[scottiebabie]

sphinxvc hows this for an experiment - atleast to test if your pioneers at fault. try listening to a copy of "Natalie Merchant - Tigerlily (MFSL Gold CD)" at the exact or even higher vol that u hear sibilance/fatigue with other material. to my ears, i find almost zero sibilance issues with this album at any vol that i can handle with my Sansui amp. if its theres no issues, than i can only extrapolate that its more likely than not, just a case of treble centric cans with a less than optimal synergistic amp. just my 2cents ofcos.
 
as for your Sony AV receiver, im pretty sure the headouts an opamp deal so theres no way no how its gonna output enuff juice for the 5LEs. even an ipod mite power the hifimans but that dont mean its powering it well or anywhere close to its potential. again my 2cent ofcos.

 

[BmWr75]

Never noticed that.  I have no idea.  Maybe because it looks fast just sitting still!  

 

[scottiebabie]

Quote:

A buddy at work gave me this Kenwood KR-9050 to check out today.  Just checked the DC bias on both channels.  Left - -11.7 mV, Right = +10.5 mV  Receiver appears to be all original, no restoration.
 

im pretty sure the KR9050s kenwoods version of the pioneer 1250/80. if its in full functional condition plus minor cosmetic defects, i'd pay as much as $200-$300 but thats just me. im sure these babies have sold on upay for more.
 
if by DC bias u mean DC offset, then optimal value should be zero as close as possible. if its Bias (or Quiescent) current, then its very likely to be slightly higher - more likely than not 20-30mv factory spec.
 
edit: FWIW even though not optimal, a DC offset of 10ish mv isnt much to lose sleep over as anything to 20mv is considered acceptable & up to 50mv, acceptable as safe. OTOH an under Bias'd amp mite sound slow & flabby while a high Bias mite make the amp edgy & grainy so the demo mite not reflect true capabilities. YMMV

 

[BmWr75]

Meant DC offset, corrected the earlier post.

 

[cifani090]

Quote:

A buddy at work gave me this Kenwood KR-9050 to check out today.  Just checked the DC offset on both channels.  Left - -11.7 mV, Right = +10.5 mV  Receiver appears to be all original, no restoration.
 
Will look at zeroing it tomorrow and checking the Bias.
 
Here are a couple of pictures.  It is in very good cosmetic shape, expect for a broken 3 way toggle switch cover.  Wonder how easy it will be to find one of those?  
 
Can potential value be talked about in this thread?  I'd like to get some input on a fair offer.

Is he giving it to you, or is he having you service it?
 

 

[Frank I]

 
Quote:

im pretty sure the KR9050s kenwoods version of the pioneer 1250/80. if its in full functional condition plus minor cosmetic defects, i'd pay as much as $200-$300 but thats just me. im sure these babies have sold on upay for more.
 
if by DC bias u mean DC offset, then optimal value should be zero as close as possible. if its Bias (or Quiescent) current, then its very likely to be slightly higher - more likely than not 20-30mv factory spec.
 
edit: FWIW even though not optimal, a DC offset of 10ish mv isnt much to lose sleep over as anything to 20mv is considered acceptable & up to 50mv, acceptable as safe. OTOH an under Bias'd amp mite sound slow & flabby while a high Bias mite make the amp edgy & grainy so the demo mite not reflect true capabilities. YMMV

There isa one on ebay for 750.00 if you want it LOL too rich for me
 
 

 

[BmWr75]

Quote:

Is he giving it to you, or is he having you service it?
 

Neither, let me borrow it to see if I want to buy it.
 

 

[davo50]

 
Quote:

woaah finally another X17 player! my feelings about the x17s are fairly well defined on this thread so im more than glad to have another partner in crime onboard LOLOL! i think alot if not most SS amps will sound bright(er) when compare to a similar tubie so its not that strange. what i do lov about my 517 its lack of vocal sibilancesssss (comparatively) & its very nice combo of smoothness & organic warmth without losing any upper info.
 
do ensure that the pots & controls are well cleaned & lubricated as a dirty/oxidized pot can be a source of distortion. its ridiculous easy to adjust both DC offset & Bias current so do ensure u set to factory spec at the very least. i enjoyed playing with higher Bias & finally settled on 24mv +-1mv as best sounding on my dynamic cans. on the HE5LE, there isnt that much of a difference. your LCD2 should like a higher than factory setting guessing by my experiences but waddaikno.
 
do give us more impressions & welcome to the club!
 
ps: REX nice pickup on the R9 yami bud. lets us know how it sounds comparo to the now gone sansui willya  
 

I have had my 717 for a week or so now.  The head-out sounds surprisingly good, but doesn't seem to be nearly as powerful as the Pioneer receivers being reported.  No way with the HE-6.  It's in pristine condition cosmetically, but I am considering sending it off for a re-furb / re-cap and may get the resistor(s) changed on the head-out for more power.  I will get the tu-717 tuner in next week.  They look great stacked but will have to start another rack next to my present one to stack them together. I'll try to post some pics once that happens.  I haven't tried it with my speakers yet.  I am waiting on some adaptors for the spring clips from Paul Grzybek.  I may PM you Scottie for a little help with adjusting the bias?
 

