Tandberg Studio Monitor on Willsenton R8 valve amplifier

[@robertrenefournier3720]

Very nice clarity and detail. Superb in those tanberg

[@HiViNywschannel]

Buddy!🙏😄✌thank you for your time sharing with us your adventure again! Warmest Regards, May you and your family be well and happy, safe and healthy always💚💚🏡🍀🎶🎶🎶🍀🍀🍀

[@lucaspoelman0705]

Geweldige speakers. Heb er een paar gehad in 1990. Toen 2de hands gekocht voor duizend gulden. Heb nog geen andere speakers gehoord die zo mooi klinken als de Tandberg. En ze kunnen echt alles aan.Super.

[@vintagestereo]

Ik heb ontdekt dat dit geen speakers zijn voor in de huiskamer maar voor de studio.

[@lucaspoelman0705]

@@vintagestereo Klinken in huis ook geweldig.

[@TheDirtyfax]

I love your reviews of the Willsenton. I want one really bad. I've never had an audio tube amplifier. I have had tube radio communications amplifiers and I prefer valve amps for my guitar. I'm studying tube amps for audio. Like you I think this amp is gorgeous. I keep hearing there is no low frequency sacrifice and all the extra goodness in the mid and high frequencies. I'm gonna have to make room in my budget for one.

[@PrimeHiFi]

Those are fantastic speakers!!! Amazing score!!!

[@vintagestereo]

Yes a amazing score indeed, I brought them downstairs myself and hooked them up immediately.

[@wewon3]

What brand are they?

[@wewon3]

Can you please spell what kind of speaker?cannot understand....

[@PrimeHiFi]

its fake a factory “Tandberg Studio Monitor”

[@thehaakone]

@@PrimeHiFi Tandberg is the most famous hifi brand from Norway. This is their best speaker, the Studio Monitor. They are very very good. I have them myself.

[@edwinsnoek2009]

Mooie Tandberg speakers. En ze doen het goed op de buizenversterker.👍 Blijft mooi om te zien die buizenversterker. Niet wegdoen he. Denk erom.😁

[@vintagestereo]

die chineees leest misschien mee, kan niet te gierig overkomen want ik ga met hem onderhandelen over de prijs, ga in ieder geval niet de volle pond betalen al is dat ook niet echt veel

[@edwinsnoek2009]

@@vintagestereo Oké, dat snap ik. Nu dan maar hopen dat je hem voor een mooie prijs kan kopen.👌 Een miskoop is het in ieder geval sowieso niet.

[@harrothepilot]

They are an amazingly popular amp. Mr Yong Lee is out to about July supply date as of this post. Good value, reasonable quality and good sound. Plenty of power for a tube amp. Longevity of the amp, only time will tell I guess. Hopefully a good lifespan. If you think of getting your feet wet with a tube amp, you could do a lot worse.

[@Curi0u50ne]

Why isn’t the amp warming up, Nice but how do we tune the treble and bass?? I thought the middle is a VU meter? Please one more thing, if you do another movie with this amp can you do a lights dimm so we can notice how the amp tubes are lighting up pls.

[@marcse7en]

The middle meter appears to be for adjusting the bias setting for the power output tubes. I used a digital multimeter to set the bias on my Yaqin MC-10L.

[@Curi0u50ne]

Clive Mattinson ok thanks,

[@vvcv__00]

Thanks for this video my friend. I have been thinking about getting two Willsenton amps. The R8 and R-300B. I was able to convince my dealer to get both amps schematics and i've been looking at them for a few days and like what i see. Especially with what the R8 does with the middle tube which is used as a kind of filter. From what i could gather (my dealers first language is not English) is that Willsenton is using the middle tube as a tube to grab the signal from the solid state rectifier and move the solid state signal back into a analog signal before it gets to the preamp tubes. Again, this is as best i could make sense of it all after going over the schems and with what my dealer told me from his converstation with Willsenton. My Luxman MQ-88 uSE tube amp does not have tube rectification and is the amplifier i use as my reference. A very special amplifier indeed, i enjoy the Luxman more than the Shindo amp i had and sold once i found a new reference amp. But yeah, those Tanberg speakers have a very nice mellow sound to them. My Omega speakers are just nuts with what they deliver...which is everything in the recording. They can render the texture of bows rubbing on strings of all the stringed instruments....and all the instruments timbre. If the recording is good enough, you can hear how much warmer early model Stradavari violins are compared to the later models. As great as they are, sometimes i have to mellow out my speaker sound and listen to my Grahams, but i'd like to get my hands on some Tanbergs as well. Nice find!

