Ming DA MC 84C07 tube recommendations - Page 3

I think it's a bit high, though not outrageous.  I have been able to get them for a bargain at $50, but that was a good price.

So I wrote Mingda to inquire about the cats eye tube, and here is the reply:

I am on vacation right now, but will try it when I get home.  Hope that is helpful to those interested.  Peter

If the amp can be operated without the tube, then it's not serving as a rectifier, regardless of what it had said on the PV&E website.

It converts AC to DC.  The opposite of converting DC to AC is called inverting.

Like Skylab said, if it truly does rectify in the amp, removing it will do bad things--most likely just blowing a $2 fuse.  However, I've read a few threads about some tube amps that use tubes as only eye candy and they aren't at all in the circuit.  It's a shame.  But I always thought the Ming Da amp was a good one.  That statement makes me wonder.....
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by mhcarlos 

What does rectification due anyway? Will removing it negatively affect the sound?

 

 

An easy way to tell if it rectifies is to open up the amp and look for a solid state rectifier.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by mhcarlos 

Ah, I see. That would be a shame if it's just eye candy. I would have preferred a smaller profile with the same sound quality...

I'm listening to the MD amp with K701 and playing Harry Connick Jr, "She" album right this minute - The K701 and this amp is my preferred matchup - I still use the BCL for a change of flavor - but the tube combo always sounds more natural to me - no false detail elevation - which I believe the K701 is inherently guilty of.

I am still on the stock tube compliments, can't wait to roll the best tubes money can buy - when my finances recover from the recent wall street massacre of my finances.  From what you guys tell me it will be well worth it.

I just pulled the cat eye tube while music was playing and it doesn't affect playback.

Regardless the main reason I purchased this unit is for its over spec (for can use) power supply - able to drive up to 5 watts into 8 ohms (probably exaggerated).  The PSU is the most important thing in a tube amp.  The LCD-2s are the prime target for my MD - they should have more than enough current to drive the low resistance necessary.

To sum up - the MD is a class A single ended tube amp with a massive power supply (the unit is 7kg heavy for this reason alone).  Most tube amps twice the price will not have such a substantial PSU.

Sure the Dac is somewhat bordering exotica and the MD is reaping benefits - then again so is the BCL.  It's not perfect by a long shot, there seems to be some treble refinement issues (possibly countered by the smoothness of a hi-end dac?) but I guess I just find tube euphony very pleasant, cheap being better than none.  Perhaps there is something about 3rd order harmonics that my brain decodes as closer to a realistic sound applicable explicitly to the midrange as tubes don't sound as realistic as solid state in the frequency extremes.

I am leaning towards a doctrine of tubes for mid level cans replaying average recordings.  Solidstate for high-end cans playing top level recordings - of course, without a top level tube amp to experiment with I am merely entertaining fantasies.

Hey, but I'm glad the MD is working out for you - at least you know you can tune the sound to match other cans if you choose.  Tube headamps led me to purchasing a tube integrated for my speakers - a novelty, tubes are not.  For whatever reason - if you've ever jammed with acoustic instruments with band members - it's easy to recognise that tubes for whatever unknown scientific reason projects the sound more realistically than solid state (nylon string classical guitar eg).  Technical types really shouldn't be condemning them based on measured data.

Hey a piano player. Cool. 

I have found the acoustic piano to be a much harder challenge to audio reproduction than other instruments - for that matter I feel solid state is in fact more able to replicate a piano than tubes.  I find the solid state driven D7000 the best combo for piano keys - I think you ought to save up for the next tier of cans (LCD, HD800, T1) - they are definately more able to accurately recreate a piano strike than mid-level cans.  I also think you should retain your matrix - as it does have its own advantages over tubes - it theoretically is a hi-end amp, the design of which was chosen to debut the HD800 to the world.