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ELEKIT TU-8500 ???

R

Rbertalotto

New Member
This tube preamplifier, Elekit TU-8500 seems like the best deal going for a quality tube preamplifier. Comes from Japan as opposed to China. Seems like Victor Kung offers great support. You can buy it as a kit to save a few dollars (under $600 depending on options).

Why not more discussion here and other forums?

Anyone have one that could offer a short review?

What are the alternatives that I'm missing?
 
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Im imterested in this kit too. Ive been trying ti decide between this and one of the VTA tube preamp kits. Id like to hear from someone whose built the elekit preamp before i decide tho
 
I just finished a build of the VTA ST120 amplifier kit. Came out fantastic. I like the topography of the VTA preamp kits, but they are are pretty ugly....The TU-8500 is a great looking amp...matches up with the Schiit stuff nicely.
 
Glad the st120 worked out nice for you! Im thinking about getting one soon but i feel the same way on the vta preamps. Ive heard they sound fantastic but imo they look like a cheap DVD player or something. Of course looks arent really that important in the grand scheme of things but most of my gear is vintage stuff and part of the reason i got into vintage tube gear is that i really love the styling that was used back then.
 
The thing that intersdts me most on the elekit preamp is that fact that it has options for MM and MC carts without using a SUT
 
Not sure how well it works tho, id love to hear some opinions from someone whos built or used one
 
I've got one. I've never used the phono section but the other inputs are pretty transparent. It works well with the TU-8200. I tried it with my TU-8600S and I thought it took away some of the 300B sweetness. But it does sound nice the TU-8200.
 
It may be great, but I built the 8200R and recently sold it off. It was a fine sounding amp, and an "ok" project, but I honestly didn't feel like it was a very good value compared to the Chinese offerings. I've heard the horror stories about ChiFi, but have yet to have any major problems with the stuff I've bought. Mostly just lack of documentation, which is rectified by doing a little digging online.
 
I built one at the first of the year. It was an easy build and after the replacement of the power indicator LED it worked fine. As I don't do records, I had to borrow a friend's turntable just to check if the phono section worked; it did. I am using it with an Elekit TU-8200DX and an Elekit TU-8600S. I upgraded the output caps and tried the recommended 12AT7 tubes. I found 12AU7 tubes sound just as good and that is what am now using. To be perfectly frank, I probably don't need to use it with the Elekit tube amps at all, but I was hankering to do a construction project and it was fun to build. I was lucky with my timing and just beat a $55 price increase at the Tube Depot; by three days and with a 15% off coupon code it was very reasonably priced. I expect it is purely psychological, but I think the TU-8500 adds some drive to the system. Finally, it doesn't really sound different to me compared with the three-tube Transcendent Sound Grounded Grid preamp I build a number of years ago. I'm still happy with the project and I remain a fan of Elekit products.
 
James Cox said:
Glad the st120 worked out nice for you! Im thinking about getting one soon but i feel the same way on the vta preamps. Ive heard they sound fantastic but imo they look like a cheap DVD player or something. Of course looks arent really that important in the grand scheme of things but most of my gear is vintage stuff and part of the reason i got into vintage tube gear is that i really love the styling that was used back then.
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I have a VTA ST-70 also. You can buy the cage that covers the top from Dynakit.
It does make them look better. Either brown or black.
 
Oh no i love the looks of the VTA dynaco clones but the preamp kits they offer look kind of cheap. Ive heard they sound really good tho
 
I love mine. The turntable, reel to reel, and PC all feed into it. It controls the input to the ST-70 and, between the two, give a great sound to my music. I've rolled a few sets of tubes and OP amp chips to get a nice sound out of it.
 
I have built the TU8500 preamp. Being that it is a tube preamp, it does not really add that tube sound to its output like some other tube pres I have had.
The phono section is just average. That's probably why its not talked about here. I sold mine.

Now the TU8200 is a nice amp and fun to build, accepts all kinds of tubes, and can be modded. That's where the fun is.
 
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