bearwise
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2001
- Posts
- 142
- Likes
- 10
After an almost 6 month wait (!!!), I finally got this little beast last night. YOU have to wonder about Audio Valves distributors, I got it through Hurricane Audio and I'm not sure the distributor ever gave Bruce at Hurricane an even slightly accurate estimate of delivery time: it's been going to ship in two weeks for 5 months now. Bruce has been good about this whole thing, no complaints from him, I was told it ws finally imported in the personal luggage of AuidoValves owner on a New York trip (!). I hope Jan Meier has beeter luck with htese guys, because I love the amp, and I'm very glad I held out for this baby.
FIrst thing, I'm very much a fan of the Grado sound. I own an RS-2 and the cheapest Allessandro/Grado phones, and I got hooked in this hobby with the incredible sound I was getting from the the Grados and my first amp , a Grado RA-1. Also have Senn HD600's (lately with the Cardas cables) and they are great phones, smooth, but never had that impact and natural dynamic feeling that I got with the RS-2's.
Several thousand dollars later, I have been using my RKV with Senn's and only using the Grados with another amp. The RS-2's never sounded very good on the RKV, loss of dynamics, that hiss that has been mentioned in other threads, the consequence in using low impedence phones with an amp designed for high impedence loads. So, I have been using the Senn's heavily, till last night.
Man, the Grados are back on top. Using the impedence box, the hiss is gone, the impact is there in spades, the tonal balance is wonderful. The Senn's sound veiled (almost muffled) in comparison. The bass is noticibly heavier with the Senn's, but I'm starting to feel that the Senn/RKV combination perhaps over emphasizes the lower octaves, The bass response with the RS-2's sounds more balanced, and integrated .
I fyou are a Grado fan and are thinking of an RKV, IMHO you HAVE to have one of these. They are hard to find, evidently they are made to order since there has been such a low demand for them, but perhaps Jan offereing the line will improve the availabiliy.
FIrst thing, I'm very much a fan of the Grado sound. I own an RS-2 and the cheapest Allessandro/Grado phones, and I got hooked in this hobby with the incredible sound I was getting from the the Grados and my first amp , a Grado RA-1. Also have Senn HD600's (lately with the Cardas cables) and they are great phones, smooth, but never had that impact and natural dynamic feeling that I got with the RS-2's.
Several thousand dollars later, I have been using my RKV with Senn's and only using the Grados with another amp. The RS-2's never sounded very good on the RKV, loss of dynamics, that hiss that has been mentioned in other threads, the consequence in using low impedence phones with an amp designed for high impedence loads. So, I have been using the Senn's heavily, till last night.
Man, the Grados are back on top. Using the impedence box, the hiss is gone, the impact is there in spades, the tonal balance is wonderful. The Senn's sound veiled (almost muffled) in comparison. The bass is noticibly heavier with the Senn's, but I'm starting to feel that the Senn/RKV combination perhaps over emphasizes the lower octaves, The bass response with the RS-2's sounds more balanced, and integrated .
I fyou are a Grado fan and are thinking of an RKV, IMHO you HAVE to have one of these. They are hard to find, evidently they are made to order since there has been such a low demand for them, but perhaps Jan offereing the line will improve the availabiliy.