The internet is a strange place - its scary for parents almost for the same reason that it is amazing for audiophiles! I built this preamp based on a blog by a person in Hong Kong totally unknown to me, but with whom I seem to connect because of his love for music and choice of equipment.
To summarise, the Elekit TU8500 is an amazingly quiet and musical preamp that punches, in my opinion, above its weight class. Go for it if you want a transparent sound, a little additional bloom that you absolutely think that only something with tubes can provide. For me an ~INR 28,000 punt that worked. Now for the story!
I have been following the excellent blog from Doctorjohn for a long time now. What appeals to me is the fact that he seems to listen to a lot of music, including western classical, and writes about sensible gear sensibly! And indeed his Elekit reviews caught my eye, and he replied to my question promptly.
Doctorjohn Cheaptubeaudio: Audio Reviews and More: Review: Elekit TU-8500 Full-Function Preamp, Part I
Please also see his very insightful blog on music lovers versus audiophiles:
Doctorjohn Cheaptubeaudio: Audio Reviews and More: HiFi Basics II: Listen to Music, Avoid Most Things Audiophile
My question was whether there is spotlighting by the preamp (hifi, not music! The natural sound of recorded instruments goes away to be replaced by in your face presentation which is big, bold and unreal), and his replied assuaged me.
I decided to save money and told myself, soldering can't be so bad (ha! see later) and decided to get the pre-amp kit. Also JLS keeps inspiring DIY!
Go to Elekit Japan website (https://www.elekit.co.jp/en/z) and the brilliant and outstandingly helpful Tamura San helped in every possible way to make sure that the kit got shipped (to Hong Kong, and then hand carried).
Two weeks of "lots of work" meant that the project got shelved for the long weekend. This also allowed borrowing solder from friend JK, and the tools from Ronnie. Many thanks both.
The kit came superbly packed (double box) and well put together. The instruction manual sent by Elekit was very detailed and meticulous. It even details the tools you need to build the preamp (tools not included).
Miraculously, the amp got built over the weekend with minor injuries and burn scars, a little help from my neighbourhood friend and snarky comments from the three daughters, the wife, the maid and the cook. The pains of audiophilia!
Yeah it got built, but still left with a few screws - not good, but what to do. It was a tense moment when I switched on the preamp (instead of the provided Shugang tube, used an unused Sylvania NOS 12AU7).
No smoke, no fire and it worked, yay! Initially, a bit of a shout but oh so quiet and musical. Within an hour, it settled down and did its thing. I used it with the Van Alstine power amp, Harbeth Compact 7 speakers and LM Audio DAC.
Compared to the DIY passive pre used before, there was bit more oomph and less dryness, but still transparent. Like a good shampoo ad goes - body and bounce! For the rest of what it sounds like, do go see Doctorjohn's write up. (Day 2, it seemed to settle down even better into my system).
I did find DIY stressful. Firstly, there were lots of components to solder - 40 plus resistors. Further, if I blew it, it was INR 28000 down the drain as opposed to INR 10000 in savings for buying preassembled.
Would I do it again? At this point, I think probably not - unless I dump it on JLS and hold the beer can and make interesting remarks as he builds!!
Is the Elekit preamp worth it - yeah, like, totally.
To summarise, the Elekit TU8500 is an amazingly quiet and musical preamp that punches, in my opinion, above its weight class. Go for it if you want a transparent sound, a little additional bloom that you absolutely think that only something with tubes can provide. For me an ~INR 28,000 punt that worked. Now for the story!
I have been following the excellent blog from Doctorjohn for a long time now. What appeals to me is the fact that he seems to listen to a lot of music, including western classical, and writes about sensible gear sensibly! And indeed his Elekit reviews caught my eye, and he replied to my question promptly.
Doctorjohn Cheaptubeaudio: Audio Reviews and More: Review: Elekit TU-8500 Full-Function Preamp, Part I
Please also see his very insightful blog on music lovers versus audiophiles:
Doctorjohn Cheaptubeaudio: Audio Reviews and More: HiFi Basics II: Listen to Music, Avoid Most Things Audiophile
My question was whether there is spotlighting by the preamp (hifi, not music! The natural sound of recorded instruments goes away to be replaced by in your face presentation which is big, bold and unreal), and his replied assuaged me.
I decided to save money and told myself, soldering can't be so bad (ha! see later) and decided to get the pre-amp kit. Also JLS keeps inspiring DIY!
Go to Elekit Japan website (https://www.elekit.co.jp/en/z) and the brilliant and outstandingly helpful Tamura San helped in every possible way to make sure that the kit got shipped (to Hong Kong, and then hand carried).
Two weeks of "lots of work" meant that the project got shelved for the long weekend. This also allowed borrowing solder from friend JK, and the tools from Ronnie. Many thanks both.
The kit came superbly packed (double box) and well put together. The instruction manual sent by Elekit was very detailed and meticulous. It even details the tools you need to build the preamp (tools not included).
Miraculously, the amp got built over the weekend with minor injuries and burn scars, a little help from my neighbourhood friend and snarky comments from the three daughters, the wife, the maid and the cook. The pains of audiophilia!
Yeah it got built, but still left with a few screws - not good, but what to do. It was a tense moment when I switched on the preamp (instead of the provided Shugang tube, used an unused Sylvania NOS 12AU7).
No smoke, no fire and it worked, yay! Initially, a bit of a shout but oh so quiet and musical. Within an hour, it settled down and did its thing. I used it with the Van Alstine power amp, Harbeth Compact 7 speakers and LM Audio DAC.
Compared to the DIY passive pre used before, there was bit more oomph and less dryness, but still transparent. Like a good shampoo ad goes - body and bounce! For the rest of what it sounds like, do go see Doctorjohn's write up. (Day 2, it seemed to settle down even better into my system).
I did find DIY stressful. Firstly, there were lots of components to solder - 40 plus resistors. Further, if I blew it, it was INR 28000 down the drain as opposed to INR 10000 in savings for buying preassembled.
Would I do it again? At this point, I think probably not - unless I dump it on JLS and hold the beer can and make interesting remarks as he builds!!
Is the Elekit preamp worth it - yeah, like, totally.
