jonnysocko
Member
Hi guys. I did my intro on the introductions page and figured I might as well contribute some content to help pay back what I've enjoyed to this point for free and I thank you. My review is concerning the Asian Co Yaqin and in particular the MC-10L. Excuse any terminology I may use concerning audio listening. I'm by no means an audio expert but I think I know what sounds decent. So please forgive my lingo. This amp was pre tested by a Co in Canada and delivered to my door for under $500. You couldn't even build it for that in this nice of a package and chassis. I figured that they might skimp on some component quality to achieve this low price and I was willing to do a few upgrades at this price, But believe it or not they actually used pretty good components and the build quality is very good. Even the transformers are of high quality and you guys know that's a big thing in tube amp design. You can't skimp on your iron. Their beefy and well insulated using thin well meshed plates. All the tube sockets seem to be of reasonable quality as well and the rest of the circuit, layout and wiring is neat and well done. The amp is simply beautiful with a fairly heavy chrome chassis and brushed aluminum face plate. A nice touch is the easy access bias adjustments on each output stage, Smart!. To top it off they even installed some neat blue LEDs to shine up through the glass envelopes of the preamp tubes. A neat beautiful amp for under a 500 bones. The sound? I'm impressed. I'm driving this amp with a SS Dynaco PAT-5 preamp with Van Alstine mods. I'm not sure the PAT-5 is the best match? Latter I'll be using a tube preamp of my own design but the sound is nice, well defined and very smooth. The bass is unbelievable and the mids are not washed out. The highs are clear and not ice picky or fatiguing at all. The detail of the music is excellent. The small details like faint breath on the mics and subtle string noise is coming through nicely. I'm a musician and my perspective on audio reproduction is a comparison to live music and if a sound system can deliver those subtle sounds close to being there in person, It can put you in the music so to speak. I'm sending the output into a set of klipsch Kg4 speakers which suit this amp well. I listen to all kinds of music from the 40s & 50s big bands, Sinatra, Blues, Classic Country, Vintage Rock and hard stuff like Judas Priest, Alice in Chains etc... So this amp gets a work out and over time has really started to sing. I've owned a number of nice tube power amps over the years and I would hate to give comparisons without having them side by side and a number of variables come into play anyway i.e. speakers, room etc... But it's safe to say this is a very nice amp that I think would give some more expensive amps at the very least a little competition. I think if you decide on a purchase of your own, Yaqin is a good bet.
I should mention the service I got when ordering this amp and the Co I ordered it from is "tabnaac" and they are on Ebay with a perfect seller rating. The amp came packaged as well as anything I've ever ordered in the mail. I was impressed. Latter I'd like to try some quality vintage valves in this thing and I'll update with my findings. Here's my little setup for this amp in my den.
I should mention the service I got when ordering this amp and the Co I ordered it from is "tabnaac" and they are on Ebay with a perfect seller rating. The amp came packaged as well as anything I've ever ordered in the mail. I was impressed. Latter I'd like to try some quality vintage valves in this thing and I'll update with my findings. Here's my little setup for this amp in my den.
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