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Return of the original Miniwatt SET ( APPJ )

TubeHiFiNut said:
I think the MiniWatt is most comfortable driving high efficiency full range speakers.

High efficiency, no crossover.
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seikosha said:
That's been my experience. The amp sounds great on the various high efficiency single driver speakers I've used it with. It really doesn't work well with the traditional speakers I've paired it with.

I'm surprised that the Quads didn't blow the little thing up. :)
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sqlsavior said:
Oh well - nothing ventured, nothing gained. Meanwhile, my Luxman A3000 tube amps with new Gold Lion KT-88s are breaking personal records for SQ, on their 16 ohm taps.

:music:
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I take it back. The Luxmans are breaking personal records for failure rate, too. The right channel one failed, and this time it took out my phono preamp - upstream - WTF?

With trepidation, I tested the speakers with the little guy, after a week of postponing the bad news, but surprise, they are fine. :)

Either it's improved, or everything is relative, because it sounds pretty decent now. :D
 
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sqlsavior said:
I take it back. The Luxmans are breaking personal records for failure rate, too. The right channel one failed, and this time it took out my phono preamp - upstream - WTF?

With trepidation, I tested the speakers with the little guy, after a week of postponing the bad news, but surprise, they are fine. :)

Either it's improved, or everything is relative, because it sounds pretty decent now. :D
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Very sorry to hear that one of your Luxman amps failed.

Any ideas what went out?
 
It took out my SS Luxman integrated, too. I had one of the two preamp outputs going to the L-505u's power amp section, and its right channel is out, too. I don't know what failed or how, but I'm pretty peeved. I've thought of target practice, and of dumping them in the Rio Grande. The MB3045/A3000s sound good, but they are the most expensive, destructive, repeated PITA I've experienced in hi-fi.

I appreciate your condolences. I'm bummed.
 
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sqlsavior said:
It took out my SS Luxman integrated, too. I had one of the two preamp outputs going to the L-505u's power amp section, and its right channel is out, too. I don't know what failed or how, but I'm pretty peeved. I've thought of target practice, and of dumping them in the Rio Grande. The MB3045/A3000s sound good, but they are the most expensive, destructive, repeated PITA I've experienced in hi-fi.

I appreciate your condolences. I'm bummed.
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I'd be bummed too.

I'm curious, though. How did a power amp take out a channel on your phono preamp plus one channel of your integrated?
 
Thanks to this thread I purchased one of these amps from Amazon.

So far, so good! I'm using it for nearfield listening hooked up to a pair of Fostex FF105WKs.
With stock tubes it has good depth, imaging and relatively nice bass punch (for 4" speakers). I hate using non-objective adjectives for describing sound, but it has a sweetness and richness to it. I was using a Topping TP20 before this, and while that's a very nice sounding amp, this is a noticeable improvement.

I was skeptical of the purchase, at first, as I had bought an APPJ PA0901A (Miniwatt N3) but returned it due to a very noticeable hum. This amp does have some noise past 3/4 volume, but I don't need to turn it up that far for my needs so no biggie.

Just thought I'd share and say thanks to Poultrygeist for starting the thread.
 
Poultrygeist (mentioned by )S1 version diode mod seems to be this, I don't know if new version is same(Massdrop $99 Poultrygeist AC), might be, $99 price is even more fun than $250 or $150 :)
post-2582-1385471252,2396.jpg
 
Gnesen said:
Are these your speakers?

http://www.apogeespeakers.com/scintilla.htm

I can't say whether or not the amp is rubbish until I try it, but if the information on that page is correct, then I'm not surprised the Miniwatt wouldn't be able to drive them properly. Or perhaps your post was a joke?
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Yes, those are the speakers I was referring to. My post was a joke, as I know the Miniwatt/APPJ would not be a good match for them, quite the opposite, actually. I've never heard the amp, but I'll bet it sounds very good with the right speakers.
 
Gnesen said:
I had a couple of gift cards burning a hole in my pocket, so I decided to get this:

https://www.amazon.com/GemTune-Mini-Amplifier-Driver-tubes/dp/B00JKFCDA6/

Not sure about the color (the only option), but the price was right. It should arrive next Tuesday.
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I've got about six hours on this amp driving Tekton M-Lores (95dB/W @ 1m). Color me impressed so far, even with the stock tubes. This combo plays plenty loud without any evident distortion in my mid-sized listening space. I might consider rolling tubes, but I'm happy at the moment.
 
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Mine is on Barter Town now, with the desired upgrade tubes. I don't really have the right speakers for it, but it's nice little SET amp, nonetheless.

:music:
 
How have your Miniwatts/APPJs held up over time guys? I've been looking at all-tube headphone amps and APPJ is on the radar with this little fella Gemtune APPJ PA1502A 6N4+6P6P tube headphone amplifier (Black) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00X5EB7QY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_vWiNybV0QFP3E

The competitors, starting on the pricier end are, Little Dot MkIII, Dark Voice 346SE, Little Dot MKII, the APPJ PA1502A, and the Little Bear P8.

I want to stay on the cheaper end of things but everything I've read about the Little Bear indicates that it's a poorly conceived, hot-running, fire hazard.

Has Miniwatt/APPJ got a safe enough track record to take a chance on as a first tube headphone amp?
 
bubba42 said:
I'm listening to mine right now and it is working very well.

The Tube Cube 7 is on sale now, that is closer to the original MiniWatt and I think there are more tube rolling options with this one. It does not have headphone out though, if that matters to you.

https://tubedepot.com/products/tubecube-7-stereo-vacuum-tube-amplifier
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That's tempting at that price but I don't own a single efficient speaker. Certainly not my BS22s and probably not my modified B652 Airs.

Glad to hear these units are holding up and not doing anything more silly than errant channel tracking. I just got a pair of really crisp and clear, really resolving headphones and I want to see what happens when they're driven by tubes over solid state.
 
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