[KR...]

Quote:

What are those headphone in the red foam case? Did that case come with the phones?

Oh my, maybe ver really needs to get a new camera

That's not mere foam, but Linen! That case is made of lush high grade leather. Of course, it comes with the headphones, and it better for that kind of money

They are the Sony MDR-R10.

You can buy one for yourself here :

http://www.themegifts.com/cgi-local/...1015+997072010

 

[Vertigo-1]

Well I'm glad you're all digging the pics.

Here I am posting on a cruddy connection line back home, hoping I don't get disconnected before I finish typing this post. Anyways, I only got to listen to the RKV for about 5 minutes, as it arrived only yesterday, one day before I had to leave, and I was busy packing. I feel like an idiot saying this with my measly amp experience, but it is by far the best amp I have heard. It acts as a floodgate to the music, instead of the rather drainage hole experience I've had with previous amps. Meaning, I just hear SO much more details with the RKV.

Unfortunately, I also had a really strange problem with the sound cutting in and out, and I think it's the tubes dying (corect me if I'm wrong)...the amp only worked for around the beginning of a song, and towards the end the sound just simply got warped horribly. As SumB said a while back, the tubes are pratically impossible to find too, but I managed to locate some in Canada, so once that comes in, and I get back to college, I'll be ready to really talk about it. But those mere 5 minutes I spent with the RKV and the R10s was simply bliss, and I can already tell, this amp is very, VERY good.


And that ain't no foam that the R10s sit on...it's linen I think, something like those thick red carpets they roll out for Kings.

 

[JohnActon]

Thanks for the preliminary reviwe of the RKV, Vertigo! I was just about to chime in with the others to request a review.

That thing looks beautiful, especially the internal circuitry - it oozes quality and workmanship.

Sorry to hear about your tube troubles. Are they new or used? My STAX tube amp (new) really did some weird things for the first two hours or so (distorting, one channel lower than the other, etc). This behavior only started after about 15 minutes of use; I let it run for a few hours, and somehow it fixed itself. I don't have any prior experience with tubes, so I don't know if this is normal, but maybe your amp is doing something similar?

Anyway, best of luck with the RKV. Please post a detailed review once you've had some more time to spend with it. It looks awesome!

Thanks for the pictures! Man, you trade in and out of equipment faster than I do (and I thought I was excessive). Those RS-1s didn't last long. Whenever I contemplate (or purchase) something new, I think of you and I don't feel so bad!

 

[Vertigo-1]

JohnActon, that is a very interesting suggestion there about just simply leaving the amp on for a while...it's certainly something I never got around to doing. The RKV is used, I pounced on it on Ebay, knowing it has been discontinued in favor of the much more expensive RKV Mark III that supposedly isn't much better then the Mark II. The seller did mention that the amp wasn't getting much use which was the reason for selling, so maybe the tubes do indeed just need more warmup time. Like I said, I only got to use it momentarily, just enough to rank it good or bad for now. Mainly, I wanted to see just how the R10s did with a high end tube amp, as they did horribly before with the MG Head, a rather budget tube amp.

On another note, should I be worried about plugging in the 40ohm R10s into the RKV's jacks which are rated between 100-2000 ohms? They actually sold a seperate adaptor for low impedance headphones, but finding that adaptor could be well impossible by now. I've read about how low impedance headphones can damage the tubes...

The RS-1s were traded away for the CD3000s...I'm just simply culling the good from the bad here.

What ain't good, ain't worth keeping around for the dust bites.

 

[JohnActon]

Boy, Vertigo, that's a good question - I have no idea. Maybe running your 40 ohm Sonys caused a problem. I would suggest contacting Audio Valve and asking them for their advice.

 

[bootman]

That amp is SWEET!

I found a pro review on it.

 

[bootman]

Quote:

Maybe running your 40 ohm Sonys caused a problem. I would suggest contacting Audio Valve and asking them for their advice.

JohnAction might have a point.

Here are the specs


Power Output 3 WPC (200 ohm load) <-----a 40 ohm load might be driving the amp into premature clipping!
Power Consumption 40 Watts
Power Bandwidth 15 Hz to 100000 Hz
Output Impedance 50 Ohm to 2000 Ohm
Damping factor 3600
Tubes 4 x PCL 805
OTL tube amplifier (pat. pending)
IC controlled bias
Class A
Dimensions 27 x 17 x 12 cm

 

[Vertigo-1]

I don't see how my R10s could cause a problem though, if the almighty Ken Kessler himself used a pair of Grados to put his demo RKV through its paces. Grados have an even lower ohm usage then the R10s. Also, I don't think the the problem lies in the headphones, because I got the same warped sound even with the Sennheiser HD-600s, and couldn't finish a song properly with it either. I think it's either the tubes take a long time to warm up, or they need to be replaced...

 

[JohnActon]

Vertigo, you may still want to contact Audio Valve to see what they say, but I think you're right - if they'll drive the 32 ohm Grados, they shouldn't have trouble with the 40 ohm Sonys.

If you bought it used, then I'm starting to wonder if one or more of the tubes isn't bad, like you first suspected. Once tubes are broken in, do they have to re-break in after long periods of disuse? My hunch is to say no, but I have admittedly little experience with tube gear.

Couldn't help but read the above specs (thanks, Bootman) and wonder - if that thing has enough gain (different from output wattage), it might make a terrific amp for the AKG K100s. Hmmm...

 

[markl]

Is it my selective memory, or has everyone who bought the RKV had a problem?

 

[Tomcat]

Quote:

if they'll drive the 32 ohm Grados, they shouldn't have trouble with the 40 ohm Sonys.

Not necessarily. Impedance is generally frequency dependent. Could be that the royal Sonys are their nominal 40 Ohms at 1kHz and have devilishly low impedance in the bass. Anyway, sad to hear, that you have trouble with your new amp, Vertigo.

 

[davidcotton]

[QUOTEYou can buy one for yourself here :

http://www.themegifts.com/cgi-local/...1015+997072010 [/B][/QUOTE]


Not at THOSE prices I wont

 

[Holy Zoo]

Hey! Where'd the pictures go?

 

[jude]

I think PhotoPoint pretty much eliminated their free service.

I had to move my pics because the same thing happened to me.

 

[Neruda]

that's too bad...