[@vvcv__00]

@@rudolfogrease7895 If I remember correctly, during this time I was searching everywhere trying to find a Reisong/Boyuu 300b amp. I even hired a translator service to check out the Reisong site for me, but they were helpless. Somehow I manged to get the Chinese dealer who I bought the Reisong 2a3 from to order their 300b. So decided to go with that. I'm now debating whether to put in Hashimoto output and power transformers along with a Hashimoto choke (just to keep symmetry in this area). On the other hand I may just keep it simple and swap out the coupling capacitors to Dueland or Audio Note. I'm still curious about this amp though, and would be curious to hear what you think about it if you decide to get the Willsenton. I've noticed Reisong amps going up in price, but have only seen their EL34 available outside of China. I did see a Reisong 300b with a newer chassis on Aliexpress (may have been elsewhere) a few days ago. I am glad I got them when I had the chance. I think i've learned to do very fast research and buying if good deals come out of China. For example, I'm hearing very good things about the Denafrips DAC release over at Drop. Still kicking myself for that. Good amp hunting!

[@vvcv__00]

@@rudolfogrease7895 sure, more than happy to share my experience with the two amps. One question first, which will help you decide on which would be the proper amp to get or to get first. What type of music would you say you listen to most of the time? Not just genre, but overall dynamics? For example, it was an obvious 2a3 choice for me. Mainly because I listen to classical, but more importantly, i listen to small scale classical. The largest scale I listen to when listening to classical (which is 90% of what I listen to) is a large ensemble of about 12 players playing more 'minimal' very contemporary classical -which is not too big on large dynamics. Like the ensemble ACME -American Contemporary Music Ensemble. Give them a quick Google, and you'll see about the number of players a good 2a3 amp can handle. A 2a3 will NOT do a Shostakovich symphony for example, but melts all his string quartets into blissful art. That, and a lot of solo and two instrument recordings. Along with that, at times i'll put on very low key jazz. So, basically, the 2a3 is going to give you the best as far as rendering the tone, the timbre, the strings sound of those instruments. If you get a quiet piano piece on a 2a3, not only will you hear the note played of the string, but you will hear the felt hammer hit the string. Timbre, timbre and texture, texture. It's all about the intimacy of the instruments with the 2a3. I love solo cello recordings. None of my amps touch the 2a3. Not my 7k Luxman MQ-uSE, or my 6k First Watt SIT-3 or my 300b. However, when i am in the mood for more dynamic folk, or some jazz with a bit more muscle, I'd put on my 300b. For symphonies, the other amps come into play, or just for a nice change up. So, all great amps, but for my music, the 2a3 wins hands down. Answer the above question honestly to yourself, and you'll be happy for a long time. Good luck!

[@vvcv__00]

