[sinisterm]

MMmmm, makes me want to get one... NOW... I guess it is time for my MKIII to give space for his big brother.

 

[nismohks]

how is the mkivse with the akg k701?

i want to get a k701 but was wondering how this amp handles the low impedance k701

 

[apatN]

Count me in the MKIV SE camp! This things sounds great and is a big improvement over my akai amp.
Can anyone perhaps email me the user manual? Also, I need to go in a few minutes. All the switches should be put to off with my 250OHM DT880, right?

 

[apatN]

Okay, so I got the manual. I'm a bit hesitant to change the gain switches. I believe it's now set at a gain of 10. Should I leave it there or put it to gain 5 for my DT880s?

 

[say3true]

Hello to all,

Some months ago I purchased a Little MKIVse from the classifieds here. I love the sound of the amp, the price/performance ratio is, for my ears, terrrific.

However--

When I first got the amp, a crackling/hissing appeared in a short time in the right channel. Got on the Little Dot website. Was advised by David from Little Dot that I could send it back, they would transfer warranty coverage and fix it for me.

This was evidently an earlier MKIVse which needed a redesigned circuit board to fix varying voltages from the power tubes.

Got the amp back, settled in to listen. A week or two later it started to crackle again. This time I reversed position of the power tubes and it appeared that I had a bad power tube (6H30PI). Ordered a pair of Sovteks and installed. In a short time, the amp started to crackle again, I reversed the power tubes again and thought I must have gotten a bad tube. So I just bought another one and the crackling might have improved, but is still there.

Maybe I am slow to catch on as to what the real problem is. Should I just ditch this amp? I DON'T want to spend another $100+ to ship it back to China for another fix. It sounds great (other than the crackling) but my patience is running out....

Thanks for any help.

 

[Dept_of_Alchemy]

Try a pair of the higher quality Electro Harmonix 6H30Pi. You can find it on ebay at Yen Audio's store.

 

[Pricklely Peete]

Clean the pins on the driver tubes ? They are NOS tubes and may need some pin lovin'

Peete.

 

[say3true]

I appreciate the suggestions on the Little Dot. The noise in the right channel has actually diminished quite a lot since I posted about the problem--I hear a faint crackle occasionally now. I have left the amp on for the last several days after putting in the new Sovtek 6H30PI on the right side, thinking that further burn-in might settle down some of the noise. Maybe that's happened to some extent.

Will try cleaning the driver tube pins as suggested. Busy work hours and will try to do that later tonight or tomorrow afternoon when I get home. Will report on that. If that doesn't make a difference I'll consider upgrading the power tubes to the Electro-Harmonix gold pin 6H30PI.

A point of note though, or a question. I read a post by Kevin Deal at Audio Asylum, I think, in which he stated that the Electro-Harmonix Gold Pin 6H30PI is identical to the Sovtek 6H30PI, with the exception of the better gold pins. So, I am not sure if the gold pins are that important in resolving the noise in the Little Dot. ??

 

[eboy2003]

Can anyone recently bought MK IV or SE check whether your board have Dale resistors, Mallory and Solen capacitors as advertised? I bought a MK IV (non-SE) version three weeks ago, and found the board is full of normal 5-band resistors, and use Rubycon instead of Mallory, even worse, the output capacitor is Phoenix instead of Solen. I checked with David before making the purchase and he is saying the MK IV and SE uses the exactly same board and internal components, only differences are tubes and RCA connectors and phone jacks. A little bit disappointed...

 

[Penchum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by say3true /img/forum/go_quote.gif I appreciate the suggestions on the Little Dot. The noise in the right channel has actually diminished quite a lot since I posted about the problem--I hear a faint crackle occasionally now. I have left the amp on for the last several days after putting in the new Sovtek 6H30PI on the right side, thinking that further burn-in might settle down some of the noise. Maybe that's happened to some extent. Will try cleaning the driver tube pins as suggested. Busy work hours and will try to do that later tonight or tomorrow afternoon when I get home. Will report on that. If that doesn't make a difference I'll consider upgrading the power tubes to the Electro-Harmonix gold pin 6H30PI. A point of note though, or a question. I read a post by Kevin Deal at Audio Asylum, I think, in which he stated that the Electro-Harmonix Gold Pin 6H30PI is identical to the Sovtek 6H30PI, with the exception of the better gold pins. So, I am not sure if the gold pins are that important in resolving the noise in the Little Dot. ??

