opinion of Maggie amp 196-10?

[fairchild]

Out of the latest console find... (#3 in 2 weeks!!!??! This is getting addictive!!!!) a little Maggie console with a beat up cabinet, but a clean looking and good working little 2 channel 6BQ5 SE amp, model 196-10, with a very minimalist tuner-preamp... so how do folks think this stacks up to the 6V6 PP 175 amp, those of you who've heard them??

The SE's trannies are actually bigger than the 4 x 6V6 amp's! What speakers are folks finding to be a good match up with these?

 

[gogofast]

they both sound great. if you like single ended sound and have efficient speakers close to 100db sensitivity, then go for the 196. most magnavox trannies aren't really that big compared to other brands and they do get really hot. i have both amps plus few more magnavox console amps, and love 'em all. i'm running mine with altec speakers with over 100db efficiency and gets louder than i really need them to be. what choice speakers do you have?

 

[Mike Stehr]

Out of the latest console find... (#3 in 2 weeks!!!??! This is getting addictive!!!!) a little Maggie console with a beat up cabinet, but a clean looking and good working little 2 channel 6BQ5 SE amp, model 196-10, with a very minimalist tuner-preamp... so how do folks think this stacks up to the 6V6 PP 175 amp, those of you who've heard them??

The SE's trannies are actually bigger than the 4 x 6V6 amp's! What speakers are folks finding to be a good match up with these?

If you have the SE 6BQ5 amp that uses the 5U4 with a choke, and 12AX7 driver, then IMO, that's one the best versions of the Maggotbox SE amps......The very reason being the larger OPT's, and a nice CLC supply...

 

[gogofast]

If you have the SE 6BQ5 amp that uses the 5U4 with a choke, and 12AX7 driver, then IMO, that's one the best versions of the Maggotbox SE amps......The very reason being the larger OPT's, and a nice CLC supply...

maybe i'm mistaking, but weren't there other 196 series amps with real tiny opt while using same tubes? i sure hope i can get my hands on one of those with bigger opt.

 

[fairchild]

GoGo - I have 1963 Altec Valencias in the LR, that is the wife friendly version of the VOTs, and very efficient. I think around 100dB+/watt/meter...Mike - yes it is that version I have, with 5U4, 12ax7, and choke. Nice looking power tranny too! All these things are great, I'm having fun!
RA in NY

 

[fairchild]

PS: it has the bigger trannies, at least bigger than the 4 x 6V6 amp ones... you can see a piece of one Valencia to the L of the pic in my Avatar.. just awesome speakers!!

 

[Thespeakerdude8]

maybe i'm mistaking, but weren't there other 196 series amps with real tiny opt while using same tubes? i sure hope i can get my hands on one of those with bigger opt.

Yes there were. They show up on e-pay everynow and then. The smaller trannies I think are the same ones from the 8600 amplifier. The larger transformers are, of course, more desirable for obvious reasons. They bring decent money online too, some I have seen sell for $150-$200 if they are loaded with mullards.


Do your EL84's have a seam on the top of the glass...?

 

[fairchild]

Both were likely replaced, have "International" logos... one el-84 has the seam (Mullard), and the other one says "made in Germany", probably Siemens?

 

[Thespeakerdude8]

Magnavox actually used Mullards back then before they switched to matsushita. Both of my Mullard sets said EL84/6BQ5 on them in white chalk, along with "Magnavox." They have the seam across the top and the older syrupy getters.

 

[fairchild]

Motorola must have used Matsushita too, the 12ax7s in my '64 console in the Avatar are labeled Motorola labeled made in Japan, although all the 6V6GTs (6 of them for 3 ch) are made in US.

btw, my son who minored in Japanese says it's pronounced: Mat-soosh-ta ... no shite involved!

 

[gogofast]

GoGo - I have 1963 Altec Valencias in the LR, that is the wife friendly version of the VOTs, and very efficient. I think around 100dB+/watt/meter.

that should work great. even though valencia's can sound different with little more power (and some prefer more power), should match up nicely. enjoy!

matsushita tubes are very nice tubes. certainly better than new production

 

[Nirky]

A slightly negative experience for a little perspective, I had an AMP 196 about 5 years ago when I got into tube amplifiers. The highs & mids were great. Similar to my AMP 8602, which I also had at the same time. But the bass was boomy, and not very pleasing. Maybe that was the way it was designed, or possibly someone had modified it. I have seen many 196's on Ebay in the following years, but have passed on all of them because of my experience. Probably unjustified, like my aversion to pears, because as a kid I got sick on them. :scratch2:

 

[fairchild]

Boomy bass could have had a lot to do with the speakers combined with that amp maybe? Just speculating... though I assume you tried differnt combos.

 

[Nirky]

No, the speakers sounded near perfect with my Maggie 8602 & sounded good with every other ss and tube amp I had. It was the 196, for reasons unknown. It perplexed me, as both were SE EL84 Maggies with similar components. Possibly someone had changed some capacitance values to try to get more bass, and ended up making it boomy.

 

[Thespeakerdude8]

The boomy bass is most likely attributed to the NFB network. I don't know how the 196 is laid out, but the 8600 series amps had a bass resonance built in at about 100hz, because console speakers didn't respond that low anyways. This was achieved by a .1uf cap in parallel with a 33k resistor. A 6.8k resistor went from there to the cathode on the 6EU7. With the NFB removed, the amp no longer had boomy bass, but distortion and pentode nastiness was evident without it. Removing only the .1uf cap fixed boomy bass. Without the NFB, the amp allows the speaker to take on its own Fs frequency resonance. With the bass boost, this can add to the problem.

SE pentodes can't control (or damp) speakers very well without a lot of feedback, which makes the bass slow or sloppy. See the threads on the RH84 for a way to fix this problem.

btw, my son who minored in Japanese says it's pronounced: Mat-soosh-ta ... no shite involved!

Thats funny you mention that, some forums have blocked out the middle part of the word for me