@@rudolfogrease7895 It is difficult to gauge whether someone is right for very small watt amps. One thing I did not mention yesterday is your listening 'volume' levels and how far you are from the speakers. I listen at about 86db and about 5' from the speakers. I really don't like to listen to music loud at all, and much rather just get my ears closer to the speakers. I listen with large bookshelf speakers where I could place anywhere really. However, with you having floor standing speakers, I would take your listen distance into account. Generally speaking though, a 98db efficient speaker should be good for a 2a3 at modest listen volumes. In addition, if you think you will want to listen at louder volumes, do keep in mind how you will listen as well. For example, will you be walking around your listen room while listening or if you will be in front of the speakers during your listening sessions. I never use my small watt amps if I am up and doing things around the room. So, in deciding if a small watt amp is for you, i'd consider the following, but would also recommend getting other information from other small watt amp users, as they are not for everyone. For me, they are my favorite amps to listen to, and I have amps from 3.5 watts to 300 watts. So, with that: 1. High or lower dynamic music 2. Type of music and what you want to hear in your music -refer to my previous post. (Hip-hop is not listened to to hear instrument timbre, tone and texture for example , which is where and why the 2a3 is such a great design) 3. What are your preferred listening volumes (you can download db apps for your phone to measure this) 4. Distance to speakers (do you like to hear more detail while closer to speakers, or do you prefer the music to expand out into the room where you can hear the 'big' sound of your speakers. 5. And finally, the size of your room and if you will be in front of speakers most of time or not. A 2a3 amps will not fill up a large room with a lot of big sound for example. I don't want you to throw your money away, so please ask these questions to yourself and answer them honestly. If they seem to agree with what I've mentioned with my experience, and from what others suggest I would buy a small watt amp. There is a 2a3 amp builder who will only make an amp for you if you answer his questions that fit with what i've described. He will not make an amp for you if you want to hear very dynamic drum playing, large symphonies, or a lot of rock music as a few examples. He will indeed make an amp for you if you listen to music that has the dynamic ranges i described in my previous post, and listen to it at volumes i just mentioned. Why does he ask questions first? It is for all the reasons i've mentioned, sometimes people just want something different from their music. I just wanted to share this with you, as he is a builder who understands 2a3 amps (or even 300b) are not for everyone. I will mention one last thing, I would suggest that if you feel yourself taking a lot of time to decide or feel that something is holding you back, I would not suggest you get a small watt amp and wait until you know, without a doubt, that you want to hear the sounds of music in a certain way. One day I knew what type of sound character I wanted to hear in music, and went from 300 watts to 25 watts to 16 to 3.5. My favorite is the 2a3. I wrote this quickly soon after I woke up, so if some of this sounds confusing or hard to follow it is because of no coffee yet. :D Good luck man!

[@fusionfan6883]

Hi, great video. Can I ask the name of the track that starts at 8.33? Thanks👍🏻

[@dougg1075]

Is this amp better than the muzishare x7 from I think the same Chinese website and Zero Fidelity reviewed ? I’m torn HELP. The muzishare looks more 70s with vi meters and is the same wattage but not as heavy.

[@vintagestereo]

Don't know the muzishare

[@tee-jaythestereo-bargainph2120]

That may be the most musical amp i have seen you play it has that clean sound with Vintage flavor the midrange was great ! Low end may be a lil held back but a set of kt88s will change that in Triod modec

[@TheDistrict644]

Those drivers and the speaker look very similar to a pair of Kirksaeter monitors I have. The wood on them are teakwood. Looks as though they may have been the source for Tandberg.

[@phonebackup8132]

The tweeters are Peerless ko10dt's and the midrange us a Phillips unit. I don't know who made the woofer but I suspect it's also made by Phillips.

[@ajitmoses]

Can any one advise which tube gets hotter? The El34 or the KT88? I need the amp to be placed on a rack which has a wall mounted TV above it. I do not want the heat the melt by TV. I am new to Tube so any help will be much appreciated. Cheers

[@iris3186]

Next time , turn light off , to see how the tubes glowing . The amp has output for headphones ?

[@zoltangaborszekeres5440]

vintage stereo Are You sure it does not have headphones out? It must have it on the left side panel - at least according to the info and the pictures on the website.

[@vintagestereo]

yes it have a headphone out on the side of the amplifier, discovered that later but i will leave the headphone out test to Ivar because he think that's very important. For me is not important because I never listen to music from a amplifier by headphone.

[@makeyoufreak]

How can you listen critically in that environment? We can hear the echoes just from your voice!

[@TheBjjninja]

The reverb adds to the echo effect I guess. Maybe makes sound stage wider

[@shazadirani]

Looks lovely. Never saw that needle on the vu meter move once though.

[@vintagestereo]

In another video you see that this meter is there to adjust the bias settings of the 4 power tubes. It's not a VU meter

[@shazadirani]

@@vintagestereo thanks for the clarification. And continue making awesome videos. It's a treat to watch 🍻🍻

[@Revelator2025]

R8 is a GREAT entry level tube integrated. Or step up in superlative audio with Line Magnetic or Vinnie Rossi integrateds!

[@shredhero]

Are these amps self biased? Looks like bias meter is down\low?

