[Thump]

Another fan of the black and gold, although I agree it looks better in person than in pictures and I haven't seen the silver version in person (I own the black and gold).

 

[Gariver]

I simply love the looks of my RKV in Gold and Black! It's a great looking amp...very classy! BTW, all my friends agree: It's the best looking amp they have ever seen!

 

[Edwood]

I'm not a big fan of the bling bling look.

Silver appeals to me more. I still don't like the case design and component layout anyways.

BTW, could the tubes be any closer to other internal components in there?

Yikes, they're almost touching the resistors on the GoldPoint!

-Ed

 

[Sugano-san]

The following text was published on Audiovalve's website (PHP version) today:

"Impedanzer Upgraded
von milma am 26.02.2004 um 14:39
The Impedanzer was recently upgraded to offer even more versatility to AudioValve RKV owners. With the Impedanzer the RKV Mark II may be adjusted to loads of 8, 16, 32 and 64 Ohms, which makes the amp better suitable to Grado and other lower-impedance headphones as well as for use with highly efficient loudspeakers. The latest version of the Impedanzer is now equipped with a bypass switch that completely removes the built-in transformer from the circuit, a so-called true bypass. This new feature allows the RKV owner to hook up headphones such as the AKG K-1000 directly to the speaker binding posts of the Impedanzer using the headphone's standard cables and without any need for custom terminations. At the same time the RKV's output impedance remains unchanged (which was previously not the case), resulting in a perfect impedance match between RKV and headphone.



When the bypass switch is facing upwards, the Impedanzer's impedance selector is activated and may be adjusted to loads of 8, 16, 32 and 64 Ohms. When the bypass switch is facing downwards, the impedance selector is bypassed, and the RKV will work best into loads of approximately 100 Ohms or higher.



A word of warning: The volume control of the RKV should always be turned all the way down before operating the bypass switch. Bypassing the Impedanzer will otherwise result in a considerable jump in volume, which may damage your hearing or your equipment."

 

[Sugano-san]

I have done a little research in the meantime. I have been offered some SIC-SAFCO capacitors with the following data:

400V
380uF
ESR (100 Hz, 20°C): 140 mOhm
Z (10 kHz, 20°C): 90 mOhm
I (100 Hz) 40°C; 7.0 A
I (100 Hz) 105°C: 1.9 A

Expected lifetime:

8,000 hrs @ 105°C
> 100,000 hrs @ 40°C


Does that sound any good for use in the RKV?!? The physical dimensions are 30x45mm with a 10mm snap-in connector, so that should be OK.


Thanks for your thoughts!

Quote:

Originally Posted by 00940 The BC series are made by Philips. They're "good" quality electrolytic. Pretty good but not outstanding. They are 4 of them in a RKV : two for the power supply and two as output caps, on the signal to block DC. They are those big blue caps (the stripped ones in yours). I'm not a specialist, I just spent some times hunting similar caps for my amp. I settled down for Audyn MKP 220uF, but they're physically too big to fit into a commercial rkv. There are tons of persons far more qualified than I am here, like Carlo, Jeffreyj and a lot of others. There is a post about this quest for good output caps here : http://www5.head-fi.org/forums/showt...=impedance+rkv and another one here : http://diyaudio.com/forums/showthrea...135&highlight= . I was going to use a pair of Rifa PEH169 220uF ( http://www5.head-fi.org/forums/showt...ghlight=peh169 ) but I was lucky and scored a pair of those big audyn on ebay.de. If you're interested in these rifa, I'm keeping them on a shelf. You can have them at the price I paid them.

 

[Jahn]

silver can either mean Mercedes silver (like the RKV was black Mercedes imho) or it can mean evil modern maclaren silver.

imho it looks like a maclaren. more modern and aggresive. less old school opulence. i like it.

 

[archosman]

What does the toggle switch on the Impedancer do? Mine doesn't have it.

 

[Mikey01]

Nice Amp.

 

[kentamcolin]

I must say that the RKV is one amp that pictures just don't do justice to. I remember when I first saw one in real life. It was much larger than I thought it would be and was beautiful. Sounds good too!

 

[HiGHFLYiN9]

I'd like to see all that wiring on the inside sleeved, no sense in showing off whats on the inside if it's a bunch of multi-colored wires held together with zip-ties

 

[Sugano-san]

Quote:

Originally Posted by archosman What does the toggle switch on the Impedancer do? Mine doesn't have it.

Hi there. You cannot link the photo from my album directly into this thread. You can, however, upload it to a web hosting service and link it from there.

The answer to your question is already in this thread, see post #49. The toggle switch bypasses the Impedanzer. That way you can use its binding posts for the AKG K-1000 without going through the Impedanzer's curcuit and without the need for separate adaptor cables or the like. Very practical!