K1000: connectors vs. jacks

[spinali]

I've been looking at the K1000, and especially the fact that they have to be plugged into a stereo for proper SQ - hence the absence of 1/4 inch or mini jacks.

The following is a hypothetical, though I'm certain some have tried, or perhaps even succeded): how would a moderately powerful headphone amp with a 1/4" or mini jack handle the challenge?

 

[akwok]

I've ran the K1000s with a 1/4" out of the purportedly best headphone amp for them -- the Audiovalve RKV MKII -- and it sounded good. A synergistic power amp sounds much, much nicer though and is able to fully control the K1000s, something the RKV has trouble doing.

 

[J-Pak]

Nearly any headphone amp with high enough gain will be able to take them to really loud levels. Before getting my Pass Labs amp I was just using the headphone out of an external soundcard. Even works fine with the headphone out of the Lavry DA10.

But when properly driven the improvement is tremendous.

 

[nikongod]

a panzy-sauce amp can run the k1000 decently.

they do improve with "excessive power overhead" though.

i run my k1000 from millet. both diamond buffers and stacked (2) buf-634's have no problems getting them to sing to very good levels.

the reason that a 7W power amp (or more) is reccomended is that 7W into 8 ohms translates to a 7v(rms) swing. 7v(rms) into 100ohms is 0.5W which is well within the power handling of even the dip8 buf-634.

i have 1/4" jacks for the k1000, they are awsome.

 

[kontai69]

Dumb question...
How are you guys using the K1000 with a headphone jack of an headphone amp? I'm guessing you reterminate its "speaker" wire ends to a headphone plug or use some kind of adapter? I"ve listened to the K1000 couple times before at meets and they are great headphones.

 

[J-Pak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by kontai69 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Dumb question... How are you guys using the K1000 with a headphone jack of an headphone amp? I'm guessing you reterminate its "speaker" wire ends to a headphone plug or use some kind of adapter? I"ve listened to the K1000 couple times before at meets and they are great headphones.

XLR converter to 1/4" jack. The K1000 has male XLR jack termination

 

[spinali]

Quote:

Dumb question...

Don't make me feel bad. I had to answer the same question myself.

Actually, the high-rent approach would be to terminate the K1000 with a Stefan AudioArt cable (a couple ways to do this). Of course, you'll have to pay nearly $400 for the operation, presuming you give credence to the whole "cable" thing. For most people, it seems the adapters seem to work just fine.

 

[nikongod]

this photo was taken at the nyc meet a couple weeks ago.
me listening to my k1000 from a headphone amp.

the little blue thing between the ipod white cable, and the amp is an adapter. it only needs to be a couple inches long.

if you are interested in running the k1000 from a headphone amp, i HIGHLY recommend just having a whole adapter built, and not chopping up the stock speaker cable. although the stock speaker cable sucks like j-lo, it may be useful later on.

 

[tmarshl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spinali /img/forum/go_quote.gif Don't make me feel bad. I had to answer the same question myself. Actually, the high-rent approach would be to terminate the K1000 with a Stefan AudioArt cable (a couple ways to do this). Of course, you'll have to pay nearly $400 for the operation, presuming you give credence to the whole "cable" thing. For most people, it seems the adapters seem to work just fine.

Just wanted to enter a vote for upgrading the entire K1000 cable with the Stefan Audio Art Equinox hardwire cable. Yes, it is expensive, but it makes an incredible difference and it worth every penny, IMHO. Also, be sure to drive the K1000s with an adequate amplifier. I am using the highly-recommended First Watt F1 and couldn't be happier.