[@vintagestereo]

No because there is a bias meter on the front panel, you have to adjust it yourself

[@shredhero]

vintage stereo you might want to adjust bias since it’s showing low/cold on the vmeter

[@shonberger9562]

Hallo, ik vind het een goede video, en ik heb een paar vragen over deze versterker: hoe klinkt hij in de realiteit, en hoeveel heeft hij je in totaal gekost (met verzendkosten etc.)? Alvast bedankt!

[@vintagestereo]

Ik heb hem hier om te reviewen en moet hem terug sturen. Ik heb er dus niets voor betaald. Ik denk dat verzendkosten gratis is en dat hij rond de 700 euro kost inclusief 4 kt88 buizen of el34 buizen. De wikelverkoper Meneer Lee heeft truucjes om invoer rechten te vermijden. Ik raad je aan om even naar de website( www.china-hifi-audio.com/en?zenid=ad96d5c30414f18cc384b76229aca335 ) te gaan en met mr lee contact op te nemen, hij beantwoord al je vragen, ook over garantie etc etc. ....Deze versterker is voor deze prijs een lachertje, er is niets bezuinigd op de bouwkwaliteit, zelf de 2 draaiknoppen zijn van massief metaal. Het geluid is zoals een 3 keer duurdere buizen amp. Mocht je hem bestelen dan hoor ik graag jouw ervaringen wat betreft geluid en kontakt met de winkel verkoper. Hier de link van de unboxing video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gqLYqoqglKh-osk

[@shonberger9562]

@@vintagestereo Heel erg bedankt voor je reactie en advies!

[@likesnoozn]

Why not sell some stuff and buy the amp?KZbin compression considered, I have to say a clear separated soundstage came thru right down to the light touches of the cymbal in the blues track.

[@luismiguelclemente3232]

I’m considering buy this amp to match with a pair of ELAC Vela Bs403. I wonder if someone has such experience that can share with me.

[@JaSon-qv2ko]

Gday from Australia Andrew,the bias needed adjusting it was to low,that needle needed to be in the middle of the gauge and you’ll get better sound.Nice video otherwise.

[@rafaelroman3393]

At last someone notice and said something about the bias and that happened in all the videos that He posted it . Like Yoda use to said Do or Do Not there is no try lol

[@craigmelissa12]

Thought exactly the same thing. Great video too....but, better maybe to hear what the biased amp sounds like. Take Care

[@philhughes765]

@@craigmelissa12 That's actually the 'resting' position of the biasing needle. You need to engage a toggle (of which there are two) on the top of the unit to send voltage into the tube/meter - then you'll see the amount of bias applied. The biasing adjustment (screwdriver access holes) are also on the top of the unit next to the toggles.

[@craigmelissa12]

Phil Hughes oh ok. Thanks for that and thanks for the review. Take Care

[@milesdufourny4813]

I looked them up and I'm pretty sure that they use SEAS drivers.

[@vicg5323]

What is your best speaker?

[@vintagestereo]

for 3 years the canton ergo R-CL was the best but since a few weeks Heco the statement are the best...I think hard to beat under 1500 euro second hand. The canton is still the best under 750 euro second hand

[@cubinn149]

Very nice saounds very high end

[@dougg1075]

Why not buy the tube amp?

[@vintagestereo]

I can not place things on it, it use more power as a transitor amp( I spin music day and night) and I only want 1 thing in my living-room and that one have to be minimum 2x100W.....but better 2x200W

[@dougg1075]

vintage stereo fair enough. Love the channel

[@AudioElectronicsChicago]

good stuff 😍

[@hawaiiguykailua6928]

What was that first song you had playing, 7:35 or so, my soundhound found nothing but it was beautiful:) Thanks for the review, sadly they are sold out far enough you can't even pre-order. Probably a good thing as I just bought a Unison Research Unico a few months ago and I really love that too.

[@Curi0u50ne]

Eletrosamba by Quincas Moreira...Thanks Siri.

[@dule384]

how he plays that lamp Chinese amp?

[@vintagestereo]

what do you mean? I played in triode mode(2x25W. There is also a ultra linear mode(2x40W)Triode and ultra-linear selection are available. The triode works in a soft, pure-and sleek sound, suitable for listening to vocals, strings and other types of music. Ultra-linear working mode, sound-tone open, unrestrained, good momentum, suitable for enjoying big scenes, big dynamics and other types of music.

