Blew up the Krell S-300i

[bobsticks]

Ah, you know, more work n work. Almost got enag....... Now enjoying life again.
Back in Lexington!!!

Jra

Whattup jaybo?!

Great to "hear" from you!

[Feanor]

Ah, you know, more work n work. Almost got enag....... Now enjoying life again.
Back in Lexington!!!

Jra

Good to hear from you, JRA.

[JohnMichael]

The more I listen to the A-9555 the more I miss the S-300i.

[Florian]

It certainly is not cheap or affordable i give you that ;-)
In two weeks i will have six of them. One pair for the mid bass, another pair for the midrange and a set of SE1's (Same amp with 1x 211output tube instead of 2) for the tweeter. I don't pay cash for them, or not much. Once you paddle your way in this price league its mostly trades and some cash.

Cheers

[Florian]

Depends, you can buy a pair of Acoustat 1+1 for about a thousand bucks. When it comes to resolution and sound quality they are a perfect match. Its a ridiculous good speaker, for any money. But it really needs top notch electronics to sound its best. It does not work very well with "accurate" amps. Sorry Bill, i needed a "little" bit of fun :-)

[JohnMichael]

I should add that the RS6's sound better with the Krell than they do with the Class D Onkyo. I should listen to some Acoustats since I like stats more than planar magnetics. I heard a pair of Innersound stats that blew me away. At the time most anything was out of my price range. Oh well just waiting for the return of the S-300i.

[Florian]

Just make sure you use a good tube amp for the Acoustats. They swing very wildly in impedance across their frequency range. Solid state amps, at least the ones i tried, could not cope well with it. I do have a pair of Acoustats as well :-)

[JoeE SP9]

It looks like the price of Acoustats is going up. I thought Florians figure of $1000 for a pair of 1+1's was a little high. I had thought around $750 a pair was fair.l Then I saw a mislabeled pair of Spectra 11's on Audiogon for $649.

Gee, if I hold on to my two pair a little longer and save some more; when I sell them I may have enough for the IRS Beta's I want!

[Poultrygeist]

One thing I've learned is how robust and reliable tube amps can be. I have a Rotel/Martel EL-84 that's been going strong since the 1960's and I doubt it's ever had anything other than a few new tubes. Just over the past 20 years I bet I've lost close to a dozen sand amps. Even the slightest power surge can take out a solid state while a tube amp can go unscathed. Steve Deckert says on his website that negative feedback in the case of solid state devices is often the only thing keeping the transistors from exploding all over the inside of your amp. Someone once said you won't find a tube amp that sacrifices it's life to save the fuse.

Point to point hand wiring as often found in simple circuit SET tube amps is far easier to trouble shoot and repair verses complicated solid state PCB's where a cold solder joint on a machined board can be almost miroscopic.

Biasing push pull tube amps is necessary maintenance for reliability purposes but is not required on fixed bias SET amps. Some might consider changing tubes a repair like changing brake pads on a car but it's way too much fun to be classified as a repair. I know guys who can't wait for a tube to go bad so they can relive the pleasure of shopping and trying something different. I can guarantee rolling tubes is more fun than rolling cables and cheaper in most cases plus no one will question that it sounds better.

Tube techs are available even in smaller towns. You will find one in most music shops that sell guitar amps. Repairing an audio tube amp is the same as repairing a guitar tube amp. If you know a retired TV repairman chances are he's a good tube tech as TV's from the 50's and 60's used vacuum tubes.

[JohnMichael]

My S-300i has been at Krell for 1 1/2 weeks now. Wednesday will be two weeks so I am becoming optimistic that I will be hearing about any progress. I will be using the MoFi OML1's since I find them more satisfying with the majority of my music. The recordings that need the dynamics and lower bass I do not listen to often enough to warrant using the RS6's. The musical flow with the OML1's is more important than any gains in bass. I am sometimes troubled by what may be a speaker that is more dynamic than it needs to be.

I will not be using single or bi-wire AlphaCore cables. As much as I enjoyed the single wire cables I am too leery to try them. The bi-wire versions are being returned. I will be using Micropurl IC's from the sacd/cd player and the phono preamp to the S-300i. Speaker cables will be the AntiCables in bi-wire without any twisting. As I have posted before twisting gave the speaker cables a peak in the upper midrange/lower treble and a glassy sound that caused a loss of instrumental textures.

I look forward to seeing the S-300i back on it's shelf and playing beautiful music.

[Jack in Wilmington]

John, You need to get serious and once and for all get one set of speakers that you can live with on a permanent basis. Back at the end of April you were putting the OML1's back in the closet and singing the virtues of the RS6's. May I quote " I have the RS6's singing so sweetly". What happened to change that? Or do you just feel the need to tweek something?

[BadAssJazz]

Or do you just feel the need to tweek something?

I think most in this hobby suffer that particular, peculiar, affliction. I know I do.

