[musicinmymind]

 

I was referring to this amp http://www.thevintageknob.org/harman_kardon-hk770.html

if I get them will test with old yamaha speakers before trying on HE-6.

We both misspoke while talking about the same amp!

You called it the HK700, which does not exist. I responded by calling your amp the HK 770, which of course does exist. What a mess. Let's start over.

The HK 870 (later and slightly larger stereo model) and the dual monoblocks HK 775 may be a little better than the HK 770 but they all have similar sound.

These amps normally run fairly warm. If your unit does not, it's likely that the bias has drifted downward which may have helped the amp last this long. The amp would work OK but would not sound its best and should be checked. You should at least replace the electrolytic caps and check the bias circuit and fix poor solder joints. A full restoration should cost no more than $200-$300--you may need a good tech--and would give you an excellent amp for the HE-6 that will last another 15 years.

 
Yes I got it wrong, it is HK 770...I got it now for 130$. Planning to sell Krell and try others options, I will have a chance to try Rag during possible DC meet next month, it looks very interesting as it can drive all my HP's even IEM. If I like the sound with HE-6, then I will go for it.
 
Yet to plug and try HK 770, even if I do not like it as much as Krell, it should be good stopgap arrangement.

 

[Justin_Time]

 
Yes I got it wrong, it is HK 770...I got it now for 130$. Planning to sell Krell and try others options, I will have a chance to try Rag during possible DC meet next month, it looks very interesting as it can drive all my HP's even IEM. If I like the sound with HE-6, then I will go for it.
 
Yet to plug and try HK 770, even if I do not like it as much as Krell, it should be good stopgap arrangement.

 


The HK 770 and HK 870 are pretty darn good. The overall sound has a relaxing, engaging charactor that makes it very enjoyable.

 

[ohhgourami]

Thanks for the feedback. I guess I will hold off till I actually get to audition it next month then, delayed expenditure probably for the best from the point of view of financing anyways. May well mean I'm back to the drawing board for a bit longer, amps-wise.

Oh, and I meant to ask were you running it from HP out or speaker taps on the Rag? Or maybe you tried both? Potentially important detail.

Only used the balanced headphone output. Assumed it was the same.
 

 
Just the person I wanted to talk to....I got the Odyssey Stratos Extreme and hooked up the HE-6 via speaker taps....nothing but noise. What do I use?

Depends how much gain that thing has and what pre you're using.
 

 
You use the 100R in series and 3R in parallel, right?  That's  31 dB attenuation 

  assuming your HE-6 has a perfect 50Z.  Ye Gods.... going to look up the specs on that beast.  I see why you went for the 10W rated ones.

36dB gain on the 400xi so 31dB attenuation gives it a lot more play on on volume. Someone at a meet thought the max volume couldn't go high enough, but I'd argue the guy was almost completely deaf.

 

   
Even I did not experience any noise from Krell 400xi, it always had no noise floor. Even I took this amp for meets held in DC Area, no one complain about noise floor and more than 20 guys had tried my setup then.
 
Not sure why @ohhgourami had this issue.

Possible the overall noise floor of my house is lower than yours.

 

[screwdriver]

 
Just the person I wanted to talk to....I got the Odyssey Stratos Extreme and hooked up the HE-6 via speaker taps....nothing but noise. What do I use?

what preamp ?

 

[Xenophon]

 
Just the person I wanted to talk to....I got the Odyssey Stratos Extreme and hooked up the HE-6 via speaker taps....nothing but noise. What do I use?

I took a quick peak and guesstimate you have about 27 dB gain from it.  If you use 10R series resistance and 1R parallel you'll drop about 20dB but there's no fast way to determine if that'll be enough or not, you will have to experiment a bit.  Make sure the resistors can handle the power dissipation or magic smoke will rise before the sound altar.  I'm totally discounting the preamp here and as I said, it's just a guesstimate.

 

[kothganesh]

Xenophon, SD
 
I used the Mjolnir balanced pre-amp out into the balanced input of the Odyssey. Nothing but noise. I then switched out the Mjolnir for the Burson Soloist RCA out to the Odyssey RCA in. Nothing but sweet music ! Go figure.

