded bad?

Thankfully most people judge sound with their ears. Don't think I've heard any good sounding numbers. :)
 
It would be interesting to get it on the bench as see what level of distortion it makes at what output level. I borrowed on from a friend and loved it......but I only ran my midhorns with it and they are 115db efficient and I was getting blown out of the room before it hit 1 watt.
 
Let me bring a couple things back into perspective. I worked in audio, both as a salesman, then as a tech, in audio's heyday. (Mid 70's to mid 80's.) That's not really here nor there, except to say that I know what "good" audio sounds like. The high end on the Tubecube was fizzy and distorted. That aspect has definitely gotten better with continued burn-in. The bottom end still sounds like cardboard woofers. So, this afternoon, I swapped in my NAD 2240PE power amp. It sounds almost as bad as the Tubecube. Now I'm really perplexed. I'm thinking there's something wrong in my signal chain. So, I swap back in the old Marantz 2225. Same Tascam source. Same little Def Tech speakers. It sounds amazing. The Marantz sounds like I was hoping the TubeCube would sound.

Now I'm really perplexed and frustrated. Tomorrow, I'm going to take the Tubecube out to the shed, (so to speak), and connect it to my Klipsch Heresy II's. So far, I've been in a small room with small speakers. 3.5 watts. Makes sense. I'll also use a whole new signal source. Probably my trusty old JVC CD player.

I'll report back tomorrow. I know the Tubecube may be a lemon, but I also know my NAD 2240 sounds pretty damn good. But not tonight it didn't. At least, in this system. :dunno:

Edit: I hope that first sentence doesn't sound as bad as it rereads. I simply meant that I know the difference between quality and a malfunction. ;)
 
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One more thing. Let me just toss this out there. To someone who owns one of these, and likes it, and has a well established forum presence, I would consider sending this to you to play with for awhile, and tell me what you think. I'd pay shipping both ways. Just a thought.
 
Poultrygeist said:
Do you believe that 6moons would give their yearly Realization Award to the APPJ/MW if it sounded bad?
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I have no idea who that is or why they might give an award. Its not impossible that this specific unit is broken, but its also not impossible that none of them are all that good either. Or perhaps the speaker match is poor, or maybe he just doesn't like what he hears. I don't have it here in front of me and I've never heard one. I was only saying that a lot of what people judge audio on is subjective, and we don't all agree on what sounds good.
 
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The APPJ/Miniwatt driving the $20K Saadhana Lowthers.

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and a lot of people think earbuds with lossy digital media files or home theatre in a box systems are amazing. Lots of people love Bose gear too. Just because something is popular is no guarantee that everyone is going to like it.
 
I'm going to try a couple more experiments today with other speakers and sources. I just have a couple of guitars and a mixer/PA that I need to get finished and back to customers. Hopefully, I can fit it in.
 
Artie said:
Yeah . . . I've read all the reviews. It's why I bought it. But none of them align with mine. :dunno:
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And your opinion matter the most

Poultrygeist said:
you must have a lemon
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Why? it can just sound like crap in his system, or just sound like crap no matter what he hooks it up with, and he has changed stuff around.

Poultrygeist said:
Surely most people can tell the difference between a bad sounding amp and one that sounds great.
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I don't know how you come to that, people build a reference point on sound quality. If someone is used to just listening to a cheap portable radio and switches to something a little better, it sound better to them. But someone with a extremely nice system will think what they say sounds good actually sound like crap.
 
I have to vouch that the TubeCube | 7 is no great amp. An online review I read plotted the frequency response and it pretty much drops off past 10kHz. I upgraded my tubes to new-issue Mullards--it helped a little. I also had the stupid thing die on me, and I replaced all but one of the capacitors. Every one of those off-brand caps I pulled was at the lower end of the 20% tolerance, and one of them was maybe 30%-ish below tolerance in the power supply, which probably explained why it quit. I tried a modification on a couple of the signal caps as recommended elsewhere but it's still dull in the highs. One thing I should point out is that I use this as my desktop system, so with the speakers so close, it's not a bad thing that it is rolled off. But in my main system, you can easily tell it's lacking. Not only that, the few watts it puts out won't drive my main speakers to more than background music levels without distorting.
 
The APPJ/MW shines paired with the right speaker system. With highly revealing drivers 93dbs+ it's a thing of beauty.

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