[Claude]

Yes. Please check my last post.

 

[cosmopragma]

Me too.
The nORh seems to be good ,cheap,and nice looking, but I would pay extra $$ for local service and warranty.
Does anybody know a tube amp with autobiasing or at least adjustability for any tube separately, no hum, low background noise, available in Europe, with good K1000 synergy?
Oops, I just realized that I'm describing the RKV.
Unfortunately I don't like the look.
In order to counterbalance the hassles with grandfathers electronics it has to look , well, overwhelming.
No brass, please.
BTW, Quoth, I'm sure you tried listening with the K1000 through the Prehead.
I own a Prehead, too, but I have no adapter.Is it worth a try?

 

[Swampwalker]

Cosmo- I have used a Chinese made SE 2A3 amp which was labelled BEZ and have one now, which is surplus due to my purchase of the RKV. It does not have the bass punch of the RKV, but otherwise is quite nice. I bought it via ebay and it was mailed from Hong Kong. I am told that this amp is also sold in Germany under another name. It is a single input "integrated" which is all tubes and other than the 2A3s, all are available pretty cheaply. You may be run a search and/or post on Audiogon or Audio Asylum to find out the German importer/re-brander. The delivered cost to US, including shipping from HK, was within your budget .

 

[Quoth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cosmopragma BTW, Quoth, I'm sure you tried listening with the K1000 through the Prehead. I own a Prehead, too, but I have no adapter.Is it worth a try?

How did you know THAT ?!?

Yes, I have tried too plug the K1000 into the Prehead. The combination works well, but I prefer the RKV.

The Prehead is fully capable of driving the K1000 (especially if you set the gain to high - Otherwise you have to crank the volume up to 3 o'clock or something), and it does a decent job of it. I think the RKV is smoother and presents a more "complete" sound (My audio buzzword dictionary fails here, but I think it's just very good synergy), but I could certainly live with the K1000/Prehead combo if I had to, and occasionally I've used it for the crossfeed feature. My audio dealer actually prefered the Prehead to the RKV for driving the K1000 (I lugged them both to the the store when i went CDP shopping...), so for you it might be a cheap solution to solder on a 1/4" plug. If you don't like it you could always switch back to the original connectors...

As far as other amps go, 6moons revied the Chazz headphone amp http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/diycable/chazz.html and I'm almost certain I've seen it somewhere on a UK tube kit page, but I'm not sure... (As a kit it passes the budget limit, but shipping breaks the budget...) Fully assembled and shipped from HongKong to europe it is something like $800 (http://diyhifisupply.com/diyhs_chazz.htm)

Another good option might be the Sophia Electric Baby amp (http://www.sophiaelectric.com), but its $800+shipping and taxes

There are several OEM manufacturers in Asia (China/HK/Taiwan) that sell cheap but decent audio gear. I have no idea how this thing sounds, but at least it is within budget: http://www.cattylink.com/PRO-MC34-B.htm
There are several people in Sweden who bought stuff from Cattylink without problem and apparently the staff is both helpful and knowledgeable (No personal experience though) Send them a mail if you're interested

I still think your best bet might be a second hand unit, since cheap tube amplifiers normally sounds bad. It might be a good idea to save up some more $$ and get it right the first time...

/Q