Colours / Finishes
2024 NEWS on Colours / Paint
Unfortunately we no longer have car paint as option.
Here is the link to see the colour samples of our factory colours :
Questions & Answers
List of brand / speakers work well with tube amps :
These are very commonly asked question, every year we were asked hundreds of time. So here is a few useful hints that will make you an expert before you even ask or pull the trigger on a pair of new speakers.
To begin, it is YOUR duty and responsibility to listen to speakers you want to purchase , and if possible with YOUR amp - no one can tell you how they sound together. Yup - literally even you read thousands of speaker reviews - NONE WILL tell you exactly how it SOUNDS LIKE. Because each room is different, each place have different amps, and every reviewer have different ears. And with our highly revealing and capability / high grade tube amplifiers - one tube in the chain can already causes huge sound difference. IE: With a mass produce / average tube amp - you probably have a hard time notice any differences with tubes or cables change. But with us - even the material where the amp sits on will change the sound (say you moved out the stone or synthetic hifi slab the amp sits, and now the amp sits on a wood shelf surface), or you are changing out the rubber footers on our amp with another brand or material footers. It could change the sound greatly. This is what true high end is about.
Always trust what you heard with your own ears! Even your friend told you they had 30-70+ years of experience and seem to know everything - in most chances, they thought they know only - and today’s made HIFI is totally different than their years. Plus it does not represent your taste. In reality - most guys think they were a big gun and had everything - but in most cases, they never heard or had the best to tell you. So go out there and listen is your best bet. Attend more HIFI SHOWS will be your best move. That’s a good way to support your local dealers and hifi industry!
When a dealer help you to demo speakers - be expect to PAY MSRP FOR THEIR TIME and SERVICE! It is fair and clear. You should love your local dealers who still spend time to demo as of today. And NO - they do not have the obligations to help you find best speakers for your home, plus they might not have your amplifier to tell / help.
For low power tube amps must require 100 db+ (high efficient) speakers, is that true? NO - it is a common wrong myth. Furthermore, the efficiency rating of 100 db on a speakers is only half of the story. There are more to it and most tube amps can drive generally most hifi speakers. Some lower efficient speakers with 8 ohms and 87 db could be easily driven by as little as a few watts too - those full range speakers without crossover. So you see - the best person to ask will be the speakers manufacturer - and if they cannot answer your question or have no response to your question,you should be walking away. Some speakers manufacture such as Opera Italia - every model they would write a booklet to talk about the design - read it and you will learn alot more in why and how it is engineered. For example, they will talk about although their speaker is only 91-94 db into 4 ohms, but they have a very flat (easy to drive) curve, and that’s a good match for tube amplifications. And are 100 db+ speakers that good? like everything else, they all have pros and cons.
Again, back to #2 - and most industry folks don’t even know. There are different applications in speakers design. Some were born for PA/Speech/Industrial (emphasis on mid, so you wonder why it doesn’t have highs and lows) , some were born for theater / hall / stage / arena / (unless you have the large space too ) to play loud and clear is the objective, and there are speakers for “studio” - which sound absolute flat and accurate as they are meant for professionals to work with - but will that be the kind of sound you like? Please find that out, as everyone pursuits their own kind of sound. But lately many people pulled the wrong trigger - as long they see something flashy and “high efficient”, and they will fall for, and they are surprise to know they doesn’t sound like the typical “hi-fi” speakers they were craving for, or even close.
Last but not least - there been thousands of hifi speakers were designed and made. No one can tell you exactly how your amp will sound on each pair of speakers. So don’t expect to get an answer from the speakers manufacturer or us if you asked such a widespread question. Even someone had the combo in the past - but if the tubes / source / cables / room / acoustic …etc are different , result could already be day and night. That is why we always mention spec and measurement is very important on a tube amplifier - its the only proof it is a good machine. And if it doesn’t sound as expected - it is something else has not been met.
In general, horn speakers, full range / single drivers / dual-concentric…etc speakers will work well with tube amps, names such as Fostex, TAD, Avant-garde, Lowthers, JBL, Klipsch, Altecs, Western Electric, Tannoy…etc. And here are a general list of brands that are working well with quality tube amplification :
Altec Lansing
Acapella
AER
Avantgarde Horns
Blumenhofer
Boenicke
Bose
Cessaro
Coherent Loudspeakers (Canada)
Cube Audio
Diatone
Devore
Focal JM Lab
Finale Audio (Canada)
Fostex
Gemme Audio / Arteluthe / Heretic (Canada)
hORN by Autotech Poland
Klipsch
Living Voice UK
Lowther UK
Ocellia
Odeon
Omega
Opera Italy / Unison Research / Sonus Faber
JBL
Rogers UK
Snell / Audio Note UK / ANK
TAD (Pioneer)
Tannoy UK
Technics
Tune Audio
Westlake
Wilson Audio
Verity (Canada)
Voxativ
ZU Audio
We are actually building a list of speaker brands that are good for tube amps. Please email us if we missed any good CURRENT speakers manufacturer =)
Should I get Integrated Amplifier? or Preamp x Power Amp Combo?