[JohnMichael]

I think most in this hobby suffer that particular, peculiar, affliction. I know I do.

Yes and since I am not rich or making triple figure pay I try to make what I buy work. One day it is one pair and then another day you miss an attribute of the other speaker and it is switch time.

I must say I am glad I have both pairs because having only one pair that you have grown tired with would be frustrating. I can at least switch them out and initially be pleased with the differences.

[JohnMichael]

John, You need to get serious and once and for all get one set of speakers that you can live with on a permanent basis. Back at the end of April you were putting the OML1's back in the closet and singing the virtues of the RS6's. May I quote " I have the RS6's singing so sweetly". What happened to change that? Or do you just feel the need to tweek something?

I think what is endearing at first becomes fatiguing. Initially the extra bass is a plus but then you start to miss the music. I have worked with the RS6's and I think I have heard them at their best in my room.

Since I do not have any local audio stores closer than 30 miles away and work too many hours I switch speakers back and forth trying to find some magic. I would have to drive 2 hours to hear some of the speakers I am interested I hearing. Once I have my dream speakers I will gladly unload the RS6's. Until then it is nice to have some variety.

[Jack in Wilmington]

I guess I'm just worried that all that switching of speakers and wires really raises your margin for error and that may have indirectly caused the short circuit in the Alpha Cores. I'm sure you are a very careful person, in your line of work you would have to be, but stranger things have happened.

[frenchmon]

Hang in there big fella...it wont be long now.

[JohnMichael]

Hang in there big fella...it wont be long now.

Oh if only I had someone to hold me.

I had this dream that Krell brought out an updated version and they would replace my amp. When it was delivered the box was very light. I opened the box and inside was this cheap looking amp partly made from plastic with cheap slide controls.

[texlle]

^LOL. Yeah, then you peel off the Krell sticker (yes the silk screen printing has been replaced by paper labels) and it says Sony. NOOOO (total devastation).

That would have to be a bad omen for the whole industry!

[JohnMichael]

^LOL. Yeah, then you peel off the Krell sticker (yes the silk screen printing has been replaced by paper labels) and it says Sony. NOOOO (total devastation).

That would have to be a bad omen for the whole industry!

Like the company that brought out the expensive player and inside was a much less expensive but good Oppo player. I think that dream may have been wishful thinking that the Krell were lighter when I have to carry it up the stairs.

[Hyfi]

Like the company that brought out the expensive player and inside was a much less expensive but good Oppo player. I think that dream may have been wishful thinking that the Krell were lighter when I have to carry it up the stairs.

Lexicon?

[Feanor]

Oh if only I had someone to hold me.

I had this dream that Krell brought out an updated version and they would replace my amp. When it was delivered the box was very light. I opened the box and inside was this cheap looking amp partly made from plastic with cheap slide controls.

What a nightmare!!

[frenchmon]

Oh if only I had someone to hold me.

I had this dream that Krell brought out an updated version and they would replace my amp. When it was delivered the box was very light. I opened the box and inside was this cheap looking amp partly made from plastic with cheap slide controls.

Ahhhh.. It ain't that bad. Pull yourself together. When the Krell gets home you gotta do something special for her like go out and find those special speakers for her so when it's time to purchase it won't be a problem.

[JohnMichael]

Ahhhh.. It ain't that bad. Pull yourself together. When the Krell gets home you gotta do something special for her like go out and find those special speakers for her so when it's time to purchase it won't be a problem.

Check out this speaker kit. An interesting design point is the tweeter face plate. It is designed to narrow the tweeters output in the midrange and to broaden output in the highs. The concept with having the drivers dispersion more similar the crossover is less noticeable. Of course I only glanced at the article and will reread it tonight. Looked intersting and fun to put a kit together.

The Audio Beat - SEAS Idunn Loudspeaker Kit

[frenchmon]

Check out this speaker kit. An interesting design point is the tweeter face plate. It is designed to narrow the tweeters output in the midrange and to broaden output in the highs. The concept with having the drivers dispersion more similar the crossover is less noticeable. Of course I only glanced at the article and will reread it tonight. Looked intersting and fun to put a kit together.

The Audio Beat - SEAS Idunn Loudspeaker Kit

I like wide dispersion sounds interesting....not a bad price either. You have the skills....might be a good project.

[E-Stat]

The concept with having the drivers dispersion more similar the crossover is less noticeable.

Bingo!

As a coherency freak, I find that flaw immediately noticeable. A friend and I were comparing his modified Advents to JBL L-110s - the more neutral sounding cousin to the more famous L-100 Century. While it was quite neutral in character and had a more extended top end than the Advent, it ran the 5" midrange up to 5 kHz. The problem is the driver beamed horribly at the crossover point - where the wide dispersion tweeter took over.

The result was an image that resembled a fun house mirror: frequency-wise it had a wide stage at the top and bottom but noticeably pinched at a critical mid point. Very unnatural sounding.