[SuperDuke]

I had a chance to briefly hear this amp w/ open baffle speakers at Capital Audio Fest last year and was intrigued.



http://www.vkmusic.ca/TU-8600.htm

Has anyone built it? Impressions? Here is the only review I have found:

http://wallofsound.ca/uncategorized/quick-update-on-our-most-anticipated-new-amp-of-2017-review/

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

Really hard to say. I've heard great things and mixed things about the Elekit units. Never tried one myself, but I would hope it would sound excellent for this price. $2400 with the Lundahls is a little pricey to roll the dice, at least for my wallet

Now $700 on the other hand...

 

[ForSure]

I finished mine 8600 2 weeks ago with about 40 hours running time now. I have to say it is the best sounding amp IF you are listening to DSD or clean vinyl. This amp will pickup all little details in the music. However, with the vkmusic upgrade part, this will be a overkill as a dedicated headphone amp. Lately, I have been using my HD6XX with 8200dx with the golden lion ecc82 and EH-K88 and found that it is a good match, a lot more musical than the Grace design m9XX. I will be using the ekekit 8600 as home stereo and the 8200dx will be my office headphone amp.

 

[SuperDuke]

However, with the vkmusic upgrade part, this will be a overkill as a dedicated headphone amp.

In what way would you say it is overkill? Too powerful for sensitive headphones? thanks for the feedback

 

[ForSure]

First, the 8600 (with Lundahl upgrade) is a great sounding amp, which my wife approved the sound. So happy using it as a home stereo amp. The 8200DX is good enough for my HD6XX and AKG K702 headphone and the Audeze isine 10 IEM. Personally, I will not spend $2K for a dedicated headphone amp, that's why the 8600 is a overkill. The opinion may change if I tried other headphone in the future. I will spend the extra money for tube rolling, does this make sense? On the other hand, I am so happy to get the 8600 with Lundahl, what an amp! Purchase it if you are on the fence. The 8600 is a limited run product and the VKmusic only have a couple Lundahl left, which make this a rare combo. The Lundahl transformers are the special ingredient that make the 8600 amazing.

 

[SuperDuke]

Good clarification. I'll check in after building mine. My intention was to use this amp for difficult to drive HPs. the cost w/ upgrades does somewhat defeat the purpose of DIY however as 300B kits go it seems to be on par except for the transcendent sound kit mentioned earlier in this thread.

 

[ForSure]

Oh if you are going with the 8600, just go for the EVO Cap for now. The Caps are easy to replace. First settle on tubes, then consider a capacitor upgrade as a way of fine tuning the sound that last little bit. Mudurf Cap need at least 60 hours to burn in before the high treble settle back down. Great for Adele, ok for cellos. Consider reading the final thoughts for the 8340 review before picking the a Cap. http://wallofsound.ca/audioreviews/...h-lundahl-transformers-and-triangle-speakers/

 

[ForSure]

Mine 8600 are purchased from VKmusic using the following for now
Mundorf Supreme EVO Silver Gold oil
Gold Lion Gold (B749 X 2 + B759 X 1) + Gold PX300B X 2
Lundahl Transformer
Takman Carbon Resistor

I purchased the 8200DX from VKmusic 4 years ago using the following for now
Mundorf EVO
Gold Lion B749 X 2
electro harmonix KT88 X2

Hopefully this help.

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

Oh if you are going with the 8600, just go for the EVO Cap for now. The Caps are easy to replace.

Exactly right... and you might want to use something other than Mundorf. The carbon film resistors make a very minor difference, but they are something you'd want to do up-front as replacing a bunch of resistors isn't too much fun and can damage the board if you're not careful. I personally wouldn't bother unless you also plan to replace the Alps Blue with something nicer like an Audionote, TKD or stepped attenuator.

ForSure have you noticed any microphonics with the 300B? I know the Bottlehead BeePre can benefit from some weighting/damping of the 300B tubes as they can be a little on the sensitive side. Also, curious if you have heard any other tube amps you could compare to. Thanks

 

[SuperDuke]

Victor was nice enough to include the Takman resistors in my kit. Glad I got the lundahls while they are still available. I'll be able to compare to the Bottlehead Kaiju. To me the Kaiju is quite a nice amp. Somehow it's able to drive my 86db Monitors in a medium size space - not to earsplitting level but more than satisfying for Jazz

 

[ForSure]

Comparing the different carbon film resistors made is like comparing sound quality between mid quality MP3 and FLAC. While the Cap and tube change the signature of the sound.
When using the gold lion 300B, there isn't any microphonic.
Don't have any experience on different kind of potentiometer.
I "heard" from a lot of different amp. But the one I had "listen" to are Elekit 8200, 8600, grace design and O2+.
When using the Oppo 205 as source, the 8600 with my LS50 bookshelf (rated 85db) can be loud. Not so much when hooking up the turntable.

 

[ForSure]

How's your kit building? I am trying the Audeze LCD2-Classic with the 8600 right now. Will let you know how I feel.

 

[SuperDuke]

Nice!

I have mine almost 100% working. Victor is sending some standoffs for mounting the lundahls that were not included and I have something is not quite right w/ the volume pot - cutting in and out when I push on it. I think the pins are not in full contact w/ the jumper that connects the Pot to the PCB. otherwise when it's working it sounds really good- no problem driving Susvara or 86db monitors.

 

[ForSure]

The volume pot is a little bit tricky. But once it up, this thing is gold.

 

[SuperDuke]

The 8600 is a fantastic amp! Sounds excellent with the Susvara. Incredibly dynamic, detailed with tons of air.