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Quicksilver or Decware amp?


JRS94

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I have '79 Khorns with replacement Crites drivers ; t120, a55g,  composite woofers, and the Volti mid horn mod. Currently using a Luxman tp117 preamp and a Legacy Powerbloc 600 ss amp. I have been looking to go to a tube amp. Any opinions on Quicksilver and Decware? QS mid monos are my current front runner. Any experience with either or recommendations? Thanks.

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I have been rotating Quicksilver Audio Horn Monos in and out of my system for years.  The other amp is an ATI 1502.  The QS are very quiet and built to last.  Recommend them without hesitation.  Plus the owner of QS will talk with you on the phone if you need him.

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2 hours ago, Tarheel said:

I have been rotating Quicksilver Audio Horn Monos in and out of my system for years.  The other amp is an ATI 1502.  The QS are very quiet and built to last.  Recommend them without hesitation.  Plus the owner of QS will talk with you on the phone if you need him.

 

An audio buddy in California has the QS mono 120's and loves them. QS products are excellent.

 

PS

Tarheel, he's the one that got me going with the rPlay. :)

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2 hours ago, JRS94 said:

Looks nice, how often do you adjust bias on them? I think I've decided on QS mid monos for my khorns. Good price and great reviews. Thanks for your help. 

The Horn Monos are self biasing......no need to fiddle with that.  You can use EL-34, KT-66, KT-77, 6550s, KT-88, KT-90 as you desire.

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On 12/31/2019 at 12:13 PM, Les Lammers said:

 

An audio buddy in California has the QS mono 120's and loves them. QS products are excellent.

 

PS

Tarheel, he's the one that got me going with the rPlay. :)

 

Hi Les,

Yes, enjoying the Mono 120s. A new flavor with some NOS Mullards in 12au7 spots, very nice.  And the manual bias, 50 down to 40ma per tube helps the sound stage position. Strange thing is I live 45 minutes from QS. Overlooked Mike and QS for a decade too long.  Finally wanted something with simple design and reliability.  A local buddy here just tried the QS preamp and now looking at picking up a set of the latest version Mid Monos. Great value.  Another converted supporter, late to the game but finally made it here.   :) 

 

..

Edited by decooney
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@JRS94 I highly recommend a pair of Inspire amps with Khorns. I used them with mine and they are phenomenal. And they auto bias. 

I am selling a pair right at the moment in the classifieds section. 

Unfortunately I couldn't take my Khorns with me to the new place or these would be powering them right now. 

 

 

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On 1/7/2020 at 12:12 PM, Lost240 said:

@JRS94 I highly recommend a pair of Inspire amps with Khorns. I used them with mine and they are phenomenal. And they auto bias. 

I am selling a pair right at the moment in the classifieds section. Unfortunately I couldn't take my Khorns with me to the new place or these would be powering them right now. 

 

I liked my Inspire Hot Rod amp.  Yours looks nice with the preamp all together.  Good luck on the sale.  Would have been nice to hear my Inspire amp with proper speakers. Unfortunately my speakers were not efficient or matched well enough at 93db and 4ohms. Gotta taste of what it could sound like, sort of.   It would be fun to compare differences with Quicksilver Horn Monos / Mid Monos too.  These sold a while back on USAM for a great price and missed them. Amazing value.  The small foot print of these amps is nice.    

 

1469356-quicksilver-horn-mono-blocks-201

Edited by decooney
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  • 2 years later...

Do you consider these Quicksilver amp, especially the horn mono amp, to be good value for the money only or are they up there with more expensive options?

I have a Primaluna Evo 400 amp that is a bit too noisy for my taste with my cornwall so the horn mono seems interesting but only if it sounds as good.

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The Quicksilver Horn Mono and Mid Monos are huge value propositions.   I have a pair of Mid Monos that I just took out of service.  Amazing amps for the money.  Either amp is fantastic.  The only negative about the Horn Mono is it's screw down speaker terminals .    The price of either new is a bargain and used Quicksilver is among the best values in used gear you will ever find.  Built like a tank, super reliable.... safe bets 

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7 hours ago, Steve. said:

 The only negative about the Horn Mono is it's screw down speaker terminals.

 

While this is probably the designer's way of keeping the connections simple & cost effective, as well as steering us to use bare wires, I also found it annoying when I want to trade out speakers. I bought a pair of these "banana adapters" on fleabay for about $12. They work perfectly.

 

As to the Horn amps themselves; dead quiet on my LSIIs. You have to spend three times their cost to get more resolution. No transformer noise, either. They have one design parameter: to power high efficiency horn speakers.  Stereophile concluded:

 

The Quicksilver Horn Mono is very much my kind of amplifier: a solid, no-nonsense product singularly lacking in quirkiness, with design principles that involve no extravagant or controversial claims. Intended primarily for use with high-sensitivity loudspeakers—a purpose for which it is eminently suited—the Horn Mono can also work well with speakers of just slightly higher than normal sensitivity. 

Although the Horn Mono doesn't offer the ultimate in every parameter of sonic performance, its presentation is always convincing in musical terms. I recommend it especially for audiophiles who can just stretch their budget to go for a pair of Avantgardes or other expensive horns

 

https://www.stereophile.com/tubepoweramps/581/index.html

 

My experience tracks with that.

 

And with only 3 tubes per amp its not terribly expensive to swap tubes from EL34s to KT88s. either.

 

They have no WAF, by the way.

 

 

terminal adapters.jpeg

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