Good Solid State with K-horns

[hightone]

I have used a few tube amps with Cornwalls and K-horns and liked the sound very much, however, tube rolling, vintage tubes and bad tubes was enough for me to try solid state.

My last tube amp EAR 834 used 8 power tubes $$$$$$. I like vinyl and can find records in my area or just about any area in NM condition for 5 or 6 bucks ok some are more and some a lot more. My point is a few sets of tubes for me was a lot of vinyl. So solid state amps is where I went.

Short on cash I opted for a Sunfire symphonic reference stereo stack. Way to much power I know but a matched pre and amp and it was cheep.

Cheep most often makes BAD sound but not all the time. This time it did. Not so much bad sonics as poor build and lots of noise. I had hiss at ten feet and could hear it with the voulme knob at zero clear as a bell.

I put up with this for a while and saved for something better.

A good coustmer I am at the local stereo shop and they let me take stuff home to demo.

They suggested I try out the new Roksan M-1 pre amd amp combo. At 80 watts it has plenty of power and looked cool so I said I would give it a whirl.

My tube amp was pretty darn quiet some tube noise at very low levels was my biggest complaint.

The Roksan gear was very quiet and was great sounding from top to bottom with K-horns.

I enjoyed it for a week and was very unhappy when I had to give it back. At 2200.00 each I just could not part with that much cash. Used Roksan gear Is much cheeper and the Caspin line now discontinued sounded very good and can be found at a quater of the price as the new stuff.

I just could not find any for sale when I was lookin.

Just what is a guy to do? I found some musical fidelity stuff on line for a good price and read some good reviews. ( are there any bad reviews?)

I purchased a A3CR dual mono amp and A3.2cr dual mono pre amp of audiogon in hopes it would sound as good as the Roksan stuff .

The musical fidelity stuff is relly well built and looks great. There is no hiss it is very quiet and sounds better than the Roksan stuff at about a third of the cost.

Has any one else gone from tubes to solid state and been happy? If so what are you using?

I will tell you one thing. K-horns are hard to please sometimes.

happy posting!!!

Joel

[Colin]

The Roksan Caspian is a sweet receiver. Although I am still amazed years alter at the capabilities of a $5 single-transformer, solid-state, vintage harmon kardon 330B receiver, the little $35 Sonic Impact 5066 class T digital amplifier is better, even better with big ole horns is the Red Wine Clari T digital amplifier, but at $400, it is hardly 10 times better than the Sonic Impact. No matter, while not at all harsh and better at bass, they still dont make the music the way that those frustrating tube do. I dont know the Ear amplifiers, but I do avoid amplifiers that drive expensive tubes at a high voltage to get more power. [H]

[tigerwoodKhorns]

I have not had problems driving my K Horns.

I originally had an old Denon receiver and CD player that sounded really harsh. I replaced with a Denon 5800 receiver and it did sound good (especially after replacing the CD player). I then went to a Scott LK-48 tube amp.

I am currently using a Sony digital receiver with great results (surprisingly good). I have also had outstanding results with a Peach and QSC pro SS amp. Another great combo.

There are SS amps out there that sound good. If you want low risk, try a Panasonic digital receiver for about $225 new.

Chris

[PrestonTom]

I will watch this thread closely.

IN some ways the K-Horns are a fairly easy load for a solid state amp. They are efficient and the impedance does not drop to a low value. So no need for mega watts or high current capability. The trick I have found however, is that Klipsch wil ruthlessly reveal any flaws, noise, hum or distortion. So the trick is to get an amp that is quiet and that is also clean at the lower output levels. Thes criteria are very difficult to glean from the manufacturer's specs.

Amps that I have tried so far (about 75-100 watts)

Harman Kardon (from the early 1990s): sounded fine, nothing special

Dynaco 120: not a very god or lively sound, and it was noisy,

Carver TFM 15: Sounded fine, nothing special

Hafler: Sounded fine / did some things nicely / a touch of noise

I must confess thay my criteria are skewed towards "accuracy", if there are any flaws in the recording, I also want them revealed. It is not skewed towards "musicality". I expect all musicality to be in the original recording. I also listen at realistic levels. Others will disagree about the accuracy vs musicality dimension. Fine, reasonable people can reasonably disagree. This also means I expect a true HF response (some may find it "harsh") and a very good transient response.

Amps I would like to try:

small Adcom 5xxx series

Rotel (from the 1980s)

Mildly modified Hafler

NAD (from the 1980s)

Onkyo, Bryston, Parasound, & the list continues

Good Luck,

-Tom

[howismydriving]

I would get on ebay and purchase a Crown D-45 amp and try it out. I have two bi-amping some RF-3s and it sounds great. They are not harsh at all. They run about 120 used on ebay. You WILL need some 1/4th inch to RCA adapters, or Balanced to RCA adapters. For that little amount of money, you can't go wrong, and if you don't like it, you can flip it on ebay and not loose a cent on it.

[khorn51]

I Love the sound of Threshold s/150 amps with my khorns

also has good luck with a crown psa2 both very quite when running to spec.

other amps I used...

phase linear 700 this surprized me with all that monster power it wasnt harsh at all with the khorns and the bass was tight

Phase linear 400 a nice amp when in good shape i can see why they have such a following. still like the 700 better.

You can't get a closer sounding amp for that live 70-80's rock than phase linear as that what evrey pro pa used back in the day to power there horn loaded pa's.

carver m-500t good bang for the buck.

