Valve amp for turntable

[MrCheese]

I’ve recently restored a Thorens 124 turntable and at the moment it’s plugged into a mid-range 1990’s Technics separates system.

I quite fancy the idea of running the turntable through a standalone valve amp. I’ll be honest, I’m thinking of doing this is mainly because the turntable will look nice sitting next to a valve amp rather than some attempt to get the best sound possible.

I quite like the idea of buying a kit and the budget isn’t very high, maybe £2-300 max. Does anyone know whether the cheaper Chinese kits on eBay can take a direct turntable input or would I need a separate preamp? Has anyone built one of these cheaper kits and if so where they any good?

[Crackie]

Couple of options here.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stereo-Bluetooth-Vacuum-A...
I've not hear or used this model but I've got a couple of Douk Audio amps. Well made, good sounding kit kit for the price imho. They invariably follow the implementation circuits developed by the chip designers such as Analogue Devices or Texas Instruments. They also spec decent power supplies, coupling caps, volume pots and most importantly decent quality inductors in the output stages. Good sound quality and reliability results are not surprising tbh.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dayton-HTA100BT-Hybrid-Am...
Dayton are a well established brand and the advert says the amp has a builtin phono stage............can't see anything on the front panel controls or the rear input sockets to back that up though.....might need further investigation.

[mgv8]

If you go for a solid-state amp second hand but add a valve Phono stage. You should get amazing sound and still a nice glow to go with it.
Power valve amps cost a lot so this seems to fit your budget better.

[lufbramatt]

Crackie said:

Couple of options here.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stereo-Bluetooth-Vacuum-A...
I've not hear or used this model but I've got a couple of Douk Audio amps. Well made, good sounding kit kit for the price imho. They invariably follow the implementation circuits developed by the chip designers such as Analogue Devices or Texas Instruments. They also spec decent power supplies, coupling caps, volume pots and most importantly decent quality inductors in the output stages. Good sound quality and reliability results are not surprising tbh.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dayton-HTA100BT-Hybrid-Am...
Dayton are a well established brand and the advert says the amp has a builtin phono stage............can't see anything on the front panel controls or the rear input sockets to back that up though.....might need further investigation.

they're not really valve amps though? just solid state amps with a valve preamp section in a case that makes them look pretty?

[Crackie]

lufbramatt said:

Crackie said:

Couple of options here.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stereo-Bluetooth-Vacuum-A...
I've not hear or used this model but I've got a couple of Douk Audio amps. Well made, good sounding kit kit for the price imho. They invariably follow the implementation circuits developed by the chip designers such as Analogue Devices or Texas Instruments. They also spec decent power supplies, coupling caps, volume pots and most importantly decent quality inductors in the output stages. Good sound quality and reliability results are not surprising tbh.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dayton-HTA100BT-Hybrid-Am...
Dayton are a well established brand and the advert says the amp has a builtin phono stage............can't see anything on the front panel controls or the rear input sockets to back that up though.....might need further investigation.

they're not really valve amps though? just solid state amps with a valve preamp section in a case that makes them look pretty?

Of course but that is what MrCheese's brief called for, something competent sounding, that looked the part, with built in phono stage for £200-£300. The Douk Audio should do that whilst also being able to connect up a TV and Bluetooth stream from a phone; even has a subwoofer output.

A Paravicini designed 509 amp for £200-£300 would be nice but...........this will be nearer the mark and still needs a phono stage adding. Still from Douk Audio......I, and couple of mates, have had a few amps from them; always had a good experience.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271887177337?_trkparms=...

[MrCheese]

Crackie said:

lufbramatt said:

Crackie said:

Couple of options here.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stereo-Bluetooth-Vacuum-A...
I've not hear or used this model but I've got a couple of Douk Audio amps. Well made, good sounding kit kit for the price imho. They invariably follow the implementation circuits developed by the chip designers such as Analogue Devices or Texas Instruments. They also spec decent power supplies, coupling caps, volume pots and most importantly decent quality inductors in the output stages. Good sound quality and reliability results are not surprising tbh.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dayton-HTA100BT-Hybrid-Am...
Dayton are a well established brand and the advert says the amp has a builtin phono stage............can't see anything on the front panel controls or the rear input sockets to back that up though.....might need further investigation.

they're not really valve amps though? just solid state amps with a valve preamp section in a case that makes them look pretty?

