Hong Kong amps

[Dave Edwards]

Hey folks...Recently I was high bidder on a 2A3 single-ended integrated amp
on ebay. Even with the shipping, it is cheap enough to take a gamble.
Does anyone have any recent experience with tube amps from Asia? A couple of
years ago, your only choice were the US-made amps. Very nice offerings from
Audio Research, and Cary....but prices that were out of my reach...a grand
or two.
I know a pair of 2A3's won't shake the house, but might be sweet into a
small pair of bookshelf speakers...or it'll spark and burst into flames when
I plug it in!!
Thanks for any thoughts.
....Dave

[Iain Churches]

"François Yves Le Gal" <fle...@aingeal.com> wrote in message
news:iaerv1tophdn0land...@4ax.com...

> On Wed, 22 Feb 2006 16:52:40 -0500, "Dave Edwards" <kd...@comcast.net>
> wrote:
>
>>Does anyone have any recent experience with tube amps from Asia?
>

> Some are excellent, some are crappy. It all depends on the actual barnd /
> model.
>

A friend of mine makes a good living repairing them.
Most are bought direct, not through a dealer, and
have poor warranty terms. The same amplifiers
keep coming back with different faults.
Most are about 1 year old.

Iain

[Gilbert Bates]

I'd imagine the one's you'd likely see on ebay are bottom feeders in
general. But couldn't be too complex and too much trouble to work on
yourself if you had to. On the other hand, go to any audio show to see
all the good stuff that's coming out of Asia, you'll be suprised at
some of the top shelf stuff and how good it sounds, but will have a
price tag to match. So if I wanted to play around with a $300-$500
bottom feeder amp off ebay, it wouldn't bother me too much. I guess
I'd be more worried about getting ripped off or amp arriving in
smashed pieces, more so than the peformance or reliability of the amp
itself for the money spent.