In message , Phil North
writes
Hi all,

I took a bit of a gamble and bought a valve phono stage off ebay
recently. Upon hearing it I thought the sound was great but lacking in
bass but put that partly down to the equipment I was using it with
(home made speakers that have lived in the loft for 10 years).

I took it round to Keiths on Tuesday and tried it on all his amps and
it was still bass light on his Dynavox and WAD amps but to my ears was
absolutely superb on the triode amp. This amp seemed to bring out the
bass and make the sort of sound I am searching for, something I could
listen to all day with any kind of music.

Here's the pics, 5's my favourite (thanks Keith):

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/keit...w/mingda01.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/keit...w/mingda02.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/keit...w/mingda03.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/keit...w/mingda04.JPG

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/keit...w/mingda05.JPG

We did some comparisons with Keiths EAR phono stage and on the triode
amp I thought the Ming Da was better. On the other amps the EAR was
best but for me that was only due to the better bass and myself and
Nigel thought the EAR had too much bass at times.

This phono stage cost me 140 pounds plus 60 quid delivery from China,
and with a few tweaks to get some bass out (suggestions welcome) or the
cloning of Keiths triode amp may be the only one I ever buy.
I make no claims to it being hi-fi but as something to make my music
enjoyable I love it.

Phil


Could it be that the higher output impedance of the preferred amp was
decreasing the Qt of the speakers, and therefore giving them a lift in
the bass?

A lower Z(out) amp and a proper bass tone control might be a better
solution!
--
Chris Morriss