In short - get an integrated amplifier will be much easier to get decent result, out of the box.
Especially if you are new or relatively new to tubes - please buy an integrated first, and see how high is the reference - it is important to know how high the base ground is first. Because if you first get a preamp x power amp combo for example, you might see / heard 50-70% of it only and never knew the base quality/point was much higher than that thru the integrated amp. And for those who wants to be very good - mastered the integrated amp first, it’s probably beats most of the preamp x power amp combos you will hear thru out your life. And only buy expensive cables and accessories at the end. So you know well if it’s really good for your system or not. It is okay to use flea priced tubes and cables until you mastered everything - but still, many experts we know uses them but still coming up with world class sounding system. So it’s how good of a music conductor are you, not how good of the hifi-gear played you the music.
Sometimes many people think they are very experienced - in reality, it’s not even close to the needed skills and ears (trust us, since we are in the industry so long, many who claims to have 20-50 years of audiophile of experience, could have none of both - and almost all gears they had were mass produced ones and were never even close to the top, sure it was expensive) to extract the full potential of the pair.
It’s okay if you are more advanced and been having / seen more HIFI pieces than average, or have paid lots of effort and attention to listen different setup and result, all the subtle slice changes, but it will still takes alot of time and effort to master-play the new combo. Be neutral minded, humble, and keep trying is what we recommended. For example, your favourite/expensive interconnect or speaker wires or even power-cord that looks like garden hose, that sounded so good and invincible with your high power solid state amp system thru-out the last 30 years - it might just be this one-single-piece that turn your new tube system into hell.
Be water my friend!
Our takes on tubes and cables :
Under Construction / in-completed but :
AC Power Cord - VERY IMPORTANT. Get a good one, the sound will be better. The music / sound / signal is generated are by electricity! So get a good AC Power Cord is very crucial. And plug it straight to the wall for best / unaltered sound. For preamp, sources, turntables …etc. It is okay / ideal to use HIFI active filters / re-generators.
Speaker Wires - there is no such thing call “best” for your system , you need to try different ones, types (solid core vs stranded) , sizes / gauges (some say thinner are for tubes, thicker are for solid state systems)…etc. And no one can give you the exact answer for your OWN system - no, they don’t know how your room’s acoustic, they don’t know how your tube combination sounds like, and no , they don’t know how the rest of your gears sounds like.
Interconnect Cables - again, you have to try, and no one can give you the answer. The best matched ones will be the best for your own unique system. We like those one came with CD/DVD/SACD players, especially those one come with those Japanese players, or ones from the dollar store. They never lie or change the music, and are of accurate / neutral / natural. Most entry level audiophile interconnects will make it sounded more “hifi-ish” or “rounded / smoother sound”, or a more pleasant but faker sound, as most audiophiles at this level will not have decent amplifications those cable manufactures know. Our advice is to get one of these freebies / black interconnect cables, and then start A/B =) If you are going with brand name - just go straight to the top tier interconnect cables, because the chances are anything below is just another “seller model” and are not the best. Same as tubes - when someone say this tube is the best of it’s kind, it literally means the worse sounding tube else where. So be open minded. It’s a play of balance.
Will be continue….
Recommendation on AC Cord :
Entry Level - Furutech / 1877 Phono (Both are HIFI cable makers since first day, both sound and quality is there) / And there are quite a few very good independent labels on the market that makes very entry level pricing AC Cord that sound as good as brand name cables that cost 2X to many times more. So please support them and give them a try.
Middle Level - Our Own AC Cords Can’t Be Wrong.
Money No Object - The Cardas Clear Beyond. *
Recommendation on Speaker Wires :
Entry Level - Furutech / Duelund / Mundorf , ones that sold by feet.
Middle Level - Our Own Speaker Wires Can’t Be Wrong - One Price = 2 Pair Of Cables - In case you change the speakers in the future that works opposite to solid core or stranded.
Money No Object - The new reintroduced Cardas SE9 MP - successor of the original SE9/SE15 that are meant for low tube power amps / high efficient speakers.
*Affiliations - No, we are not affiliate with Cardas or know anyone there. We simple used their product and it turns our 100% sounding system exceeded of 120% or more - if you have a very good room to begin with.
*For our customers - let us know if you need help to source any of these cables at a good price. It is our way to thank you in return!
TUBES :
Avoid NOS tubes - about 20 years ago, we are still okay with it. But now, its another 20 years after the Y2K. And most NOS became real fragile. Most NOS Triode won’t simply survive the shipping alone - plus most tube sellers doesn’t pack good enough. Even it survived the shipping - hums, noise, imbalance, premature failures, simply doesn’t light up…etc are happening too frequent. But that is absolutely NORMAL on these now some are 80 years old. It’s too inconsistent for us to recommend it, reaching factory spec is another challenge/concern for us on these very old tubes, from our engineering point of view.
Just get something new and decent =) Most reputable sellers also has warranty.