[Blackmore]

Hi all.

Just want to share my happy feelings about this great budget AKG K1000 amp. Not only the price but sonic performenses are amazing. I am starting to rediscovering my K1000 again. My GS1K stay in box for dayzzz now

Well, I am kind of overwelmed, to tell you the true. Never though that he can do so well pairing to K1000. However a lot of nice and warm words been said, I thought to put my 2cent extra on top of that.

The build quality is supper, lets say not the cheapest o.k. Everything looks pretty sexy and well fiished.
Like the most of the people, who have seen / own it, I was also surprised by his small size. Its look like Firestone Encore, I have owned and loved as well.

As for the sound. I found TA 10.1 as pretty warm, detailed and full sounding amp. He offers plenty of power, but not to powerfull or overpowerd, when the volume goes above 9 o'clock. Everything stays in balance and controle, nothing like hurting your ears at all, PUUR ENJOYMENT.

All this impressions are from not fully burned amp, so I am very interesting how the thing will be exploring in the time.

For now all I can say, BUY IT AND BE HAPPY WITH IT! For those, like me, who on tight budget this is one of the best choice, IMO.

Here some pics

 

[Headphony]

Nice review and pics. The TA 10.1 is a great little amp for speakers too. A bit warm and "tubey", yet detailed and composed. I am using two with the volume controls disabled, as monoblocks in my 2nd speaker system:
NotebookPC -> DAC1 (preamp & DAC) -> 2x TA 10.1 -> Klipsch RB-61 (x2)
The performance of the amps is just sick value for money.

 

[minivan]

i thought that's the amp for the speaker only? it can use on headphone as well? can it be use on a k701?

 

[krmathis]

Blackmore, congratulations with a nice piece of amplification.
Great to hear that the TA 10.1 is a good match for the K1000. So small and well built. Great!

 

[hugz]

The ta-10.1 truly is great, especially for the money. I tried it for a while on my speakers and was really impressed. If i used a tube amp I'd definitely keep one handy for short listening sessions when I dont want to power up tubes. Whenever friends ask me to help them build a hifi rig (OK its only happened like twice) I recommend the ta10.1 as their amp.. its very small which can make it look almost silly when powering speakers, but as far as building a value-for-money rig (my friends aren't looking to spend tens of thousands..) it's great IMO.

if you open it up and switch a jumper around it will bipass the preamp and operate solely as a power amp - very cool.

Quote:

Originally Posted by minivan /img/forum/go_quote.gif i thought that's the amp for the speaker only? it can use on headphone as well? can it be use on a k701?

the k1000 is closer to a speaker than a headphone. people usually power k1000 with speaker amps. you wouldn't be wise to power your k701 with a ta10 (although it probably wouldn't blow your headphones up - i power my headphones with a 5w amp so the 10w of the ta10 probably wouldn't be too bad).

you'd have to completely separate the grounds in your headphones too. I dont think the ta10 will do a shared ground, so you'd have to entirely recable them

 

[Blackmore]

Thanks for nice words. Yes, this amp is really amazing. I did listen to JAZZ and AMBIENT only so far, and man let me tell you, I am pretty happy now

Also I can spare some funds for source upgrade, finally.

Quote:

Originally Posted by krmathis /img/forum/go_quote.gif Blackmore, congratulations with a nice piece of amplification. Great to hear that the TA 10.1 is a good match for the K1000. So small and well built. Great!

 

[snejk]

Nice review Blackmore. Can you spare some time for evaluating the TA10 with other music genres, maybe some rock?

 

[Blackmore]

Will do a.s.a.p. from some Classic Rock up to Metallica or whatever. Since I am the lucky SR225 owner again, I am not that much interesting how K1000 will ROCK, but like I said, will check later.

Quote:

Originally Posted by snejk /img/forum/go_quote.gif Nice review Blackmore. Can you spare some time for evaluating the TA10 with other music genres, maybe some rock?

 

[snejk]

Great!

I have let my K1000s rest for a while, using my new RS1s instead. It's much due to the fact that I have no dedicated amp for my K1000s. I have to unplug my speaker wires to use them and thats too much of a hassle when I can go for my Grados in a second.

I have been pondering which (more expensive) amp to get for my AKGs but maybe I need to settle for a cheaper amp in the meantime, to get ANY use of them at all.... a TA10 or a Big Joe or the likes would be a good solution maybe.

 

[Blackmore]

Well, I was in the same boat, kind of. My Pioneer receiver isn't that bad, but absolutely not the sweetest combo for K1000. So after receiving of GS1000 I stop listen to K1. That's why I was so happy, when I could get some budget K1000 amp and using them again, which is the case now.
There are some reasons why people selling some of their rig and one of them is that they do not have the right amp for them, so they stick with the better combo's. Personally I have bought a lot of phones lately and wasn’t be able to invest in some source or amps anymore. This amp save me a lot of money and gives me a choice to upgrade my system a bit. And when I am ready to go further, I may ask someone to build me a custom K1000 amp. But that’s the future.

Quote:

Originally Posted by snejk /img/forum/go_quote.gif Great! I have let my K1000s rest for a while, using my new RS1s instead. It's much due to the fact that I have no dedicated amp for my K1000s. I have to unplug my speaker wires to use them and thats too much of a hassle when I can go for my Grados in a second. I have been pondering which (more expensive) amp to get for my AKGs but maybe I need to settle for a cheaper amp in the meantime, to get ANY use of them at all.... a TA10 or a Big Joe or the likes would be a good solution maybe.

 

[snejk]

<Impulse-buy on the TA10. Locking target>

Need. To. Be. Strong.

Please tell me it sounds awful on rock

 

[robert1325]

You'll notice a big change after break-in , it sounded a bit thin and congested in the beginning.

I've had one for a pretty long time now and did two mods on it,

I changed the coupling caps to Obbligato Oil caps and changed the volume pot to a pec carbon. The first mod was a great improvement, it made the amp much warmer and musical. The top-end was not as sharp and dynamics are better too. Bass is more upfront and has more drive. Just the right balance.
the volume pot was more of the same, a bit more body and warmth+ no bright top-end.

For me the caps are a must in this amp. But I'm used to the tube sound. It's a very simple cheap mod , but you won't be able to fit the caps in the amp.

http://www.diyhifisupply.com/diyhs_ob_caps.htm


Snejk, this amp is great with all genres if you make the right speaker/headphone match. 93db+ 8ohm.

 

[snejk]

I have no self control... the TA10 is ordered and will hopefully be in my possession before the weekend. Exciting!

 

[snejk]

robert1325, exacly which caps and pots did you use?

 

[robert1325]

Hi,

You won't regret your choice

The caps are:

2xObbligato Premium Film Oil Caps 2.0 Uf , you could also get the alluminium version . The Oil caps are a bit fuller sounding.
http://www.diyhifisupply.com/diyhs_ob_caps.htm

PEC 50 K carbon pot, a ALPS blue should also work pretty well but the PEC carbon pot got some very positive reviews compared to the alps on Diyaudio.
http://www.diyhifisupply.com/diyhs_dact_switches.htm

You'll have to ground the cases of the caps and the pot , otherwise you'll get a hum. I used the ground of the RCA at the back of the amp.
The amp won't look as neat this way but the sound makes up for it ! I used some tape to hold everything.