[@77Cardinal]

Sir: Darling these are my new Tandberg studio monitors which I have carefully placed for perfect sound. These are some of the finest loudspeakers in the world! Madam: Really? Hold my watering can.

[@richardmorgan1588]

Is all that sound, including the bass, coming from that tube amp? I have Polk Audio RTi A3 satellites and powered Onkyo 200 watt sub setup with a very nice Parasound 2100 preamp. Would that improve the sound even more on both high and low ends with this as a power amp? Thank you for this video! My satellites are rated at a 150 watt handling capacity. Would this drive them as well as my Non-tube Parasound HCA 1500A which is rated at more that 200 watts RMS per channel?

[@vintagestereo]

I think that it all depends on the sensitivity of your speakers. This tube amp is more than powerful to feed speakers with a sensitivity of 90db and more but I think when your speakers are 87db ore less you need a more heavy tube amplifier. How loud do you spin your speakers? This amp is to loud when the volume knob is on 50% with the heco's. The parasound is indeed powerful but it's not the most subtitle sounding amp. If it's power what you are looking for, try a accuphase with over 2x130w/8ohm but they are very expensive. I just bought a bryston 4b st with 2x300w/8ohm...so very powerful, after I bought it I immediatly brought it to ivar (his youtube channel is the audiophile barista). I am still testing the tube amp and after that have other amps to play and test and i want to have this bryston in good hands because ivar can test it with his speakers and combine t with several good inter connects...After Ivar test and film this amp I have a beter understanding before I start testing it out. Ivar is a tube guy for over 30 years and he didn't hear a better sound as tubes since he spin those tube monoblocks from him. But I can't believe his tube mono blocks can beat every transistor amp. He also tested the goldmund amplifier for me and he told that it came very close. I don't need 2x300w power, i need a good sound. power is not the most important thing

[@vintagestereo]

btw why do you need a 2x200w amplifier for satellites? Your sub is powered so sattelites don't need that much power, i think it's overkill

[@richardmorgan1588]

vintage stereo Excellent points! Thank you for your feedback and advice!

[@richardmorgan1588]

vintage stereo I looked up the specs on those Polk bookshelves. They are Polks largest bookshelves with a sensitivity of 89 dB. They are 8 ohms with power requirements of 20 to 150 watts. Total frequency response: 40 - 27k Hz with 3dB limits of 50 - 26k Hz. They are two ways with a Silk dome tweeter and 6 and 1/2 inch driver with a bass port. They really sound amazing to my ears! Lots of clarity for their size! With that powered sub, it completes the picture! You are absolutely right. I certainly don’t need 200 watts when I have a powered sub to handle the base but I got what seemed to me to be a good deal at the time. Of course, as you pointed out in your video, a used amp eventually will need some work. I had to get some caps replaced which ended up costing me $300! Yikes! That’s the risk with used equipment! It’s still not 100%. On very low passages, the right channel struggles a little bit but it doesn’t make sense to put any more money into this old unit. It still performs but I’m always looking for better sound! I 100% agree with you. It’s about the sound but I also want to be able to jam now and then without any distortion! I’ve never owned a vacuum tube amp but all audiophiles say it has the best sound. I want to be able to listen at any volume in my tolerance and experience distortion free music. I generally don’t listen louder than around 75 dB and then only for short bursts. Would the tube set which produces 45 watts RMS be better for my speakers or do you still think the 25 watt tubes would sound better. At 25 watts, that would be just barely above the minimum requirement for these 89dB speakers.

[@rogerwillams2814]

those speakers wow didnt know tandnbrg made em !!*

[@milesdufourny4813]

Are those ADS drivers in the Tandberg monitors?

[@feds27]

Peerless tweeters and Nokia ITT midrange like on the B&O speakers of the same period.

[@Cubsfan2241958]

Is this a push pull amplifier?

[@tomsi7739]

Can I ask you 1 thing? Did you actually ordered this amp from that site china-hifi? Or did they send it to you by themselves for demonstration? I just want to be absolutely sure that I will actually get stuff from there. Do you think they are trustworthy?

