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Ali Express 'clone' amps...great stuff!!

Sue Pertwee-Tyr said:
Yes indeed, because we are collectively responsible for those things that happened before we were born, or done by people in our lifetimes whom we had no influence over. So we can’t recognise what is going wrong because we historically did the same. So things just go on repeating themselves, just because.
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We can't win..I need to feel more guilty! Lol
 
davidjt said:
Some of the 'Chenglish' is amusing: e.g. "12 10,000uF pond fever electrolysis....... And apparently 'bile' is a good thing, although what exactly it's supposed to mean is anyone's guess. My Standard Chinese is non-existent so perhaps comment is presumptuous - I just can't help wondering how the translator got hold of a medical dictionary by mistake.

(And having read the seller's feedback on AliExpress, someone here should be on commission!?)
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🥸
*12 10,000uF pond fever electrolysis = 12 x 10,000uF hi-end/audiophile electrolytic reservoir capacitors
bile = usually refers to thermionic valves or generally an output device
fever = enthusiast, so in this context an audiophile

The machine translation took it out of context.
 
foxwelljsly said:
In answer to my own question, a brief google tells me that the UK is officially 230v, but has made no changes since 2003 when this was declared as our voltage already fell within the 6% margin allowed by that agreement. Maybe I should get one of those Sony amps from Germany after all.
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Yep, 246 currently at my house!
 
allthingsanalog said:
Yep, 246 currently at my house!
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And that will eventually fry a valve amp designed around 220V, which the Chinese ones are. Still, when it happens a new trafo to the right spec (240V primary) is about £90 and any competent tech can fit it.

As regards copyright theft, do me a favour. These valve amp circuits were designed in the 50s and 60s and freely available then in order to get equipment manufacturers using the valves in question. There may be some subsequent changes, but that's no big deal. It's all known technology, it's like saying that anyone manufacturing a small front wheel drive car with a transverse engine is ripping off the 1959 Mini designed by Alec Issigonis. They're not.
 
Regarding how to return stuff to Ali Express. Pretty much everything I have bought there (including these monoblock amps) has a 'free return' link after you have purchased it.
Yesterday I got a USB cable from AE to try out with my Gustard R26.
However I mistakenly ordered a USB A-A cable, instead of an A-B cable.
So for the first time so far, I clicked on the 'free return' link.
I had to answer just one question....why I was returning it. And then within seconds I got an e-mail that included a prepaid return shipping label, via UPS to some domestic (US-based) clearing house.
I boxed it up, slapped on the return label and will take it to a UPS office today. I am told I will get a complete refund within days of confirmation of return shipping.
If I do NOT get re-imbursed, I will follow up on here, but if I do not mention this again, it will be only because my reimbursement went through.

Now I do not know if returning some $1800 amps will go as smoothly as returning a $75 silver USB cable. But this is handled through AE and NOT through the vendor who I purchased the goods through-so there is every reason to believe that it would.
 
stevec67 said:
And that will eventually fry a valve amp designed around 220V, which the Chinese ones are. Still, when it happens a new trafo to the right spec (240V primary) is about £90 and any competent tech can fit it.
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My Jolidas are 220v. My mains supply is consistent at 245v. I did raise that with the dealer I bought them from and he assured me they would be fine. That was twelve years ago and they’re still going strong.
 
I'm afraid they aren't really. Valves are tough tho. If you reckon for sake of argument that ht is around 500v then 10% = 550 which is pushing it for the HT. Your 6.3v heater voltage will also go up to nearly 7v.
A client brought a 220v rated amp into my workshop and his only issue was that the output valves were only lasting around two years, signal valves seemingly unaffected.
 
I thought all the Goldmund amps used mosfet output devices?
These use Sanken bipolar transistors - I assume they are NOS (or perhaps UOS) or fakes since the MT200 package was discontinued about 5 years ago.
 