 

[screwdriver]

 
Xenophon, SD
 
I used the Mjolnir balanced pre-amp out into the balanced input of the Odyssey. Nothing but noise. I then switched out the Mjolnir for the Burson Soloist RCA out to the Odyssey RCA in. Nothing but sweet music ! Go figure

in mine RCA is silent 
balanced out has a bit of noise but not bad and listenable 

 

[Xenophon]

 
Xenophon, SD
 
I used the Mjolnir balanced pre-amp out into the balanced input of the Odyssey. Nothing but noise. I then switched out the Mjolnir for the Burson Soloist RCA out to the Odyssey RCA in. Nothing but sweet music ! Go figure.

I guess the Mjolnir won't make my shopping list

  Glad the issue is resolved for you, enjoy and if you have the time, get us some impressions of the Odyssey!

 

[kothganesh]

 
I guess the Mjolnir won't make my shopping list

  Glad the issue is resolved for you, enjoy and if you have the time, get us some impressions of the Odyssey!

Thanks. BTW, I don't know if its the Mjolnir, the cable, or the balanced end of the Odyssey. I don't think its the Odyssey since I just got the whole amp refurbished and upgraded. Need to get a couple of XLR cables to eliminate the cable if that's indeed the culprit. 

 

[LarsHP]

  Where buy a speaker cable for the HE-6 with the included resistors?

I don't think anyone sells such a "package". You buy the resistors and the cable you want, but preferably not a speaker cable.
 
Even more convenient: Get the HiFiMan adaptor box (connects to speaker taps and provides a 4-pin XLR female output plug for the headphone) and a short speaker cable to connect the box to the amp.

 

[Xenophon]

^+1  If you've never soldered before/don't have a soldering iron and it' a one time thing then the hifiman box -though expensive for what it is- will be the best option imo.  Diy is very easy but obviously you need access to an iron, solder and you'll have to order the components.  If you have an iron and don't need a fancy enclosure you can make this literally for a couple of bucks and handpick your resistor values so they work best for your amp.

 

[SilverEars]

Now after experiencing what a vintage receiver can do to HE-6.  I'm curious what other vintage or present day receivers work well with HE-6.  Anybody have any favorites, let me know.  Thanks.
 
I was considering trying out the Mjoinir.  Is it worth checking out or money better spent on a receiver?  Any opinions appreciated.  Was also thinking about Ragnarok, but not sure how significant it's over Mjolnir.  Any ideas?

 

[NZtechfreak]

Now after experiencing what a vintage receiver can do to HE-6.  I'm curious what other vintage or present day receivers work well with HE-6.  Anybody have any favorites, let me know.  Thanks.

I was considering trying out the Mjoinir.  Is it worth checking out or money better spent on a receiver?  Any opinions appreciated.  Was also thinking about Ragnarok, but not sure how significant it's over Mjolnir.  Any ideas?

The consensus is that the Mjolnir is not capable of driving the 6. I think I've read this thread about two or three times, and when the Mjolnir came out there were guys swearing by it, however pretty well too a man they later conceded the Mjolnir was not, in fact, diving the 6 well. Don't waste your time there. The Rag sounds like it's pretty capable with the 6, from the reports of a couple of members of the HE-6 thread community, although ultimately for one of them they returned to their speaker amp.

 

[kothganesh]

The consensus is that the Mjolnir is not capable of driving the 6. I think I've read this thread about two or three times, and when the Mjolnir came out there were guys swearing by it, however pretty well too a man they later conceded the Mjolnir was not, in fact, diving the 6 well. Don't waste your time there. The Rag sounds like it's pretty capable with the 6, from the reports of a couple of members of the HE-6 thread community, although ultimately for one of them they returned to their speaker amp.

This. I have the Mojo and to my ears did not have the SQ with the HE 6 that I have with my power amp. 

 

[Xenophon]

Add my voice to the chorus singing the praise of speaker amps for the HE-6.  It took me some time to come to this conclusion and in the beginning I thought it nonsense that a headphone could benefit from all that extra juice.  Preproman here convinced me to forget my XLS-sheet and give it a try, which I did.  He (and others) are right, I was wrong, simple as that.
 
Maybe there are headphone amps that have what it takes (some of the Ray Samuels maybe) but I haven't heard one yet and I'm totally convinced that bang/buck a speaker amp is a better value proposition.  Personally I like the FirstWatt family, not just for the sound but also from a technical point of view; they're very straightforward, no-gimmick beautiful designs.  But there are others, all the info is in this thread.  I also like my vintage receiver but if you want to go down that road, research it well as in many cases they'll require maintenance (cleaning, recapping,....) that increases costs and some have components that are simply no longer obtainable.  Prepare to deal with that if you go down the vintage road.