[433521]

My, how time changes things!…. …. when I was in boarding school, we used to get into fistfights, cricket-batting over Beatles vs Stones …. ….

Details please? Who liked which and who won?

 

[corndog71]

 

[Jason Stoddard]

Fun image of Rekkr development--first Magni Loud!, then Galar (another dwarf, too close to Gjallarhorn), then Rekkr.

• Magni Loud: no boost rails, not enough power output
• Galar: added boost rails, met power target, remembered people are gonna wanna monoblock these, realized no space for XLR
• Rekkr: added switch for monoblocking

Then sit and wait throughout 2022 while we worked through supply chain and scheduling nightmares (not necessarily on these products, just in general).

Now here!

 

[r66cort]

Rekkr and Gjallarhorn look amazing! Thank you @Jason Stoddard and Co! So stoked!

for Gjallarhorn in silver (to match all of my Silver Schiit! Would likely land in 2 set-ups). Could even get behind the new painted look (if it means I don't need to pop the top and media blast). I know silver has been a huge pain of recent.

 

[Balthazar B]

@Jason Stoddard - Excellent stuff! A lot of common sense in this. Just a note... for desktop use driven by a computer or for TV sound it will work out of the box with analog inputs, but if one prefers digital via an outboard DAC it misses a volume control. SYS would work on the desktop but not convenient (missing a remote) for a TV. Any thoughts on this?

While there's nothing (yet) in the Schiit stable that quite fits the bill, this would be a good use case for a DAC/Pre like an iFi ZEN Air DAC (price-appropriate, and you get a headphone jack to boot). Still no remote -- and probably not necessary for desktop use -- but a nice fit otherwise. There may be other options, some with remotes, that would provide a nice DAC stage and volume control in the analog domain upstream of the new Schiit amps, but I have no experience with any.

 

[GearMe]

That's NOTHING!
You should see the mods I did to my dual Aegirs last year! I modded them into a pair of Tyrs!!!
Best mod ever, if you asked me. And no soldering required, either!

The only way to Mod!

 

[ArmchairPhilosopher]

While there's nothing (yet) in the Schiit stable that quite fits the bill, this would be a good use case for a DAC/Pre like an iFi ZEN Air DAC (price-appropriate, and you get a headphone jack to boot). […]

Uhm…
…and…
Uhm…

 

[Seret]

The Gjallarhorn and the Rekkr are perfect additions to the Schiit stable of speaker amps.

The Gjallarhorn is listed as consuming 80 watts maximum. What is the power consumption while idling, if that is the correct word (powered, but not in use)?

I also would vote for a silver case as an option for the Gjallarhorn.

 

[senorx12562]

I would be very curious how a pair of Gjallarhorns run mono compares sound wise to a single Aegir.

 

[433521]

While there's nothing (yet) in the Schiit stable that quite fits the bill,

My god, are you suggesting that the upcoming Schiit is going to make sense and be relatable to the I can't even begin the spell the names yet.

 

[drSonic]

Hell, I’ve been using bridged Rekkrs to drive SVS satellites for over a year.

Wait, so you had these around for a year and hid them from the public for all that time? That's a paddlin' !

Rekkr is just what I've been looking for and I just ordered one which will be driving my Totem Acoustic Kin Minis.
I had the same epiphany as Jason when I started paying attention to how I'm using my current setup with Audioengine N22 rated at 10W/ch into 8 ohms. The volume controls on my setup look like this during regular use:
N22 @ 12:00 position (estimate 50% power level, which is around 5W into 8 ohms)
Magni+ Heretic @ 7:30 position on mid-gain (estimate 10% of max power output)
Which roughly means that I can replace my N22 running @5W with Rekkr @2W and still have more than four times the power headroom over what I use regularly.

A quick calc suggests about 88dB SPL at 2 meters for Kin Minis at 2W, which is already 10x louder than how loud I drive my speakers.

...but you tell me how to put the XLR input on the back of the tiny Rekkr. As in, it ain’t gonna happen.

Well, not that I need or expect balanced cables in a mini-desktop system, but why not mini-xlr? Heck, why not make 3.5mm balanced interconnects a thing? Technically one should be able to make a balanced interconnect even with paired standard 3.5mm jacks (and non-standard wiring) since they already have 3 contacts each just like full size XLRs. And if you think that you'd have a hard time explaining that simple fact to ordinary people, go with a 4.4mm jack that people already perceive as balanced for marketing purposes.

Anyways, I just don't know how I'm gonna wait for 1-2 weeks for my amp to ship...

 

[433521]

2023, Chapter 2
Less Power, More Better


And so now there’s Gjallarhorn and Rekkr, and a whole bunch of people saying, “I don’t care I can get a Class D widget with like 100,000 watts that’s the size of a matchbook for $4, why are you making these crazy low-power antique-technology things?”
...
A Billion Years Ago

I had a compact Realistic receiver that did 10 watts per channel into 8 ohms. Together with some tiny Minimus-7 speakers, it sounded pretty darn good. And it got fairly stupidly loud, enough that my parents really regretted me getting into music.

Think about that a bit: 10 watts into 4” 2-way speakers that were probably, what, 85dB efficient at best (in other words, they don’t make much sound for the watts you put in). Bass cranked almost all the way up…loud enough to piss off your shared-wall neighbors…that 10 watts did fine.

Somehow this antique receiver and speakers burrowed its way into the back of my mind and sat there for, like, 40 years. Because I always enjoyed the way it sounded. And I tried to replicate the experience over and over again. Whether it was Infinity Modulus speakers with Sumo gear, stuffed next to a desk in my first townhouse, or later iterations with powered monitors (of both Class AB and Class D variety), to my later Schiit-era experiments with small amps and small speakers, I’ve wanted something like that back.

I think of this when you mention that receiver.

https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/16607/lot/10/

 

[433521]

You can use them for whatever you want, but there's no headphone jack on them, so you'd have to make up headphone adapters...not my idea of fun.

Kind of a dumber question, but running 300 - 600 ohm headphones won't blow it up if I use my bananas to xlr cheapo dongle?

 

[Ripper2860]

Wait, so you had these around for a year and hid them from the public for all that time? That's a paddlin' !

Rekkr is just what I've been looking for and I just ordered one which will be driving my Totem Acoustic Kin Minis.
I had the same epiphany as Jason when I started paying attention to how I'm using my current setup with Audioengine N22 rated at 20W/ch at 8 ohms. The volume controls on my setup look like this during regular use:
N22 @ 12:00 position (estimate 40% power level, which is around 8W)
Magni+ Heretic @ 7:30 position on mid-gain (estimate 10% of max power output)
Which roughly means that I can replace my N22 running @8W with Rekkr @2W and still have more than twice the power headroom than what I use regularly.

A quick calc suggests about 88dB SPL at 2 meters for Kin Minis at 2W, which is already 10x louder than how loud I drive my speakers.


Well, not that I need or expect balanced cables in a mini-desktop system, but why not mini-xlr? Heck, why not make 3.5mm balanced interconnects a thing? Technically one should be able to make a balanced interconnect even with paired standard 3.5mm jacks (and non-standard wiring) since they already have 3 contacts each just like full size XLRs. And if you think that you'd have a hard time explaining that simple fact to ordinary people, go with a 4.4mm jack that people already perceive as balanced for marketing purposes.

Anyways, I just don't know how I'm gonna wait for 1-2 weeks for my amp to ship...

Only way I see any other output or input jack going in back of Rekkr is if...

...they move the power switch to the FRONT!!

 

[Yethal]

Only way I see any other output or input jack going in back of Rekkr is if they move...




...the power switch to the FRONT!!

So it's a no go