 

[donunus]

heres a vintage amp I found
 

 
 
 
 
It's pretty decent actually. the headphone jack is slightly better in tonality vs the fiio e9 except for a slight rolloff on the highest octave
 

 

[cifani090]

Quote:

heres a vintage amp I found
 
It's pretty decent actually. the headphone jack is slightly better in tonality vs the fiio e9 except for a slight rolloff on the highest octave

Ohhhhhh nice, what kind is it? Im liking it similarly to my K9000gx
 

 

[scottiebabie]

Quote:

 

I have had my 717 for a week or so now.  The head-out sounds surprisingly good, but doesn't seem to be nearly as powerful as the Pioneer receivers being reported.  No way with the HE-6.  It's in pristine condition cosmetically, but I am considering sending it off for a re-furb / re-cap and may get the resistor(s) changed on the head-out for more power.  I will get the tu-717 tuner in next week.  They look great stacked but will have to start another rack next to my present one to stack them together. I'll try to post some pics once that happens.  I haven't tried it with my speakers yet.  I am waiting on some adaptors for the spring clips from Paul Grzybek.  I may PM you Scottie for a little help with adjusting the bias?
 

no worries bigguy be glad to help. much as i would like to be a credithog, the fact is that its Sansui that made the 517/717 muy simple for DC & Bias adjustments. our 2 models share the same service manual & hence the same Bias specs too. all u need are some basic simple tools & ya golden. PM when u're ready.
 
however woudnt the shop do all this too if u send it out for a refurb? also if u're going to go all out here, consider changing the crappy springloaded binding posts to some modern 5way posts. it does require a bit of fabrication work but its muy simple once the amp is apart. personally i would think twice (&perhaps thrice) before changing the headphone jack's stepdown resistor value. if all u are using is the HE6, then u wouldnt even need a resistor as the HE6 can def handle the main amp out. however if u do have plans to use it with conventional headphones, u mite lose quite a fair bit of vol headroom. eg my HD650 barely makes it to 9 o'clk on the vol dial & trust me when i tell u im not listening softly at that.
 
again if u are sending it to the shop, they can do a slightly more involved resistor mod that'll make the headphone out to approx 5v 120ohms headout which'll make it about the best compro for most cans. then all yous gotta do is drive the HE6 from the speaker taps with a pigtail adapter cable - something to ponder.
 
as for as stock headphone output, i dont find it much different from any of my other vintage amps/receivers as most of my cans require about the same vol level. personally i never liked driving my 5LEs from the headout & much prefered the speaker taps. i thought it was cos of the impedance/load mismatch (38ohm-5LE & 220ohm-headout) till Skylab mentioned something about planar/orthos not being affected by impedance & damping factor. if thats the case, im thinking its cos of the restricted current output (thru the headphone jacks 220ohm resistors) as opposed to the unrestricted speaker outs but waddaikno. alls i can says try it via the speaker outs & determine for yourself. 

 

[scottiebabie]

Quote:

 
There isa one on ebay for 750.00 if you want it LOL too rich for me
 
 

O thxs for the heads up Frank but im gonna havta pass. 750 + shipping to boot is jussssssss a tad too rich for my blood too. LOL

 

[donunus]

Quote:

Ohhhhhh nice, what kind is it? Im liking it similarly to my K9000gx
 

Kenwood KR-6600. I checked online and the ones Ive seen look naked. Mine is still a woody
 

 

[wualta]

"High Speed" refers to the amps in the Kenwood. This was back during the time when everyone was looking for causes and solutions to the problem(s) of "transistor sound". Some fixed on the concept of slew rate and tried to make their circuitry linear up far past 20kHz, giving them ridiculously short rise times. You'll see terms like "high slew rate" and "wideband" tossed about in reviews of the time. Kenwood produced some very high end monoblock amps with model names like L-05/6/7, with preamps to go with them-- very interesting designs, well worth a lookup.
So whether the Kenwood sounds better than the average ~1979 receiver/amp or not, it means the Kenwood guys were at least listening and trying to improve their products' sound.

 

[sphinxvc]

Quote:

sphinxvc hows this for an experiment - atleast to test if your pioneers at fault. try listening to a copy of "Natalie Merchant - Tigerlily (MFSL Gold CD)" at the exact or even higher vol that u hear sibilance/fatigue with other material. to my ears, i find almost zero sibilance issues with this album at any vol that i can handle with my Sansui amp. if its theres no issues, than i can only extrapolate that its more likely than not, just a case of treble centric cans with a less than optimal synergistic amp. just my 2cents ofcos.
 
as for your Sony AV receiver, im pretty sure the headouts an opamp deal so theres no way no how its gonna output enuff juice for the 5LEs. even an ipod mite power the hifimans but that dont mean its powering it well or anywhere close to its potential. again my 2cent ofcos.

 
Listened to Natalie Scottie, there's little to no sibilance, however, the overall presentation is still a bit tiring.  It's subtle, I admit, but over a long session it tends to wear on you.  I don't feel like throwing $450 at a Schiit Lyr so I'm really keen to try the speaker tap route.
 
The only thing that's stopping me at this point is the confusion between 5-channel and stereo receivers.  
 
If I speaker tap my 5-channel Sony from the front-left and front-right speakers is it effectively identical to tapping a stereo receiver like the Pioneer?