K-1000 Amp Needed

[SimpJee]

The max I'll pay is $2,000 (or so)

I listen to a lot of electronica, and metal. Some classical and opera. I'd be running this through a DAC1.

I've searched through the forums on this subject, but I thought I'd make this personalized for me.

Thanks in advance

 

[Asr]

I saw the Cayin HA-1A recommended for use with the K1000 when I searched this forum on the subject of the amp just several days ago. It's a tube amp, you didn't say if you preferred tube or solid-state. As far as solid-state, I've seen some people here use a Sonic Impact T-Amp.

The Cayin is currently available from ttvj.com for $614.50, lasts only until the 31st though.

 

[sacd lover]

The Pass Labs Aelph3 and the Monarchy Audio sm-70 pro are excellent k1000 amps .... especially if you dont want to mess with tubes. I am not sure if the Aelph3 is still in production though, but the Monarchy is. If you dont mind tubes the Prima Luna Prolouge One is a fantastic amp with the k1000's. The Monarchy is available for around $700 directly from the manufacturer .... I paid $686 for mine. The Prima Luna is priced at $1195.

www.monarcyaudio.com

www.upscaleaudio.com

 

[tom hankins]

Has anyone used the Manley amps with the K1000? There are some great used amps on audiogon right now all under 1500.00. A pr. of Manley Mahi monoblocks and a couple Stingray integrated amps.

 

[vpivinylspinner]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tom hankins Has anyone used the Manley amps with the K1000? There are some great used amps on audiogon right now all under 1500.00. A pr. of Manley Mahi monoblocks and a couple Stingray integrated amps.

I hooked my K1000s up to my Stingray for a bit and I did not like it. Definite loss of dynamics compared to the Class A solid states I use. The Pass Labs amps I use were significantly better in my opinion. The new Singlepower balanced PPX drove the K1000s in balanced mode pretty well and its inclusion of a dedicated K1000 jack is a nice addition.

 

[mrarroyo]

How about the baby sophia?

 

[tom hankins]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vpivinylspinner I hooked my K1000s up to my Stingray for a bit and I did not like it. Definite loss of dynamics compared to the Class A solid states I use. The Pass Labs amps I use were significantly better in my opinion. The new Singlepower balanced PPX drove the K1000s in balanced mode pretty well and its inclusion of a dedicated K1000 jack is a nice addition.

The Pass Labs 350.5 was one of the two amps I came down to with the JC-1's before deciding I liked the Parasounds more for my speaker system. Now that I have the Thiels I am thinking about the big Pass monoblocks (600) in my distant future.
SimpJee, I've had so much great luck with the sound of both my SinglePower amps, that I would probably tell Mikhail how much money I can spend and have him build me a nice amp for the K1000.

 

[PeeeMeS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sacd lover The Pass Labs Aelph3 and the Monarchy Audio sm-70 pro are excellent k1000 amps .... especially if you dont want to mess with tubes. I am not sure if the Aelph3 is still in production though, but the Monarchy is. If you dont mind tubes the Prima Luna Prolouge One is a fantastic amp with the k1000's. The Monarchy is available for around $700 directly from the manufacturer .... I paid $686 for mine. The Prima Luna is priced at $1195. www.monarcyaudio.com www.upscaleaudio.com

Has anyone compared Pass Labs Aleph 3, Other Pass Labs Amps, Monarchy SM-70(and the different versions) or the Monarchy SE-100 (and the different versions)? Criteria bit high? Ok, perhaps not... so anyone who has any experience with any of the two above please chime in

 

[varro]

Anyone knows how would my amp (str-de475) drive the k1000. I have read that bad amp like sonic impact-t might kill them. And I would probably not get any sound from my Pav2v.

Here are the specs:
Manufacturer's rated output: 5 x 80W (0.7% THD, 8ohms, 1kHz)
Measured power output at 1kHz: 77.9W (0.11% THD, 8ohms)
Fidelity Firewall: 67.1W (0.06% THD, 8ohms, 1kHz)
Distortion at 50W: 0.02% (8ohms, 1kHz)
Frequency response: 20Hz-20kHz ±0.2dB

I dont have money atm to buy a good amp, and would like to listen them anyway in the meantime

 

[Jon L]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vpivinylspinner I hooked my K1000s up to my Stingray for a bit and I did not like it. Definite loss of dynamics compared to the Class A solid states I use. The Pass Labs amps I use were significantly better in my opinion. The new Singlepower balanced PPX drove the K1000s in balanced mode pretty well and its inclusion of a dedicated K1000 jack is a nice addition.

BTW, did you ever come to more conclusions about Pass 3, 30, J via K1000?

 

[Uncle Erik]

Have you considered building your own or hiring a builder? You might want to think about this one:

http://www.pmillett.com/ecc99_srpp_headphone_amp.htm

Pete Millett designed this amp specifically for the K-1000. I'm on the verge of building it. Most expensive are the Sowter transformers from England, but I've got them. I've got the rest of the parts, too. Suppose about $400 into it right now.

This weekend, I'll finish off (hopefully) the Dickman tube amp for Grados. Next weekend, I'll start drilling and punching holes in a chassis for the ECC99 SRPP. I haven't heard one yet, but I do have a Millett Hybrid and a tremendous amount of respect for Millett.

If someone as good as him designed an amp just for the K-1000, well, that was enough to get me to buy all the parts and take a whack at it. I'll post impressions when I'm done, but take a look at it if you have any interest.

 

[vpivinylspinner]

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeeeMeS Has anyone compared Pass Labs Aleph 3, Other Pass Labs Amps, Monarchy SM-70(and the different versions) or the Monarchy SE-100 (and the different versions)? Criteria bit high? Ok, perhaps not... so anyone who has any experience with any of the two above please chime in

I have the Pass Labs Aleph 3, 30, and J and the SM-70. I prefer the 30 to all the others. The difference between the 3 and 30 is the most significant for the Pass Labs amps. The difference between the 30 and the J is very minimal so I probably dock it a few points because the J cost so much more than a used 30. I keep the SM-70 because it is so small and can be carried to meets, etc. It sounds pretty good for the money I paid for it. I think all of these solid state Class A amps sound better than any of the tube amps I have heard the K1000s on.

 

[Patrick82]

The new UnderwoodHiFi modified PS Audio GCC-100 sounds smooth like tubes, and has higher resolution than class A solid-state amps.
With K1000 connected it takes less than 10 watts so I can have music running 24/7 to keep K1000 sounding warm. The thing I like the most is that you can press a button and ALL lights go off in the display, no LEDs or anything, it's all black.
This amp has all I need, I will keep it until Nordost makes an ICEpower amp with silver plated circuit boards.

 

[Ferbose]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrarroyo How about the baby sophia?

I have the Asian version of the Sophia amp that looks identical, except that output tubes are EL84, which actually allows tube rolling. It is a pretty good speaker amp for under $1k but I prefer K1000 on Cayin HA-1A. I also tried Almarro A205A, which is as good as Cayin. Almarro has better bass and resolution (pentode mode), but Cayin has sweeter tone (triode mode).

 

[choariwap]

srajan ebaen from 6 moons thinks the firstwatt f1 and the red wine audio signature 30 are two of the best amps for k1000s, with the sig 30 having a warmer sound.

they go for less than 2K usd...

i'm having an F1 built myself