Listening to the KIT 2

Posted by Response34 (M) on December 2, 2007 at 16:24:45

I just finished building a Kit 2 for one of my customers and must say I was quite surprized by it's sound right off the bench.

This particular amp is using Black Gate caps on the driver board as well as for the output tube cathode bypass and Audio Note Tantalum resistors on the driver board. Coupling capacitors are Audio Note Copper Foil.

The amp is an integrated unit with 3 inputs going through the ELMA selector. I do things a bit differently with the grounding as compared to the manual. Rather than run a seperate ground wire from each RCA negative, I connect all the ground taps of the RCA jacks with a buss wire and use a single ground wire (tightly wrapped around the input wires) from the buss to the ground on the driver board. I also use this procedure for the ground wires from the PS board to the driver board. After a few other grounding tricks and proper layout, this amp is literally the quietest tube amp I have yet to hear.

After the amp was completed, it went to the test bench where I also run finished products or modifications through several test through the scope. During this time, I could not pick up even a hint of noise on the scope....Moving on to the system burn-in. The amp is now connected to a pair of our Musica Bella speakers which are around 95dB with twin 8" Nomex bass drivers and the tweeter mounted within a Waveguide. I wanted to see how the noise floor was so I hooked up a $200 Sony SACD/DVD player and started listening. After assureing things were working properly, I paused the CD player and turned the volume knob on the Kit 2 all the way up. With my ear ON the tweeter, there was Zero noise. Not even the slightest hint of tube rush.

Oh, the sound? It is a bit early but I can tell you that if you need a bit more than the 8 watts a 300B provides and 12 watts will drive your speakers, this may be the best 12 SE watts one can obtain. Even right off th ebench, the Kit 2 has a beautiful, extended upper end and as a few others than came in and heardthis amp commented, very impressive bass. The midrange is so real, you may feel obligated to offer the artist a glas of wine.

AN Kits has on heck of a circuit here. The sadest part will be packing this amp up and sending along to it's new owner.

Here are a few picks of the amp in it's test system during it's initial 12 hour system burnin.

Bill

"Build your system for yourself not the critics"

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Topic - Listening to the KIT 2 - Response34 16:24:45 12/02/07 (1)

RE: Listening to the KIT 2 - SETdude 15:47:06 12/14/07 (0)

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