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In Reply to: RE: Tu Tu Hybrid Amplifier Availability in the USA posted by a700256 on December 16, 2010 at 07:43:57
Sorry, I should have looked at this thread before making my own! Anyway, here goes!I received my Hybrid 22 a few weeks ago. Here are my impressions so far:
1. It was packed very well, definitely not a problem shipping this unit to Canada or the US!
2. The instruction manual is pretty simple, leaving out explanations of the main functions.
3. It comes packed with the tubes installed. ? Very unusual but, as mentioned earlier, it's well packed!
4. The volume knob acts as the power switch. It takes about 30 seconds to turn on. (by design!)
5. It has a pretty neat feature in that, if it doesn't see an input signal for 10 minutes, it shuts off automatically! Some tube guys will find this annoying as it takes a while for the tubes to sound right. I didn't mind it at all in the system I'm using it with.
6. The second knob is a tone control! Purists will scoff at this but, again, I really found it useful once I got the hang of it!
7. It does this bizarre mixing of the two inputs!? If you plug in a source to the RCA inputs, and one to the 3.5mm stereo jack, it actually plays them both at the same time!? In my setup it actually works pretty good, but I can definitely see some people finding this an annoying feature!
8. This, for me, is one of the most beautifully designed products I've come across in terms of aesthetics! I like minimalistic design and this little unit delivers on that front! My Wife and I both agreed that, even if we didn't like the sound of it, we'd be happy to just look at it as it looks better than most of our art pieces! In fact, I'd go so far as saying it IS art!
9. I've got about 30 hours of use on the amp so far and it is definitely starting to sound better! At first I was disappointed with the sound, until I started fiddling around with the tone control! I will say that this is not an amp for the audiophile, but music lovers will love it! It really seems to have all the best properties of tubes with little of the bad ones. There's a little bit of background hiss which you might hear on a quiet section of the music but it isn't too loud at all! I was blown away by the bass response! This tiny thing is far more than the sum of it's parts! Just when I thought we had heard everything the amp could do it would surprise me with a huge bass transient out of nowhere! A couple of friends came over to listen to it and neither of them could believe that big sound was coming from that little box!To sum up I'll say that very few products have come along that have impressed me more! I've got a $100 K system in my front room, so I'm familiar with the best sound! I won't try to compare the Hybrid 22 to anything close to that type of sound! What I will say is that this amp has reminded me of why I got into the audio thing in the first place! Music! It's just about the music! Combine that with world-class design and I think Elekit have got a winner on their hands! I will try to find time to post again as I spend more time with it! Also, I'll send a picture of the thing as I have it installed in my office! If you can afford it, buy it, you'll love it!
Edits: 02/16/11 02/16/11 02/16/11Follow Ups:
Hi Victor,
Thank you very much for the helpful posts on the tu:tu: amp! I am very interested in getting one for my desktop sound set up, but I had a few questions. Do you think you could help?
1. How well would it power my old Paradigm Mini Monitors? They are 15W-100W at 8 Ohms. (I would be listening in a pretty small room, 10'x10', using it for music and providing sound for movies on my computer.
2. I was going to set the amp and music source up to an Apple Airport Express for Airplay listening. Given how long the amp takes to warm up, is this recommended?
3. What DAC would you recommend for this amp? I am pretty much blowing my budget on the amp, but I don't want to compromise sound quality.
Thanks in advance for your help!
Aaron
Hi Aaron
Thank you for your questions
1. You have a very good budget speakers. The Sensitivity of Paradigm mini monitor is : 92dB. It is a High Efficiency Speaker. If you are using 22 for a 10 x 10 small room for music and providing sound for movies on computer. it should be ok. Please read the comment from the forum about this amp. http://db.audioasylum.com/mhtml/m.html?forum=elekit&n=191&highlight=22&r=&search_url=%2Fcgi%2Fsearch.mpl%3F
I am using this amp to drive my Proac 2.5 with a very good result .
2. It will take few minutes to warm up the amp.
3. You can consider Elekit DAC kit PS-3249 .
thanks
Victor
Hi Victor,
Thanks so much for the detailed response! I'm sold. This design and specs will be driving my mini system:) I can't wait to place my order!
Cheers,
Aaron
Thank you very much for your description of the 22 amp. I'm pretty new to hi fi, and I'm looking to setup a new system to hear my father's LPs. I just can't get any info about what kind of equipment I can connect. Could I connect a turntable without using a phono amplifier? I suppose the 22 works as an integrated amp, doesn't it?
Thank you very much in advance,
Regards,
Albert
HI Albert
You can buy Elekit TU-875 to solve your concerns.
Victor
Hi Albert!
As much as I like this little amplifier, I just can't recommend it in your situation. It does not have a dedicated phono input, which you will need. You could purchase an outboard phono preamp, there are hundreds available at various price ranges, but it really would take away from the total concept of this design. Also, this amplifier cannot act as a preamplifier as it has no preout jacks. I’m not sure where you live, but if there is a good hifi shop in your area it may be wise to drop in and have a chat with them and they’ll let you know what you’ll need to accomplish your goal. I hope this helps!
Wade
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