Bravo Audio - funny looking little tube amps - Page 125

Yeah, they are the youngest I would think of buying (1992). I took a chance and the two I got sound very clean. Sometimes, you just gotta go with your gut... I have two coming from the siberian shop that haven't surfaced yet. All of these are Reflektors. I sure would like to get a Voskhod ev, but they would go for $50 or more, I bet.

I hear u. Trust me 14 hours of my day is spent in a kitchen. M yea im still new to this, n i appreciate ur lecturing! Now u mentioned philips i might look into those. N where my new 12ua7s not rca? My seller told me they where q.q

I hope they are, because they're legendary!

I knew I heard it somewhere...

 

BTW, I've been listening to a Voskhod 6n23p today that is better sounding than the -ev's. It's a 1968. What ever(ett) happened to your 6n1p experiment. I was thinking that if the 6n1p was copasetic with the Bravo & Indeed amps, they would be utilizing them since you can buy 50 of them for $5... and $100 for shipping.

Edited by Judge Buff - 2/24/13 at 2:00pm

You'd be seriously underpowering the Russian 6n1p's if you're using them in the Indeed amps (Bravo amp's don't take 6v tubes). 6n1p's are not 6dj8/6922 substitutes alot tube sellers on ebay say it is, they obviously don't know what they are talking about. A circuit designed for 6n1p's will not be able to take 6922/6dj8's without some modifications and 6922/6dj8 circuits might be able to take 6n1p's but seriously underpowered but can result in damage.

 

 

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/tubes-valves/111210-replacing-6n1p-s-6922s-7308s.html

Edited by DefQon - 2/24/13 at 2:32pm

Yeah, that was my point about the companies not using them and they're really cheap. I warned Evshrug off of them the first time he mentioned it. 

 

I have a Bravo that takes 6dj8s, and the V3 ships with a 6922. At least the one I just saw on the Bay does...

 

Fair enough, I'm actually glad companies out there except a select few are not using the 61np's. Reason why is because there are only two countries that manufactured them, China, Beijing and Shuguang labs and various old military labs in Russia. There are not many varieties as well and they sound meh. I've got 1 integrated amp that I rebuilt, takes 2 61np's and even looking around there are not many variants besides Svetlana's, Voshkods ev military's and normals, Beijing 61np with T extension (best quality out of the Beijing 61np's) and the Shuguangs based ones. No other European or American variants such as from RCA, Mullard, Amperex, Tele's, Brimar etc. But certain 61np circuits can be modded to take the closest matching 6922 variants through a few cathode resistor mods to drop the currents supplied direct from the trafo or bypassed through the choke. Either way I do not like them, regardless of how cheap they are. Cheap != Quality.

 

Btw, which Bravo do you have that takes the 6DJ8's? I'm not aware of any bravo's v2 or later that takes the 6dj8's. Besides the v3.

I have an old V1 and they are still being made: http://www.ebay.com/itm/BRAVO-AUDIO-V1-DELUXE-CLASS-A-EH-TUBE-DRIVEN-HEADPHONE-AMP-US-SALE-SHIP-NEW-/290853448667?pt=US_Home_Audio_Amplifiers_Preamps&hash=item43b8376bdb

 

 

The link is to an "authorized" US distributor, apparently, but the picture is from bravodeal4you current eBay listing. It would appear they only have one version that doesn't take 6dj8s. Then again, they probably have variants of these still floating around with MkII or some other hokey designation.

 

Note to the Mods: I know that we aren't to post eBay listings, but this isn't me advertising for Bravo. I'm just answering a question from a headphoneus supremus. In fact I think Bravo models are inferior to everything but Muse. Of course, all of these are made in a backroom of a building in Guangdong that can only be reached via an alley full of street urchins...

lawl, very true... I have a feeling teh Indeed g3's are made in the front room of that very same building lol 

LOL.

Well, I talked to Zigis, and he confirmed the 6n1p (is that what you meant to type DefQon?) tube is not compatible. However he was of the opinion that it is a pretty good tube, but very few amps make use of it. $5 for 50 tubes... and $550 for shipping. Haha! Maybe the seller could combine shipping? But seriously, I think the seller tried to "hide" the cost of the tube within the shipping cost, I "won" the auction for $0.01, but shipping was $11. I KNOW that wasn't actually the shipping cost, because it took over a full month to arrive. I knew that going in, but for some reason I thought I'd be able to use the tube. Now, like an overexcited teenager, I've spent $11.01 on something I can't use in any way except for collecting (dust).

I got my new tube with RCA tubes, clear tops and 5963s. And it does sound very nice. The bass is slighty more detailed than on my crappy Haromix Eh6992 [or waht ever cheapo brand it is] but the mids r a little smoother as well as more treble extension. So I'm a happy camper [and technically I could swap one of my RCA clear tops into my indeed G3] but I'd rather stick with the 6992 tube 

 

Yep my bad that's the tube I was meant to type properly.

I bought a Bravo Audio Ocean amplifier and did some heavy overhauling of the components.

I did the following mods -

 

1. Replaced the stock mosfet transister (IRF630) with the IRF510. This has opened up the highs considerably and have widened the soundstage.

2. Replaced the 25v rated capacitors with 3300uF 35v panasonic capacitors. This has tightened the bass significantly. The flipside is that the top of the case doesn't closes anymore now due to the size of the capacitors. I prefer to keep them open as the amp runs quite cooler this way.

3. I bought some NOS tubes from eBay. RCA and Sylvania tubes. They sound good with very well defined high end and a bit forward mids, but guess what!! I like the sound of the stock Chinese tubes more than these as they introduce a very sweet sounding distortion. Call me crazy.

 

I am quite happy with my desktop set up paired up with my Sennheiser HD600s. Pure honey to the ears.

Edited by viveksaikia22 - 2/27/13 at 10:54am