Tim Jones said:
I wasn't really going to look at this thread until I saw who started it.
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Many years ago, through constant validation in the Haymarket Press, I believed that Brit-Fi, like Brittania-ruled the waves and all else-including 'Jap-crap' and grotesque 'Am-Fi' were only worthy targets of derision. My end-all system was tri-amped Isobariks which I had heard on several occasions.
And then I attended the very first Manchester Hi-Fi show. Specifically the Absolute Sounds room.
They had a turntable (the Oracle) that was not only not a Linn, but also 4x as expensive. The tonearm (The Arm by Sumiko)was also several multiples cost of the Ittok and did not have that reassuringly thick arm-wand.
The amplifiers were Audio Research, and the pre-amp alone (the SP10-mk2) cost more than some entire Linn-Naim systems. Ditto the power amp (the Audio Research D250 mk2)
The speakers were not Linn, nor Rogers, nor Spendors, nor IMF, nor Quads, but rather some improbable looking panel speakers...the Maggie MG3 I think.

And for the first time EVER...I heard reproduced sound that was not only incredible...it was also credible. It sounded like live music instead of very well reproduced music.

At this point I was running a very early-just released pair of NAP135s. I took in home demo via the Music Room in Manchester an Audio Research D70 mk2 power amp...the very lowest amp in the AR product line, to compare with then pinnacle of the Naim line. The very first track I lined up on my LP12/Ittok/Karma (the Karma had JUST been released) was a random track from RLJ first album. And instead of listening to that single track...I ended up listening to the entire album. The D70mk2 was massively better in all ways than the NAP135s, and my preconcieved biases evaported within minutes, if not sooner.

My expectional biases against Chi-Fi were almost as strong as my anti Jap-crap sentiments were 40+ years ago.
But something inside of me said...'just try it'.

And I did.

Ironically, the stuff that we dismissed as 'Jap Crap' back in the mid to late 70's are now worth 10x of what they sold for then, and handily see of most contempory products, if you are willing to stick with purely 2-channel sound without internal DAC, Bluetooth and subwoofer outputs.

Indeed the preamp I am currently using is a circa 1974 restored and tweaked Pioneer C-21, that cost only a fraction of what my NAC552 did...but is every bit (and possibly even more) enjoyable and faithful to the music.

So what has this got to do with Chi-Fi??

The water is fine...come on in!
 
I've seen ads for Chinese clones of DartZeel amps too, I wonder how off-the-mark they are?
 
Chops54 said:
My Jolidas are 220v. My mains supply is consistent at 245v. I did raise that with the dealer I bought them from and he assured me they would be fine. That was twelve years ago and they’re still going strong.
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You have done very well indeed. I OTOH had a couple of failures and ultimately the main PSU trafo went bang. Had a 240V primary one made up, no further trouble. However I got the same advice from a number of very experienced and skilled valve amp repairers and designers. The problem with valves as opposed to trannies is that they step up the voltage, not down, Tranny amps that are designed to run 40-0-40V power rails get a 10% overvoltage on the supply side, the power rails go up by 4V. No big deal. Everything is rated 63V anyway. Compare that with a valve that runs up the HT to 350V say, 10% over takes you to 385V. That's a bit heavy and as power consumption goes up as the square of the voltage things get very hot. Everything cooks. Some amps will fare better than others, if they are lightly loaded to start with, others not. Early Yaqins (my model, an EL34 design) were notorious for catching fire. Mine is the later one, it's fortunately better in this regard, and obviously now I have a permananet fix. But 220V valve equipment running 240V, especially when in the UK it can frequently hit 250, is not generally a happy marriage.
 
Mr Pig said:
The difference is that someone from the UK is looking over their shoulder them making sure the quality is right. But when left to their own devices? All bets are off.
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Except when they are not like it was the case with Arcam receivers. I have three of them clunkers and everybody I know of who bought one of those have a dead one as well...
I heard those GOLDENMUGS yesterday and I glanced over them melancholically since I attempted to make a clones myself as well . Paid for failed effort $500 on diy audio. Took the ugly inept made enclosures to machinist shop to square them out and polish that turd for another $300 to realize there is nothing to be done to make them pretty , packed it back with promise that I get the running shorty. That was 5 years ago. I could take that $800, dig ditches for a few days and for earned money buy a respectable sounding and fairly free from usual" Chinese glitter " look pair of amps like those pictured , meh
 
just bought Fosi audio za3, ...i will report as soon as it arrives, it is supposed to be good,...not a clone in fact, but maybe better than any clone out there.
 
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