KS12027 Horn

The KS12027 horn perched on top of my repurposed Altec 861 cabinet loaded with an Altec 414A woofer should actually be residing inside a ~ 4 cubic foot slanted cabinet with a Western Electric WE713C compression driver  bolted to its throat + a WE728B 12" woofer = Western Electric WE757A monitor speaker system.

I was honored to host this KS12027 horn and provide more modest accommodations for a couple of weeks courtesy of my audio preservationist buddy John Piro.

He rescued this KS12027 horn with a damaged 0.7" aperture and repaired/modified it so that mere mortals like myself can sample its delights using a more pedestrian 1" exit Altec 802 compression driver. 

Mono Hi-Fi set up: Neat P58H + Calrad SV16 + GE RPX or DL102, JEL SE2A3 mono integrated amp with Hashimoto H-203S OPT.

All of my listening was done with the above set up.

Altec 414A + mod'ed KS12027 + 802 + GPA34852

From the moment I mounted the KS12027 + Altec 802 combo above the Altec 414A woofer, the first adjective that came to my mind and stuck for the rest of its stay was, natural! Just like its WE/Altec 32 and KS12024 relatives, this is also a horn that doesn't sound like a stereotypical horn. In fact, the articulation (attack and decay of notes) and overall presentation of harmonic overtones via the KS12027 is even more natural and realistic. It made the Altec 32A/32C and Azzolina KS12024 sound merely like very high quality Hi-Fi which mainstream audiophiles may find more appealing. These findings were echoed by my friend Ding during his recent visit to the man cave.

Altec 32C, KS12027, Azzolina KS12024

Even if I loved the KS12027 so much, I didn't want to get attached to something I may never be able to own. So this past weekend I met up with John at a ham fest and handed back this valuable piece of audio history. After giving him my rave report, which is hardly representative of what most audiophiles like nowadays, he was not dissuaded. He is still seriously considering reproducing them. 😎

Darling Amp, JE Labs Style

It's been 20 years since jc morrison started hosting the new york noise audio design exhibition at his Hoboken, NJ loft. One of the highlights of that year's exhibit was Darlingfest '99 as reported by Jeremy Epstein in the final issue of Sound Practices. The Darling amp was the brainchild of Bob Danielak and was published in Sound Practices Issue 15.

Jeremy's octal driven Darling amp made a lasting impression on me but I never got a chance to build my own version due to a busy performing schedule.

While I was organizing my workshop in the basement this past winter, I found power and output transformers from a Sony TC500A tape recorder + other parts to build a Darling amp.  

The chassis cleaned up nicely with a wire brush. Then I drilled, cut and punched the necessary holes before spraying a fresh coat of silver Hammerite.

I chose the 6F5 hi-mu triode with a cool grid cap as the input/driver tube.

To qualify as a Darling amp, the indirectly heated 1626 transmitting triode  output tube is de rigueur.

The TC500A donated a healthy 6CA4 rectifier.

!!!WARNING!!! 

The voltages found in this circuit can be lethal, build at your own risk!!!

My interpretation of a Darling amp is ready for testing and listening!

Bench Testing

Both channels driven

P = V²/L

2.415 x 2.415 = 5.832/8 = .729 or 729mW per channel

Hum and Noise = 1.8mV

100Hz

1kHz

10kHz

I did not expect this level of performance from the cheap looking Sony OPTs, which I also verified while listening to the amp!

Bass extension is surprising from this 3/4 watter! It is deeper and tighter compared to my Tango'ed SE171A amp. However, in the midrange, the true Directly Heated Triode shines. The 1626 was just a touch veiled in comparison. Although it sounds more powerful than the similarly rated SE171A, it also doesn't overload as gracefully. I remember hearing a similar phenomenon when Steve @ Angela Instruments asked me to build the Simple 5691 > EL34 SE amplifier. The Simple 45/2A3 clips with more finesse. Is the cathode causing the relative lack of transparency and harder clipping?

The days of $5 Type 45s and 2A3s are long gone. But NOS 1626 tubes can still be acquired for under $10 a piece. Since it has a cathode, with careful wiring less than 2mV noise is achievable on AC heating which is quiet enough for me even on headphones. There's no need to hunt for hard to find 25-75 ohm, 2W hum nulling pots. That's just a couple of reasons as to why a Darling amp derivative is one of the cheapest and easiest routes to a DIY SET amp nowadays.

Did I mention that it also does a great job driving headphones?

headphone adapter/attenuator schematic for 
efficient headphones ex: Grado SR80, Koss KPH30i/Porta Pro
Lower efficiency/high impedance classic headphones like the 600 ohm AKG K240 Monitor, 
Sennheiser HD420, HD6xx and Orthodynamic/Planar magnetic: Echo TDS-16, 
Fostex T10 and Yamaha YH-1, can be driven directly from the speaker terminals

Happy listening!