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Cayin A88T break in and biasing??

Just took a Jolida 302BRC back to a dealer to
get the A88 instead. I loved the Jolida no doubt,
but assumed the A88 would be a step up, and so far
all I can say is it has the potential but sounds
a little hard & brittle now.
Just wondering if anyone has had experience with it
and does it get better with time?
I need to know before I go drop another 1k on it.
Also...I never could get a handle on whether or
not the amp is self biasing or not?? Most people
say it is not and you have to take it out, flip it over
and bias it....that's crazy and would be a deal breaker
for sure!
Any help or thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

BTW... I only had about 6-7 hours on it when I started
to give it a listen.
telescope_trade
john2525
8 posts
 
I purchased mine from a dealer in PA who got it from VAS. I also noticed that some other A-70T's on the net that look somewhat different. There's some type of switch where mine has the bias adjustment and bias test points. Here are two pics of mine, including manual, fwiw.

http://jdaly.homelinux.org:2113/a70t-bias1.gif
http://jdaly.homelinux.org:2113/a70t-bias2.gif
http://jdaly.homelinux.org:2113/a70t-bias-manual.gif

-john
aball
2,016 posts
 
Hi John
The pics of your 70T look nothing like my buddy's. He doesn't have any bias adjustment anything. Likewise for his manual. I am beginning to think there are several variations of every model Cayin! Very confusing.

Arthur
john2525
8 posts
 
Aball,

So he didn't get it from VAS Audio? I agree with you, definitely some variations out there.

-john
aball
2,016 posts
 
Oh yes, our local Cayin dealer gets everything from VAS. I don't think there is any other way short of importing it yourself which is sure to be a disaster.

There are simply different versions, that's all. His 70T came into the store back in November or so. My guess is the later ones are autobiasing whereas the early ones are based on the 88T.

Arthur
plangco's avatar
plangco
158 posts
 
There are some, and apparently you are one as was I, that think the stock tubes in the Cayin make it sound a bit hard and brittle.

I have listened to numerous amps, and the Cayin A88T however, is not in the hard and brittle catagory at all in my opinion and for my preferences, with the possible exception to some as to how it sounds with the stock tubes.

However, changing the sonic signature significatnly toward the sound you want with the Cayin A88-T, relative to the 'lively/stark' stock tubes, is an easy task with tube rolling.

Knowing what you think of the sound with the stock tubes, gives me a very good idea of what direction you want to go and what will work, as I have done alot of tube rolling and experimenting along those lines myself with the Cayin A-88T, prefering a strong musical midrange presentation and hating anything that smacks of hard or brital sound.

I recommend you buy a quad of SED KT88s (my preference) (or SED 6550), a pair of RCA round plate 6SN7s, and a pair of Raytheon 6SL7s for a wonderfuly warm and musical, open and non-harsh presentation which exceeds by my ears, the musical capabilities of most amplifiers around today.

Stay away from Tung Sol 6550s, ElectroHarmonix, and Genalex Lion power tube offerings, unless you want to bring in a level of extension that you will probably call hard and brittle.

Enjoy your Cayin A88-T. You have a wonderful amplifier.
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