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Connecting HE-6 or K1000 directly to tube amp's speaker's posts

post #1 of 7
9/8/11 at 11:16pm
Thread Starter 

I have the BAT VK55 tube amp, which I like and would hate to sell in order to fund a dedicated head amp (such as Woo WA5).  Since both the HE-6 and K1000 can connect directly to an amp's speaker posts, do you think a speaker amp like the VK55 is a good choice?  

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Gear mentioned in this thread:

HiFiMAN HE-6 Planar Headphone
post #2 of 7
9/9/11 at 4:13pm
I've not heard the BAT but it would be a perfect amp. You'll want to put the load resistors on the output of the amp for the 6 but this should sound killer. See the 6 thread for info on load resistors. They are used to bring the load to speaker range.
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post #3 of 7
9/10/11 at 3:48am

I think hifiman selling some kind adapter for HE6 to connect to speaker output.

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post #4 of 7
9/10/11 at 7:34am
Thread Starter 

Oh I was under the impression that the HE-6 comes with a cable terminated with banana plugs that can connect directly to a power amp - is that not true?  Are you saying that the load resistor is necessary regardless?

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post #5 of 7
9/10/11 at 8:05am
The HE6 is shipped with a 4 pin xlr. It comes with a 4 pin xlr to 1/4" headphone jack. You will need to either order said cable, have one made, or modify the existing by removing the headphone jack and terminating with the connector of your choice (banana plug/spades).

the issue of the load resistors is that speaker amps are designed to see 4-8 ohm loads. The HE-6 are 50 ohms. If your amp is a transformer coupled output, the higher load will put a lot of stress on the transformer. A 10 ohm/10 watt non-inductive resistor wired across the terminal will bring the load impedence down to the amp's normal range. HE also makes an impedence box you can buy that does this for you.

I've been using a solid state amp and that seems to do just fine without the balanced load but for safety, I've kept the resistors in place.
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post #6 of 7
9/10/11 at 8:20am

Can't speak for the HE-6, but you can plug the K-1000s right into the terminals if you have the adapter cable and they should sound great with that amp. WA6 would be a downgrade IMHO


Edited by robm321 - 9/10/11 at 8:22am
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post #7 of 7
9/10/11 at 8:42am
http://www.head-fi.org/t/529873/amps-that-can-drive-the-hifiman-he-6-planar-headphones
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Gear mentioned in this thread:

HiFiMAN HE-6 Planar Headphone
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