[Lil' Knight]

Sad to hear there are more and more problems with the Khozmos... My friend just got one of his B22's channels burnt because of a short to ground in his Khozmo.

 

[J-Pak]

This is a bit weird, they usually make really good stuff in Eastern Europe

 

[ujamerstand]

Khozmos goes on to my blacklist.

 

[maverickronin]

Is anyone using relay switched resistor ladders or something similar?
 
That's what I'd go for if I was building something that high end.  Perfect channel matching, pretty much as many steps as you want, and far fewer points of failure than the Rube Goldberg-ness of a 4 pole 20+ throw switch.

 

[kevin gilmore]

I use my 8 bit step attenuators. 256 levels, perfectly matched
And .5 db per step. And digital balance if you want it, since
You need a pair for balanced.

If you have to buy a pot, get the P&G, those seem the best of the bunch

 

[Victor Chew]

Infact my bread new DACT is starting to make louder "pop" noises as I turn the volume knob. Was there when I first installed it; then it went away as I used it more and more; and now (after about 150 to 200 hours of total use) the "pops" are louder than when first installed it. I have never had attenuator problems with carbon ones unless they were worn. That would be after years and years of use.
 
Used to use the joshua peartree and it made a loud pop as the 12 o'clock was passed. Man the pop was loud.
 
What is happening to the manufacture of these thing?. If anyone came up with a good attentuator at a reasonable price there will be gold literally poring in. 

 

[gilency]

Victor, did you use the DACT for your KGSSHV?
Anybody knows where to buy the quad penny & giles?

 

[Victor Chew]

Yes, I use the DACT for my KGSShv. I have 3 more amps to build. 2 more than half done. I had placed an order with khozmo for 3 pieces of the round type but problems with their quality is forcing me to rethink for other choices.

 

[J-Pak]

IMO Elma rotary switches are fairly high quality and don't cost a fortune.

 

[HDMan]

I am leaving the Khozmo at a certain volume and adjusting with the A8 Realiser, seems to be soughting out the popping issue and I get to use a remote in my seat

 
 
On another note:
 
I just included a DAC with balanced XLR outputs, before i was using a RCA to XLR adaptor out of the Realiser. I can't really tell much difference, what am I looking for using balanced inputs on the KGSSHV?

 

[Victor Chew]

I believe that technically, double the voltage swing as signal input is x2 as compared to RCA; because XLR is pull and push (hot and cold will pull and push the signal). This gives us double the power. Using RCA only means that only half of each amp board in the KGSShv is amplifying the signal; either pull or push only depending whether you ground the hot or the cold.
 
Additionally, balanced will cancel out noise, whereas RCA would not.
 
In terms of sound, XLR should sound more powerful, especially when used with the hard to drive headphones (eg. O2mk1). Especially at the bass frequency, where the control comes.
 
I think in your case, you ought to fix the attenuator level of the source and use the Khozmo to do the rest. You are doing it the other way round and lowering the voltage swing which will cause a voltage sag if the impedance at the Khozmo is low at the set level (ie. being a shunt attenuator the input impedance at different travel will have a different impedance). If the voltage sags, you will hear less high frequency, and the music will sound more fat and wooly. However, I do stand corrected inrespect of the above if the experts feel otherwise. 
 
If there are "pops" in the Khozmo, perhaps you might want to try rotating the attenuator from zero to max as few times, of course with the amp off, to see if it solves the problem. Works on my DACT but after a while the "pops" come back.

 

[HDMan]

Quote:

I believe that technically, double the voltage swing as signal input is x2 as compared to RCA; because XLR is pull and push (hot and cold will pull and push the signal). This gives us double the power. Using RCA only means that only half of each amp board in the KGSShv is amplifying the signal; either pull or push only depending whether you ground the hot or the cold.

 
Yep your right, after carefully A/Bing back and forth with a single DTS-MA test track, plugging the RCA's then back to the XLR's, I now can here what you mean, there is a more powerfull sound through the XLR's.
 
Pops are not so prominent now, XLR's and the Khozmo pot turned down helps.

 

[deadlylover]

Quote:

I believe that technically, double the voltage swing as signal input is x2 as compared to RCA; because XLR is pull and push (hot and cold will pull and push the signal). This gives us double the power. Using RCA only means that only half of each amp board in the KGSShv is amplifying the signal; either pull or push only depending whether you ground the hot or the cold.

 
I'm pretty sure you get a balanced output no matter what input you use, using XLR just means double the output voltage, which doesn't really make a difference.

 

[HDMan]

Pops in the Khozmo are not there if I turn the knob fast.

 

[Victor Chew]

Quote:

 
I'm pretty sure you get a balanced output no matter what input you use, using XLR just means double the output voltage, which doesn't really make a difference.

If you use RCA you will probably ground the cold portion, which means there will be no signal from the cold. This leaves only the hot to provide the signal, therefore only have half the board pumping up the signal.