[88Sound]

I have been waiting a couple of weeks for Mullard tubes I ordered from Chelmer Valve in the UK to try in my RKV. I love the way the stock tubes sound but love to experiment. I also wanted to see if different tubes would give the RKV a slightly greater treble extension.

The Mullards finally arrived and with great anticipation I carefully removed the Polamps, inserted the Mullards and with the volume on zero turned on the RKV. I heard a loud click and one of the Mullards flashed a bright purple, but then appeared to glow normally. When I listened to the RKV I noticed a slight distortion in the left channel, so I swapped the tube that I thought might be bad....no change.. I swapped the tubes from left to right...no change....I removed the Mullards and reinserted the Polamps....no change. OK now I'm worried.

I looked at all the fuses, measured them, swapped them, changed inputs, changed everything and eventually came to the conclusion there was a damaged component on the RKV circuit board responsible for the left channel.....Oh Tartar Sauce!

I immediately e-mailed Jan Meier who immediately e-mailed Helmut Becker (the designer of the RKV) who immediately e-mailed me asking for more detailed information about the problem I was having.

After detailing my problem to Mr. Becker and requesting a solution that did not involve the expense and inconvenience of mailing the RKV to Germany if possible...........[size=xx-small]here comes the good part![/size]

Helmut e-mailed me a picture of the circuit with arrows and values and had me measure a specific resistor on the circuit board. The resistor on the left channel side was open! (Bad). I went to my local electronics store, purchased the same resistor ($1) and soldered it on the legs of the existing bad resistor (since this resistor was completely open this can be done safely) and Voila! My RKV is good as new!

Here comes the moral of the story:

Dear Mr. Becker & Dr. Meier, (aka Helmut & Jan),

I want to thank you for the excellent customer service I just experienced from both of you! From a problem Tuesday night to full resolution Thursday afternoon, It doesn't get any better than this. When there are no problems it can sometimes be difficult to tell who is a good dealer or good manufacturer. You have both proven that you are the best at what you do and you care about your customers.

The RKV sounds wonderful again. I am a VERY satisfied customer.

Thank you very much,

88Sound

 

[timoteus]

I'm glad to hear that you have solved the problem. It definitely proves how invaluable good customer support is. When you need it you really need it and there is no good substitute.

Did you roll the Mullards back in and do a comparison?

 

[88Sound]

Quote:

[size=xx-small]Originally posted by timoteus[/size] Did you roll the Mullards back in and do a comparison?

The Mullards are in the RKV now but it will take me a while to sort out my impressions. I haven't yet rolled the Polamps back in. My initial impression is that the Mullards do not roll off the high end as much but I'm not sure if I like that or not. The Polamps seem to be the perfect match for the K1000's. I'm waiting for the impedancer before I start getting some concrete ideas about my low impedance phones. The only two phones I'm using at the moment with the RKV are the K1000's and HP-2's. Although the HP-2's are low impedance (40 Ohms) they are less sensitive than my other Grados or Audio Technica's and give good results with the RKV although there is a slight hiss with the volume control on zero.

 

[Hirsch]

I've heard Dusty Chalk's RKV with both Mullards and Pollards, and think it sounds very similar (and good) with either tube. He's the one who should comment in more detail, though.

 

[Dusty Chalk]

Quote:

Originally posted by Hirsch I've heard Dusty Chalk's RKV with both Mullards and Pollards, and think it sounds very similar (and good) with either tube. He's the one who should comment in more detail, though.

Actually, that's Polamps, and yes, I should comment more. I find the RKV responds to tuberolling less than other tube amps that I have heard, but I haven't had much experience in the area. I've only tried two or three different types of PCL805's.

 

[markl]

Not a thread crap, but I seem to remember an awfully disproportionate amount of posts in which the RKV has broken down in some way. Anyone else notice this, or is it just me?

Mark