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krell ksa5 klone


kevin gilmore

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I didn't fare any better with the output devices but this amp will be as close to stock as is possible. 

 

 

Most of that doesn't make any sense to me.  Rolling caps which look mostly vintage... why would anybody do that? 

 

someone over at a Chinese DIY site has a working KSA5 clone based on the schematic Kevin posted.

He used his own boards, replaced mpsa06/mpsa56 with BC546/BC556, and changed the cap values a bit.

He seems to like the sound (obviously.) Right now.. he is playing with different caps.

 

Here is the link.

Chinese diyers use vintage caps because they can get them at a very low price.

you can get used UCC 81d 8200uf as low as $1 each.

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Chinese diyers use vintage caps because they can get them at a very low price.

you can get used UCC 81d 8200uf as low as $1 each.

 

I get that but it doesn't change the fact that an electrolytic capacitor only has a shelf life of about 20 years.  Doesn't matter if it is used or not... 

 

There is also the small matter of the massive improvements in capacitor technology over the last 20 years. 

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A balanced version of this would be very, very big so that is the first major issue.  There are also a lot of parts needed and to match all of them.  Not under 2K$ with free labor would be my guess built to our standards. 

 

For a balanced amp the Dynalo Mk2 would be a better fit as it is cheaper to build, it's super symmetry so you can use either a SE or balanced source for balanced output and it's performance should be on par or even superior to the KSA-5. 

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That is true but they are more similar than not minus the usual Krell overindulgence. They really are transistor mad, didn't the old CDP's have something like 200+ transistors in the output stage?

Old? Hasn't changed. Most of this is due to everything being SMD. Not paralleling transistors and using larger dies is probably better. I think Kevin's design is better, imho.

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