any hear dared or ming da amps?

Hi
Ive own a Markhill (rebadged yaqin) 6l6a tube amp and found this to be a good entery level 23 watt amplifier it cost me approx ($ 850 AUD) about ($680 USD) new in the box delivered.And must admit was dissapointted with it at 1 st untill I started down the path to tube rolling.

I rolled the original 6l6 gcr electron tubes to (svetlana c winged 6l6gc) and rolled the smaller no name brand tubes to (Jan 6922 (8613)Phillips ECG) tubes this was a great improvement giveing it a bigger more 3d soundstage,the added beifit was it sounded better at lower volume settings and I did'nt have to drive the amp as hard to get a better responce.

From there I rolled the svets to tung sol kt 66 and still use the Jan 6922 tubes. it now sounds pretty dam good for a a $680 chinnese amp ,(IF I HAD TOO) stick with this amp, I would be more than happy to ,if you've got got a low budget this is a good amp in my humble opinion.

I also own a Mcintosh mc 240 tube amp (and waiting for delivery of a 2nd one)these are a whole different beast and way more expencive amp ,I wont go into how these amps sound because they are legendary and there's stacks of threads out there,and its all been said before by more experienced guys than I .Bye Paulie

I have been passionately into audio, pro and otherwise for the last 20 years. I meet with a group of audio nuts every week and have the opportunity to listen to a wide range of gear. Last Saturday someone brought in the Yaqin mc100 (with upgraded caps and driver tubes).

I was floored with it's musicality and performance. It was romantic indeed, and it was 3 dimensional in it's imaging. The speakers were a difficult load (Infinity Quantum 2's I believe) and the Yaqin had no trouble driving it. I can't say I've heard a more involving amplifier, and everyone in attendance agreed. Everyone was grinning and tapping their toes. It was truly a revelatory experience.

With this group, and in my own collection I have heard many of the prestigious brands and some great vintage restorations. While most of them sound as good as you might expect, the only amplifier that I have liked as much as the Yaqin was a Mac MC 24o. Total cost of the amp, plus upgrades, was about 1K.

I might add, that we meet at an audio repair shop, and at this shop I have seen many of the top brands in for very expensive repairs at a very young age.

I have ordered one. I look forward to the tweaking to come.

How does the MC 100 compare with the similarly spec'd (?) Jolida 801a? Describe and also give me your net-net assessment. At the end of the day, which one wins? Need this info to make some choices.

Hi Prefab, where did you order your Yaqin from?

I used a Ming-Da MC34-B integrated amp in my small office system for a few years: 22 wpc, 2 inputs, 4 SED 6L6GC power tubes with 2 Russian military 6NP1 and 6NP2 signal tubes. Nice sound, reliable (no problems)with substantial iron transformers. Good value for the price. Kept it for my back-up amp for my home system.

For a period, Ming-Da had a problem with reliability mainly due to gray-market amps that did not meet their normal quality control standards. But otherwise they are generally well designed and well-built for their price range. My only problem was you had to bias the power tubes from underneath the amp, which was a hassle.