YAQIN MC-13S EL34(6CA7)X4 Vacuum Tube Hi-end Integrated Push-Pull Amplifier

I have a pair of Spendor BC1 speakers and have been using them with a NAD Amp from which I have had a lot of listening pleasure. The Speakers were made in the 60's and were designed to be used with a valve amplifier so it has always been my intention to aquire one. This is the amp I have bought. I am absolutely delighted with the clarity and detail I am now getting, hearing many things that I hadn't realised were there and being able to distinguish the difference between an electric bass guitar and a double bass! things I could only guess at before are now really "visible". The Amp was supplied without the plastic valve guards, thankfully. It arrived really well packaged with an expanded polythene fitted box surrounded by two cardboard boxes, the valves themselves were in bubble wrap bags which were slid into a hard plastic tube and then shrink wrapped. I should imageine it would be hard to damage deliberately, let alone by accident. Setting it up was very straightforward, the valves are all marked with a sticker as well as having their usual printed identifier. They all fitted into their sockets with no problem at all and were a nice snug fit once installed. So far I have listened for about six hours of playing time. Listening to some Pink Floyd, Midnight Train To Georgia, Robert Plant, Paul Simon ( amongst others) and some cult, to see if it rocked, Oh yes it does. This amp is the Mutts Nutts. Really. It is very impressive and I would have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone who want good quality sound. Thank you Yaqin.

First things first. Check the voltage. Mine says 240v on the box, 220v on the equipment. I've measured our mains supply, and it comes out at about 240. To prolong the life of the valves, I was planning on building a 240-220v bucking transformer... But haven't got around to it yet... Although no problems yet. You will need to adjust the bias on the valves... There are some decent videos on YouTube for this, if instructions aren't provided. A screwdriver for the job is. Although this amp has a "preamp" stage, the whole thing should really be treated more like a power amp, which is how it describes itself. I'm feeding my Yaqin from a vintage Pioneer Graphic equilizer (17 band), which really makes a difference. My music source was the fantastic little shanling m1, which was handy, because I included some test tones from the internet in FLAC format on it, which made initial set up of the equilizer a bit easier. I made the mistake of leaving that player on charge, and destroyed the battery (physically), so I'm now on a different FLAC player, but being more careful. All in all, good value. Not the best amp in the world, but certainly very competent. It's made much much better by changing the valves... There are some very nice ones out there, and they really do make a difference. Still, if (like I did) you're planning on taking things gradually, the supplied valves do a reasonable job.

I have had this amp for 18 mths and its not missed a beat. Immediately, I bought 4 Tungsol EL34s, 2 PSVane AU7s, and 2 JJ803Ss(AX7). The stock AX and AU7 preamp valves, frankly, are garbage.The 6CA7 power valves arent bad, just a bit heavy on the bass. Budget another £200 for decent ones. It handles all genres of music equally well, with plenty of power through the 4 ohm taps, driving 6 ohm, 90 db, Monitor Audio 3-way floorstanders. Compared with some European/American amps costing 4 times more, it is not shamed in the least. To put things into perspective, the little Rothwell phono-stage to the left of the Yaqin in the photo, cost me £380. Makes you realise just how much Amp you are getting for the money. I paid £420 plus £16 import tax and £186 for valve upgrades. UPDATE 4/12/18. Seems that 5 star reviews serve to fill manufacturers pockets, as the price has risen by £300. If that was the case when I purchased mine, I would have considered Italian or British offerings, that have decreased in price. The Yaqin now costing 1k with necessary valve upgrades and import tax. Their greed will be their downfall.

The chrome finish is excellent looks as good as it sounds. Had this amp for a few months before unboxing.used with wharf dale diamond o.1 speakers excellent sound.very clear and precise. Voice of singers sound in the room, when a riange is played in the track so clear you want them to play it again. I had to change the valves the 6ca7 as accident while moving house. Cost of getting the valves was extortion so purchased the job military grade equivalents,straight replacement great sounding, bass deeper, hi’s crystal clear. Love this amp. Have since upgrade speakers to flor standers, bass extension unbelievable.As you can tell I love my bass, but that said frequency response of amp is clear precise and responsive and sharp.all I need know is a reel to reel the to really appreciate this amp.

Excellent tube amp at a fraction of cost paid for equivalent better-known brands. First off, I would encourage anyone considering this amp to first have a look at the 50+ reviews on the US Amazon site -- overwhelmingly positive and several of the reviews include useful technical background on the amp and tube rolling options: https://www.amazon.com/ask/questions/asin/B012CSK30E/1/ref=ask_ql_psf_ql_hza?sort=SUBMIT_DATE. I have owned this amp for two years and it surpassed expectations: superb sound, good build quality, ample power, high standard of fit and finish. The unit arrived carefully packaged (including insulated tubes) without a scratch. Units shipped into the UK have a power switch that can be set to 240v. Have to admit I was very sceptical initially about purchasing an apparently unknown brand from HK -- ultimately the growing consensus of reviews for this amp (including audiphile sites and magazines) convinced me to take the plunge. Very pleased with results. Given the quality of this amp, still surprised at the invisible marketing from Yaqin in the UK, although the amp has already established a following in the US. A common theme of many reviews is the comparability of Yaqin with much more expensive better known brands. I originally considered Yaqin an affordable entry point to get back into tube hi-fi, but no longer assume I will be replacing it with a more expensive unit. Sound quality: Excellent detailing and sound separation. I used Abbey Road as a reference point and in spite of previous familiarity was able to hear subtle production layers I had never noticed before through high-end solid state systems, in spite of fairly basic Cambridge bookshelf speakers. Paired with a Rega turntable, and unsurprisingly best results with vinyl. Overall a surprisingly affordable amp given the high standard.