[@vintagestereo]

mr. Lee is extremely trustworthy. He is running this shop for years and offer very good service.

[@tomsi7739]

@@vintagestereo great

[@TheDistrict644]

Maybe it’s me, but, I’m almost thinking your monitors are revealing the source or the engineering of the music. Doesn’t sound as clean as the first time you ran the amp. I say this because this is what very good monitors do. I can attest from a pair of B&W horizontal matrix 805’s I owned.

[@vintagestereo]

the heco's are from a different class, the heco's are the best thing happen to me in my 8 years of audio hobby......but they don't come cheap, also second hand they are about 1500 euro.

[@perothing]

That's right. Those are honest and neutral speakers that reveals bad studio engineering. Some CD's sound terrible and some magnifique.

[@golfman9290]

ANDREW ANDREW, the Tandbergs need to be OFF the floor! the sound hits the floor, bounces back up and hits the sound coming from the speaker, the result is a muddled sound, especially if you have a hard, sound reflecting floor like you have, you have good ears you'll hear the difference! that's why floorstanders always have the lower speaker approx. 30cm to 50cm from the floor to avoid this. Not a criticism my friend, just advice, and thanks for a enjoyable channel, and putting lots of good never heard before music my way. cheers!

[@vintagestereo]

I believe what you say is wright. The mids and high from these speakers are excellent but the problem is indeed the bass. I however dont have floor-stands for these big speakers. Not gonna invest in that to because I only bought them to test on my channel. So invest in stands is a waste of money.

[@golfman9290]

@@vintagestereo Hi Andrew, thanks for reply, a friend used large plastic flower pots with bits of blu- tack, iv'e used magazines as a temporary thing before, book shelf speakers, anything just to get them off the floor, i have floorstanders now so that problem went away when i bought them:¬} but i understand if it's just for a test for your channel.

[@jacquylenoir9097]

C'est beau, c'est cher, ça consomme beaucoup et il faut aimer le frottement des électrons sur les grilles, un peu comme le grain cinéma

[@rumerssorc799]

You need a stand for these speakers

[@vintagestereo]

You are 100% wright. Golf man made the same remark. The mids and highs are perfect but the problem is that the bass is to low on the floor

[@thehaakone]

@@vintagestereo the original stands are 32,33cm i think. Audio note An-e stands works very good on mine.

[@vlastikhornik6414]

Koupil jsem zesilovač, ale produkuje velký brum. Nevím si rady, silně nepříjemné , hluboký brum.

[@saiprasad8078]

Try this with ns10

[@vintagestereo]

i can tell you that the tandberg are no studio monitors. They are just livingroom speakers. The yamhas where ugly sounding because they are real studio monitors these are to warm. Not sure why they are sold as studio monitors but they sound way better as those overhyped jbl l100 and 4312A

[@dean5485]

but you get board with all gear when your done and find something new pls sell me these monitors

[@vintagestereo]

Which monitors do you mean?

[@dean5485]

Ones in the video tanbergs

[@gregrichard9192]

Thousands of dollars in audio equipment and your mic making your voice sounds distorted

[@scrumpymanjack]

Never understand the point of this sort of video. There isn’t a single person listening to this who will have even the vaguest idea of what this amp/speaker combo sounds like. So please tell me, what IS the point?

[@adanvaldcontreras4283]

Get some cerwin vega D9 or Dx9..

[@vintagestereo]

All respect for Cerwin Vega but the Tandberg's are a bit higher in class

[@adanvaldcontreras4283]

@@vintagestereo have you had them? Go to Rossie audio on KZbin and he will give you a lesson on the d9 or dx9.

[@OSQQ123]

I think it is time for you to change those speakers. They are awful. Instead of having 4 different speakers, have one which are good

[@NetGod2012]

信噪比太低

[@sanfordschoolfield710]

Volume too low, lifeless, and no energy. Turn-up the volume!!! Unimpressive sound. Get those woofers off the floor - sound killer bass bounce.

[@Bestforthebuck]

He is in the Netherlands, police come on the door for 2 minutes....personal experience. Otherwise good stuff, expensive machine. Groetjes

[@j.badinter988]

No way someone could get sound quality from a youtube video.... Why doing this, really?