GWSmith Posted April 21, 2009 Author Share Posted April 21, 2009 Soldered up! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWSmith Posted April 21, 2009 Author Share Posted April 21, 2009 New powercords with ORIGINAL strain reliefs now installed - completed... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTLongo Posted April 21, 2009 Share Posted April 21, 2009 Tigerman, if you haven't done so already plse. take a look at another recent string started by bigblaze, K-HORNS WEAK IN THE BASS DEPARTMENT. Mine is the third post in that string. It will be interesting to hear what your experience is with Khorn bass after you get your labor-of-love beauties finished and re-hooked up to them. - Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWSmith Posted April 21, 2009 Author Share Posted April 21, 2009 Hello Tom.....Thanks for the heads up, I will take a look... I am ABOUT TO put all tubes in the MK III's, and fire them up for the first time with all the new components and set the bias!! I'll keep you all posted. As far as the bass is concerned, with the Dynaco PAS-2, there is absolutely NO lack of low end with this setup. It is totally amazing. If you have heard Telarc's CD "The Great Fantastic Adventure album" and you play the WARNING tracks 19 - 21, then you will have experienced what I am talking about, ESPECIALLY through your Velodyne !! (by the way, whats the difference between the S and the F models?? - Mine in the theater is from the Foundation series...) But, I will check it out and add comment.. Stay tuned, more to come later on... ...........Gary 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWSmith Posted April 21, 2009 Author Share Posted April 21, 2009 Ok, here is the bag of old parts in all their glory................RETIRED !!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWSmith Posted April 21, 2009 Author Share Posted April 21, 2009 Time to put in the glass components [] 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWSmith Posted April 21, 2009 Author Share Posted April 21, 2009 Rectifier... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWSmith Posted April 21, 2009 Author Share Posted April 21, 2009 Planting the original KT-88 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWSmith Posted April 21, 2009 Author Share Posted April 21, 2009 Here they are, ready to be started up and biased... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWSmith Posted April 21, 2009 Author Share Posted April 21, 2009 First turn on which was WITHOUT event for both amps was wonderful. Hearing the light ticking sounds of the tubes heating up and the scent from the heated glass was pretty exciting! According to Kevin, he advised the bias voltage be set at 13.0v after warming up. Thats what they were set at, and after 5 minutes, they stabilzed and never moved from that setting. They were run for about 15 minutes, but no audio was put through them. I wanted to turn them off, and send these photos out to you all asap. Later, will be the actual final hookup. All brand new interconnects of good quality, IN and OUT ... and then...... the LISTENING TESTS. Stay tuned[] ......Gary 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWSmith Posted April 21, 2009 Author Share Posted April 21, 2009 Last view of the bias testing... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWSmith Posted April 21, 2009 Author Share Posted April 21, 2009 Seen here, there is LIGHT [] 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWSmith Posted April 22, 2009 Author Share Posted April 22, 2009 OK, just decided at 6:30am. this morning to hook everything up! I flipped the master switch on the power distro and all came to life [] Put in my Telarc benchmark CD and listened at low level (others were in fact sleeping on the upper level - I had to be considerate - louder tests tonight!) and the warm sounds poured forth! Noise or hum barely heard as before with all the original components - most all coming from the transformers right off the amps, so I am happy about that. I DO have some questions about the KT-88 tubes however... I will include those later. Gary 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dude Posted April 22, 2009 Share Posted April 22, 2009 Thats great Gary. Were you going for more of a restoration or trying to improve anything. Looks like a great pair of amps this is the route i'de like to try one day. nick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWSmith Posted April 22, 2009 Author Share Posted April 22, 2009 Good evening Nick. Thanks for writing in and thanks for your fine compliment! With this project, I wanted to just make these amps SAFE to run and basically upgrade the components that were likely to fail as mentioned in the early comments in this forum/thread. I was so happy with what I heard, that I AM content on leaving them as is, others say its too much a vintage sound. Well, I don't mind. If I want new/state of the art sound, I have brand new DTS Master Audio 7.1 / Dolby True HD IN the new theater, I just go there for a fix [] The sound stage is really HUGE from the K'Horns and the MK III's I am running them right now at a good volume 60 feet from where I am now and the sound is filling the house ! I hope you can get a pair of these and at least do what I have done, to upgrade them into something outside their design is up to you. Stay in touch, and mark this thread for the latest in photos etc. Regards, Gary 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWSmith Posted April 25, 2009 Author Share Posted April 25, 2009 Hello friends.. Just wanted to let you know, that Kevin over at Dynakits suggested a fellow by the name of Jim McShane.. Reason for this? To order a MATCHED QUAD of the recently released Gold Lion KT-88's for the MK III's ! These (as you may know) are now made now by New Sensor in Russia, and the reviews by end users is really very good! So, I will have photos for you all showing the original Genalex Gold Lion from 1965, to the new replica introduced in 2007 ! They will ship on Monday and hopefully arrive during this coming week. Once they bias correctly and settle in over time, I will put the lower chassis back in place. Stay tuned! Regards, Gary 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWSmith Posted April 30, 2009 Author Share Posted April 30, 2009 Just a quick one.........The GOLD LIONS from New Sensor Corp. will be here TODAY! I will get those comparo photos and also let you know just how the MKIII's sound with tube change out [] ....Gary 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paully Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Those tubes if Genelex, and it looked like a Mullard GZ34, might be more expensive to replace than the amps. Nice find, I am truly jealous. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWSmith Posted May 1, 2009 Author Share Posted May 1, 2009 Hey there Paully, YOU have Bottleheads, how could you be jealous ?? [] Anyway, here are a series of photos from yesterday's arrival.. Hope you all are as happy as I am with how Jim has so CAREFULLY packed these Gold Lions, they arrived ALIVE !! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWSmith Posted May 1, 2009 Author Share Posted May 1, 2009 PLENTY of `peanuts' in and around the tubes. There was even a padding of 'KIMPEX' in the bottom of the box! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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