My K1000 journey (a blog) - Page 7

The mods are very tough. I have plenty of basic soldering experience. I'm pretty mechanical, with an exacting personality when it comes to this type of work. Hech, when I sold high-end audio in my youger days, I was the main guy at the shop for setting up turntables. So here's the deal...

Taking them apart is not too bad.
The soldering is not a big deal if you have a steady hand.
But getting the grills properly seated when putting them back together is a real bear. I'm such a perfectionist, and was not happy with the way the grills fit, so I've sent mine back to AKG to have it professionaly done. Haven't got a quote yet, so I hope this doesn't set me back too much $

So it's been a tough week for me

When I have time I'll share more on the experience along with some pictures. I also want to post more about the sound, even with the stock cable.

Thanks for the support (thanks to everyone). Sorry to hear about your loss. I hope your insurance company has been able to help get you back on your feet, at least in terms of worldly goods.

Which amp for K1000s?

Here's a thread on K1000s amps... http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=96915

My rig (with balanced Ayre) provides incredible detail and huge soundstage. But I've struggled to get natural, fluid sounding bass -- and sometimes I wonder if it might be on the bright side of neutral.

I'm thinking about trying my Wadia in single-end mode to the Ayre, just to see what happens. This will mean switching to less expensive ICs and crossover. On the otherhand, the ICs will be solid copper (AudioQuest Quartz), so I'm interested to see what this does to the sound???

FYI: The Ayre will run balanced (by manufacture's design) even with single-end inputs.

Humbling experience recabling K1000s

Partrick82 is the undisputed King of 'K1000 after-market-cables.' His journey –- so far –- has mated his ear speakers with:

- AKG stock
- Stefan AudioArts hardwired Equinox
- Self-modified Nordost Solar Wind, and
- Self-modified Nordost Valkyrja

As for the cables: At roughly $2,000 per meter, Valkyrja is likely one of the most pricey tweaks ever bestowied by a Headfier on his or her beloved K1000s.

So when Patrick sought volunteers to review (and / or purchase) a hunk of his coveted Valkyrja, as a diehard and upgrade-crazed K1000 owner, I felt absolutely compelled to raise my hand and shout: “... pick me! ...pick me!.” Unfortunately, volunteering was only the first of several missteps I was about to make in my efforts to upgrade my monster K1000 system.

Read the rest in Cables and Tweaks... http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=186980

"Now for Something Completely Different"

Today I ordered one of these...



Clearly K1000 owners like their Pass amps. They have in fact written such strong accolades, I felt compelled to learn more about what these amps have to offer.

Pass offers his mainstream products through Pass Labs (Aleph 3, Aleph 30 -- both out of production), and through a “kitchen table” company named First Watt -- where so far all amps have been built by Nelson Pass himself (F1, F2, F3, and the Aleph J -- a First Watt successor to the Aleph 30. Of these, the F1 is no longer in production).

In short, they're simple, low-power, Class A designs by Nelson Pass. But discovering their true value -- and individual uniqueness -- takes a little more digging...

Could the F1 be the ultimate amp for K1000s?

Of these amps, the F1 and F2 could be classified as very unique designs (the F3 with its use of Jfets is also unique, but in a different way compared to F1/F2). Unique because the F1 and F2 are current amps (contrasted with the other 99.999999999% of the market served by voltage amps). The F1 offers balanced operation, while the F2 is closer to a SET in design (and reported in sound too).

My research included a number of e-mails and PMs, which I can not share without permission from their authors. The following from the Web, will however help you understand why I selected the F1...

From Srajan Ebaen - 6Moons.com

"Every unique circumstance requires a unique solution and that's exactly what the FirstWatt F-1 amplifier is: a unique address on how to get single-driver speakers to behave more full-range and linear than they want to if left to other devices."

http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/f...irstwatt2.html
http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/f...irstwatt3.html

From Nelson Pass

"The F1 is a 10 watt per channel stereo amplifier operating in balanced single-ended Class A without feedback. Each channel has only one gain stage and draws a constant 100 watts.

It is a power trans-conductance amplifier (or power current source, if you like), replicating an input voltage into an output current.

A regular amplifier sends output voltage to the loudspeaker. This is not that kind of amplifier.

This amplifier ignores the elements in series with the load circuit, including back-emf, wire resistance, inductance and such, and creates voice coil acceleration in direct proportion to the input signal.

It is well suited to sensitive full-range drivers such as Lowther or Fostex, and allows easy use of parallel loading networks to tailor the driver response.

It has both balanced and single-ended inputs. The input impedance is nominally 80 Kohm, and the output impedance is 80 ohms. The output noise is around 100 picowatts (100 trillionths of a watt).

There will be only 100 copies of this design put up for sale."

http://www.firstwatt.com
http://www.firstwatt.com/downloads/f1_om.pdf



What about my initial budget?

After all the puts and takes, I needed to up my tweak budget about $1,000 to make this purchase.

No. The grills are very difficult to reassemble, so I don't plan to try this.

Got my F1 from Mark at Reno Hifi -- http://www.renohifi.com/

Mark is Nelson's main man for First Watt products. He also sells Pass. He can be reached at 775-829-7332.

Mark's preowned F1s are "refreshed." The unit is actually sent to Nelson Pass for inspection / update, then sent to customer with a warranty (3 years for my F1). Ask Mark about is return policy -- something you won't get with used gear on Audiogon.

Sending PM.

First Watt does not list physical specs on their site. They are...

17" x 15" x 4.5"

26 pounds