I've got a Dared VP-300B SET tube amp that I'm quite happy with. Sounds nice and seems to be well built. I don't have a whole lot of experience with tube equipment (this is my first piece, in fact) but for me it was an affordable way to get into tubes. There have been several good reviews of Dared tube equipment over the last few years, and that, combined with the fact that there is a U.S.-based distrubutor for this gear, is why I decided to take the plunge with the Dared amp.

I can't understand Chinese, it's an irritating sound. How can a Chinese amplifier/pre amp reproduce ENGLISH language music?

Works about as well as those high-dollar German turntables, or any of that stuff from Japan. At least I can understand the gear made in England, but it does have a funny accent .

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I can't understand Chinese, it's an irritating sound. How can a Chinese amplifier/pre amp reproduce ENGLISH language music?

You need a special chinese/english digital processor between the pre-amp and power amp.

I have an Adcom 555 power amp and Adcom pre amp plus a set of new (3 months) Polk Audio RTi12 tower speakers. Each tower speaker has two 5.25" drivers. As last weekend, during use of the stereo at a fairly loud level, all four drives quit. There is no sound from either tower in the mid-range. Tweets and woofers work fine. Thinking it was the pre amp, I replaced my old NED pre amp with the good used Adcom pre amp today. No luck! The Adcom power amp is very old and received lots of hard use over the many years. Is it possible the power amp could be the problem or is it the speakers? It strikes me as strange that all four drivers, in the two towers, would blow out at the same time plus I am fairly careful about the level I play. The Polk's should standup to that sound level given the power of the Adcom 555 or so I thought. Simply stated: can a power amp lose it's mid-range amplification capacity? Thanks in advance for any feedback. Derald

I use MN U.S.A. made and designed electronics mostly, it has an easy to understand midwest flavor. Even the MOSFETS in the amps are English I beleive Exicon. Even the speakers are from the MidWest, keeping it natural.

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I have an Adcom 555 power amp and Adcom pre amp plus a set of new (3 months) Polk Audio RTi12 tower speakers. Each tower speaker has two 5.25" drivers. As last weekend, during use of the stereo at a fairly loud level, all four drives quit. There is no sound from either tower in the mid-range. Tweets and woofers work fine. Thinking it was the pre amp, I replaced my old NED pre amp with the good used Adcom pre amp today. No luck! The Adcom power amp is very old and received lots of hard use over the many years. Is it possible the power amp could be the problem or is it the speakers? It strikes me as strange that all four drivers, in the two towers, would blow out at the same time plus I am fairly careful about the level I play. The Polk's should standup to that sound level given the power of the Adcom 555 or so I thought. Simply stated: can a power amp lose it's mid-range amplification capacity? Thanks in advance for any feedback. Derald

If your woofers and tweeters are still functioning, and the midranges are not, the prognosis doesn't look good. Unless you're tri-amping and running your midranges separately or have got some separately fused protection circuits on the drivers for the speakers, it sounds like you might've cooked your midrange drivers. It could've been caused by a thump in the music where the excursion went beyond the capabilities of the cones and surrounds or something electrical fried like the voice coils. It's not strange at all that all four cooked at once... they're pretty much playing the same thing... what would fry one, would fry all.

Thanks for your assessment of my loss of the mid-range. I am really saddened and highly frustrated by the problem although given the very large size of the stereo room, with extremely high ceilings and my propensity to prefer music played loudly, I've should expect these kinds of problems. The sound quality, during the short period it lasted was breathtaking! I was repeatedly assured by the retailer of the speakers that they could withstand loud playing using the Adcom equipment. The good news is that they are under full, "no exceptions" warranty. Live music is a personal passion and reproving it is a close second. I know there is equipment available to meet my interests, I have just not been willing to spend the cash! Thanks again.

I had rather have 4 new drivers than 1 replaced driver. In that regard, it was a good thing that you lost all 4 at the same time.

Since they are new and under warranty, I wouldn't pop out a driver and check it. But, for used speakers, you can test a cone speaker with a 9 volt battery connected to the speaker terminals. If it has fried, the battery will have no effect. If the speaker is still good, the cone will react to the voltage. I realize this doesn't do you any good, but it's still handy to know.

Hey Alph,
I am using a chinese amp and CD Player made by Cayin for a couple of years now. Previous amps on my system were B&K separates, Dynaco's, and Tandberg. Previous CDPlayers were Quad, Unico and Marantz. There have been no reliability issues whatsoever with the Chinese hardware and they can be tweaked very easily with significant gain in sound quality.
The rest of the system is Coincident Technology Eclipses, Mitchell turntable, Rega arm, ZYX cartridge, Analysis Plus cables and under no circumstances I consider the Cayins the weakest link.
I have also some experience with a friend's Primaluna amps and his system also sounds great with no hassle.
On the other hand I have seen the inside of a Chinese no-name amp sold through Ebay, and it was like a third grade schoolkid's science project!

Just my 2cents,
Pete

Thanks for taking the time to offer suggestions regarding the drivers. The 9 volt battery test is great to know about and given my history with speakers, I'll keep it in mind for the future. I'll admit I've been fighting the impulse to pull the drivers myself but instead, using better judgment, I'll re-box the towers and lug them back to the store. Who knows when I'll see or 'hear' from them next!