Of course but that is what MrCheese's brief called for, something competent sounding, that looked the part, with built in phono stage for £200-£300. The Douk Audio should do that whilst also being able to connect up a TV and Bluetooth stream from a phone; even has a subwoofer output.

A Paravicini designed 509 amp for £200-£300 would be nice but...........this will be nearer the mark and still needs a phono stage adding. Still from Douk Audio......I, and couple of mates, have had a few amps from them; always had a good experience.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271887177337?_trkparms=...

Thanks everyone for the responses.

Out of interest, if I went for a separate preamp and power amp (both valve units) would I need to worry about matching them i.e. are preamps always going to output a line level signal that any amp can handle, or would I have to adjust the preamp output for a particular power amp?

[OutInTheShed]

MrCheese said:

Thanks everyone for the responses.

Out of interest, if I went for a separate preamp and power amp (both valve units) would I need to worry about matching them i.e. are preamps always going to output a line level signal that any amp can handle, or would I have to adjust the preamp output for a particular power amp?

best to check.

A bigger problem might be whether the valve amp is good with your speakers.

I think a headphone amp is perhaps the sensible route into valve sound?

[Crackie]

MrCheese said:

Crackie said:

lufbramatt said:

Crackie said:

Couple of options here.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stereo-Bluetooth-Vacuum-A...
I've not hear or used this model but I've got a couple of Douk Audio amps. Well made, good sounding kit kit for the price imho. They invariably follow the implementation circuits developed by the chip designers such as Analogue Devices or Texas Instruments. They also spec decent power supplies, coupling caps, volume pots and most importantly decent quality inductors in the output stages. Good sound quality and reliability results are not surprising tbh.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dayton-HTA100BT-Hybrid-Am...
Dayton are a well established brand and the advert says the amp has a builtin phono stage............can't see anything on the front panel controls or the rear input sockets to back that up though.....might need further investigation.

they're not really valve amps though? just solid state amps with a valve preamp section in a case that makes them look pretty?

Of course but that is what MrCheese's brief called for, something competent sounding, that looked the part, with built in phono stage for £200-£300. The Douk Audio should do that whilst also being able to connect up a TV and Bluetooth stream from a phone; even has a subwoofer output.

A Paravicini designed 509 amp for £200-£300 would be nice but...........this will be nearer the mark and still needs a phono stage adding. Still from Douk Audio......I, and couple of mates, have had a few amps from them; always had a good experience.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/271887177337?_trkparms=...

Thanks everyone for the responses.

Out of interest, if I went for a separate preamp and power amp (both valve units) would I need to worry about matching them i.e. are preamps always going to output a line level signal that any amp can handle, or would I have to adjust the preamp output for a particular power amp?

You're unlikely to come up against compatibility issues with the vast majority of modern gear. Output impedances from line level stages ( Pre amp ) historically have been in the region of 100-600 ohms..........more recent equipment usually measures below 100 ohms. Line level input impedances are far higher, usually higher than 10kohms with 47kohms being a typical figure. The power amp will have an input sensitivity figure usually between 0.5volts and 2.0volts with 1.0v being a typical figure. i.e. for a 100w power amp......when fed with 1.0v at the input the power amp will deliver its full rated 100watt output.

[Timothy Bucktu]

I recently bought a 6p1 valve power amp from Aliexpress.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005003230395857.h...
It was around £200. Even thought it's only around 3 watts, it is plenty loud enough. I have 98db floor standing speakers and it sounds really good.
It's a true analogue amp with point to point wiring and no solid state components. It has valve rectification as well.
I use a Cambridge Audio solid state preamp.

However, you have to be mindful that these Chinese amps are 220v. If you run them at 240v they run hot and probably won't last long. There is an easy fix for this that involves making a bucking transformer (plenty of Youtube videos showing how. I made one from an old 24v fairy light transformer and it steps the voltage down and works perfectly.