I was a little anxious about this purchase given that valve amplifiers can cost several thousand pounds. however, I am delighted by this amplifier. I have had the amplifier several years and I love the sound!

needed step down transformer, otherwise great amp.

fao music lovers.. my goodness me well done yaqin, if you are currently have run only solid state amps and are comfortable with a touch of technical twiddling (a little screwdriver (included) and cheap multimeter(not) to set the valve bias, easy) and gentle but firm wiggling the valves into place and you love music more than tv then buy one now. Maybe i was lucky with mine.. in fact i have waited 6 months to write this review so as to be sure reliability wise, it has been run for 2-8 hours almost every day for six months without a single issue, I swapped the 4 preamp valves for 100 pounds worth of quality NOS east German equivalents after one month out of interest as i read recommend, it made a subtle improvement on already excellent that resulted in my almost complete disappearance from the village social life. You may hear a tiny crackle at times from one channel during the first 30 minutes of use but well, valves are valves they have an 'organic' quality and probably pick up on house voltage feed changes and ?, i don't run any kind of voltage regulator or filter. So all above accepted the amp is a life changer, it will heal your woes and show you that heaven exists on earth. I have a friend with a high end all ATC solid state system and this amp for openness, clarity and honest musical instrument/vocal realism, it left him wide eyed and silent, possibly a little rattled for the price he probably paid for cables and that is not joke. The power level is enough for a medium to large room, I run it at 1/3 to 3/4 volume through a pair of gold series monitor audio towers and/or goodman magnum's, depending on mix/recording/musical genre. The measured ohms at my speaker changeover is 8-16, no complaints using the 8ohm outs. I run a basic pioneer turntable through a NAD solid state pre amp and the CD player is a £50 NAD 520 unit from ebay. Cables are standard, nothing double wired nothing super fancy. If i put my whole system on ebay I bet it'd struggle to fetch £1.5k, I'm fairly regular guy with a fairly regular technical job. The centre transformer runs up quite hot after a couple of hours, i'd say up to around 65 degrees it stabilises on my system, since it is nestled among the 4 power valves, I initially thought oh dear but it works. I don't know enough about amp design to comment but I know what feeling good is like and it does it in buckets, that is the aim here. Valve amplifiers are not about energy efficiency, they are about replicating what the musicians created at time of playing, and if the music you like was produced on valve based equipment.. then well you get the idea. I estimate it consumes around 150-200watts running nicely but, 5p per hour more or less, yes pennies. typical recordings that will impress would be vinyl: any original pressing any genre from any reputable musician/artist 1965-1975 cd any reputable artist/any genre 1985-current, however lets accept that CD is a very different listening experience 1975-1985 <-- good luck it was the dawn of digital/computer based recordings and pickings are meagre, oh dear (personally i'd say look for classical stuff, even bob dylan turned to jesus for that period of time, fair enough mate) i'm not going to knock digital at all it's a fine medium with many advantages but none of them are for musical realism unless it was digitally created, as simple as that, real can have some scratch and scrape, musical instruments all produce scratch and scrape, voices in particular. Digital recordings are perfect for digital music. This amp with a good CD running is open and clear beyond belief, maybe i've lucked into a good one but even at max level before overdrive the silent sections are exactly that, silent. With vinyl it will leave the riaa eq hum and the usual running scratch but nothing more, nothing more at all. for what it's worth for personal mixed bag of recommendations miles davis bitches brew the complete sessions (kind of blue/sketches of spain) john lee hooker chill out 1995 any Santana jj cale naturally kate bush aerial or 50 words yes yes american prayer jim morrison mark knopfler the ragpickers dream (all the roadrunning) bob dylan pat garrat and billy the kid soundtrack marty o reilly and the old soul orchestra stereoscope/pray for rain thank you yaqin (ja-chin) an amp that fitted my budget and the uk supplier shipped exactly as described I wanted to award 4.5 stars because styling wise i'm not super keen on silver front and the knobs though high quality electronically they are plastic and i'd prefer hard wood and larger diameter, also the vu meter is pointless in my opinion it is for styling but yes does work, it agrees with distortion limits of the sound but my ears are better for doing that, no technical need for a meter, the blue led for the yaqin logo is fine quite a nice logo only the led a touch bright? might change the knobs at some point simply for style, also mine didn't come with the valve covers as shown in the photo, doesn't bother me in the slightest..let them breath i'd have not fitted them most likely plastic?? but oh yes they get hot of course, set the amp in a safe place. hope this review is helpful in some way i don't write them often but appreciate the words of others so wanted to contribute oh confirm weight and depth it might surprise you, the mass is in the transformers, where a lot of the cost goes into these items i imagine in short if it goes pop in six months i'd go up to 500 to repair it and even if it were completely dead after a year i'd still consider that a good buy, and get another one or certainly something from yaqin of the same era or a touch earlier.. amazingly yes it really does give that much pleasure my next thing to try would be to use one of their phono pre amps in place of the NAD solid state one best wishes, peaceful listening