Hey S3T,

Sorry to hear you are having difficulties! It looks like (and I hope) things are working out better now. That statement from KD isn't entirely the whole story on those 6H30PI tubes. The "gold" tubes are supposed to have better tolerances internally, and the gold pins to make sure you get to hear the difference. The other side of this is, the 6H30PI-NOS's were made in the 1970's usually, and many argue that they are superior because of this.

My testing has shown me that there is an SQ difference between all the models, so that can be important. The gold ones have one big problem though, which is a higher failure rate. I would recommend getting a matched set from Yen Audio (I had to do this too) and clean the pins prior to installing them. They will need at least 45 hours to mature, but a good set will behave themselves during that time.

Earlier in this thread, there are pictures of three resistors located at the very back of the mainboard, with one of them toasted big time. As a last resort, please check your three resistors by carefully removing the back plate and looking with a flashlight. I hope they are ok, but if not, LD knows exactly what caused this and can help you get back on your feet.

I hope this helps some!!

 

[Bozz_Keren]

yesterday i have this crackling noise through left channel, is my tube going to go out or the pin is dirty?

 

[say3true]

Just an update. I haven't heard more noise.

I cleaned the pins on the driver tubes.

Will keep listening....

 

[eboy2003]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eboy2003 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Can anyone recently bought MK IV or SE check whether your board have Dale resistors, Mallory and Solen capacitors as advertised? I bought a MK IV (non-SE) version three weeks ago, and found the board is full of normal 5-band resistors, and use Rubycon instead of Mallory, even worse, the output capacitor is Phoenix instead of Solen. I checked with David before making the purchase and he is saying the MK IV and SE uses the exactly same board and internal components, only differences are tubes and RCA connectors and phone jacks. A little bit disappointed...

Just confirmed with David and Mr Yang the non-SE MK IV uses less hi-fi quality components (resistors and capacitors) on board. This is not mentioned anywhere in their description. I did not purchase the SE version because I have a big collection of tubes from tube rolling on my MK III. Now I'm regretted for not getting SE. Probably will have to do all component upgrades myself now...

 

[Bozz_Keren]

@eboy2003
IMO MKIV is the base for modding, why spend another $100 for tubes and better components when you can mod them yourself with half the price
i'm looking forward to modding them when i got the chance

 

[Penchum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by eboy2003 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Just confirmed with David and Mr Yang the non-SE MK IV even uses less hi-fi quality components (resistors and capacitors) on board. This is not mentioned anywhere in their description. I did not purchase the SE version because I have a big collection of tubes from tube rolling on my MK III. Now I'm regretted for not getting SE. Probably will have to do all component upgrades myself now...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bozz_Keren /img/forum/go_quote.gif @eboy2003 IMO MKIV is the base for modding, why spend another $100 for tubes and better components when you can mod them yourself with half the price i'm looking forward to modding them when i got the chance

WOW! That is new news to me! That has to be a recent change, because some folks with the standard MKIV have posted pics, and their internals look just like the MKIVse's did (a few months back).

BK is right on the modding idea, since you have the MKIV in hand. Sorry it had to be you to find this out, but I'm glad you have quickly shared it here!

One of my many backlogged projects, is to do a simple cost effective upgrade to my MKIVse. Replace a few caps, and bypass those and others with PIO Russian caps. PP has helped me figure out which ones are the "biggest bang for the buck" on this project, so I have all the parts here, waiting for it's turn on the work bench.

When completed, matured and tested properly, I'll be posting a DIY review of the project, so others can take advantage of the same ideas.