"Andy Evans" wrote in message
oups.com...
We had an amp shootout in the London Audiocircle tonight and had a
chance to hear 5 chinese amps.

A pair of Bez T3B 300b SETs sounded the best of the lot, and by some
margin.

Two 845 amps were admired for their top to bottom "authority". I
thought they were a bit bland compared to the life in the 300b amp.

A Push Pull EL34 amp with feedback was very forgettable. On the other
hand a KT88 amp with feedback switched off was not bad at all, though
inferior to the 845s and of course the 300b.

The Bez amps did have some good 300bs fitted, plus some nice 6J5gt
variants (including the 2C22).

This all made me very curious about what others have found in Chinese
amp shootouts. Keith, for example, must have a rank order of the best
by now!!

So - what's your experience of Chinese valve amps? Andy



Andy, I have no more experience of Chinese valve amps other than of
those I bought myself plus, I think, only one more belonging to someone
else and I certainly have never heard any expensive Chinese audio kit -
'cheepy Chinkies' is the phrase I've always used! That understood, I am
happy to say that the Bez that I have here (T3B-3) is the best Chinese
valve amp I have heard also - I'm very fond of it, love its
'personality' and never tire of the sound from it on my Fidelios!

From *appearances only* (mags, 'Net, eBay photos) it certainly seems
Chinese valve amps have moved into 'Phase 2' and it looks like they have
cottoned onto the fact that 'visual signals' play a great part in
people's appreciation of audio products - hence the more recent
offerings look a lot 'posher' than when I got into it and, if anything,
they are even cheaper now!!

My advice to anyone considering a Chinese valve remains the same - sure,
go ahead, they are a *tiny fraction* of the price of an equivalent
Western product and probably not far behind in terms of sound quality,
but do buy the soldering iron first!! :-)

In fact, I'm not sure the distinction 'Chinese' means anything much
now - cheap kit (with all the associated risks) is cheap kit no matter
where it comes from and damn near everything is being made in China
these days, in any case! (Hobson's Choice either way, it seems!!)