[sunnysal]

I have heard a few SS amps that sounded great with my k-horns:

1. a Mark Levinson amp (I cannot remember off hand which but if you search for "shootout" you should come up with my old post about this topic)

2. A Krell FBP amp that was way overpowered but sounded exceptional in my system.

3. the little Teac/Tripath digital amp, for the price it is hard to beat <$100

4. An old Krell class A amp

5. a Pass Aleph 3 amp

I think that in general class A SS amps will sound better with k-horns and, of course, top-line SS amps tend to sound better than mid-line. As always, try to audition amps in your system before buying recommendations are not very useful IMHO

I stayed with my PP DHT amp BUT could drop it for the Krell FBP if I had to, it sounded that good!

regards, tony

[jpm]

No one believes me but my British Rega amp, preamp, and cdp sound fabulous with my LaScalas. Almost tube like. They retail for $1000 each piece, but I weaseled mine for about $2500 new for the three. Rega doesn't advertise or toot their horn, so they are relatively behind the scenes. I love their stuff.

[jcmusic]

I have a vintage Marantz setup which in my opinion sounds really good with my k-horns, but when I hooked up my HH Scott 299 there was a very noticeable difference. My Scott is going to Craig for a freshing, and in the mean time what I did was to hook up a tube line stage in front of my pre-amp. It's very close to the best of both worlds, it has a tuby effect and the dynamics of SS. I am more than happy with this temporay setup.

Jay

[BiggerIsBetter]

If money is a factor, try one of these for $140.....smoooooooooooth

http://www.partsexpress.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?&DID=7&Partnumber=300-956

I have one and unhooked it, still not sure it is better or worse than my $12K audio research VT150s. I am almost afraid of the answer. I bought it for summer use here in Phoenix,,,,

[TommyK]

Just wondering.

peace,

TommyK

[sunnysal]

I forgot to list another SS amp that sounded great with my k-horns:

my Marantz Esotec SM-6 amplfier, class and sounds great....

tony

[Rudy81]

I will watch this thread closely.

IN some ways the K-Horns are a fairly easy load for a solid state amp. They are efficient and the impedance does not drop to a low value. So no need for mega watts or high current capability. The trick I have found however, is that Klipsch wil ruthlessly reveal any flaws, noise, hum or distortion. So the trick is to get an amp that is quiet and that is also clean at the lower output levels. Thes criteria are very difficult to glean from the manufacturer's specs.

Amps that I have tried so far (about 75-100 watts)

Harman Kardon (from the early 1990s): sounded fine, nothing special

Dynaco 120: not a very god or lively sound, and it was noisy,

Carver TFM 15: Sounded fine, nothing special

Hafler: Sounded fine / did some things nicely / a touch of noise

I must confess thay my criteria are skewed towards "accuracy", if there are any flaws in the recording, I also want them revealed. It is not skewed towards "musicality". I expect all musicality to be in the original recording. I also listen at realistic levels. Others will disagree about the accuracy vs musicality dimension. Fine, reasonable people can reasonably disagree. This also means I expect a true HF response (some may find it "harsh") and a very good transient response.

Amps I would like to try:

small Adcom 5xxx series

Rotel (from the 1980s)

Mildly modified Hafler

NAD (from the 1980s)

Onkyo, Bryston, Parasound, & the list continues

Good Luck,

-Tom

Tom:

I wish you lived close to Texas, you could come over and listen to my Parasound HALO gear and the Khorn. The combination of this solid state gear and Klipsch is just perfect.

[leok]

Crown D-45 is very good and not expensive.

Leo

[hightone]

Tony,

"Hey Hightone, is that Jerry's hand for a moniker? "

Yes I am a big Jerry fan.

I think the high quality Marantz gear is great. I have been fond of Marantz Since I was a boy.

I hope to own some some day.

Joel

[sunnysal]

Besdies my Marantz 7T preamp which is in my main system I have My Esotec SM6 class A amplifier. I also have the matching Preamp, the SC6. I love old Marantz stuff! tony

[Ray Garrison]

This is actually an opportunity to have some fun. I've found a variety of fairly low power solid state integrated amps that sound good with Heritage speakers. My favorite to date is a mid-80's vintage Rotel RA830BX2, about 30 watts / side, sounds Great! Also like a TEAC AS100 I have - bit more power, but somewhat technicolored amp. A even older Marantz 1030 sounded good, too. I found these, plus many others, on EBay for well under $100. You can buy an inexpensive solid state integrated amp, try it for a while, and if you don't like it, get bored, or just want to try something else, put it back on EBay for what you paid for it and just keep recycling.

[soundbound]

I agree with the vintage Marantz SS. Clean units can be bought off ebay cheap. They still sound and operate well. They built solid audio back then too. A small integrated will do the job. I bought a Marantz 2275 off ebay for my secondary audio system. I hooked it up to my Klipschorns just for the fun of it and they sound great together. I'm buying me a vintage Marantz 1152DC integrated someday and I'm betting it will make the Klipschorns sound even better than the 2275. As stated, resell is always an option and nothing much is usually lost in the transaction.

[jheis]

You might give a listen to some of B&K's stuff. I don't have K-horns, but B&K goes well with my La Scalas, Cornwalls, & Heresys. Reviewers often describe B&K amps as sounding "tube like" - for whatever that's worth.

James

[ben.]

I haven't had much decent SS on my Khorns. H/K 430 was ok - I like it better on cone & domes. The Teac everyone has is better. I could live with it full time if I had to.

I plan to try out a SpectraSonics my boss was telling me about it. Does about 100W class A then hits a wall hard. Not to useful for pro sound due to power limitations, but I bet it'll sound nice on the Ks. From what he said, it might run hotter than my Mc30s, though...