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| Model: | K4040 |
| Category: | Amplifier (Tube) |
| Suggested Retail Price: | $1300 |
| Description: | 90 wpc stereo tube amp |
| Manufacturer URL: | Velleman |
| Model Picture: | View |
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Review by DaveInVA on July 07, 2001 at 18:20:23 IP Address: 165.247.104.95 |
Add Your Review for the K4040 |
I recently puchased a Velleman K4040 tube amp kit to drive my home brew ESL's. It lists for $999 kit and $1300 assembled. I've owned dozens of tube amps in the past and have always prefered the sound of a good tube amp over most solid state amps. The last tube amp I owned was a ARC D76a but I sold it because it didn't have the power to drive the Martin Logan CLSIIz's I owned at the time and replaced it with a (yetch!) Carver TFM75. I have since sold that also but I still have several other Carver TFM series amps for my home theater setup. I've been using a TFM35 to drive my homemade ESL's and decided I needed a tube amp again.
The Velleman is easy to build and the manual is mostlt well written though a bit sparce. An experienced kit builder should be able to easily build it in a weekend or less. The parts included (with exception of tubes) seem high quality for the price. It uses toriod transformers for power and output. The bias is easy to set as it has a built in LED bar meter and front panel adjustments. Bias can also be checked with a normal meter across test points. It came with all Sovtek tubes. 8 EL34's, 1 12ax7 (not even a lps version), and 2 - 12au7. Its rated at 90 wpc and 15 wpc Class A. With the Sovtek tubes the amp sounded a bit harsh during break in but got much better after a few days. However, the amp always sounded like the upper midrange had a bit to much presance that became a little annoying on loud passages and caused listening fatigue. Also, one channel sounded slightly different from each other do to the fact all 8 tubes were not matched, just the quartets. I decided to give the amp another chance with some new, better tubes. I bought 8 matched Golden Dragon EL34M's from Thor Audio and replaced the 12ax7 with a used Bugle Boy I had and replaced the 2 12au7's with NOS Telefunkens. I broke in the new tubes and then rechecked the bias and then started listening. Wow! What a difference! All the upper midrange harshness is gone. I played Enya at 110 db at 12 feet (Yes, ESL's will play that loud when you have 1440 square inches of panel a channel) with no fatugue at all, just nice and smooth sound. Acoustic guitar sounds life like as if they are playing right there. The Carver TFM35 actually sounded surprisingly good but sounded sterile and not life like and things like maracha's and tamborines and cymbols didn't sound right. They do now with the retubed Velleman. The bass is far superior to the ARC D76a and the midrange doesn't sound as veiled either. It's now smooth sounding without being overly sweet. I have to admit it still doesn't sound as good as I would like it but for the price I don't think there is much that would. I can easily live with it now until I can finish my 6C33-CB OTL tube amp project. With the Golden Dragon tubes the chrome trim rings that hide the sockets won't fit. Also the smaller chrome trim rings won't fit on the Telefunkens either. I feel its an excellent tube amp for the money but if you plan on building one the first thing to do is to sell the Sovteks and buy some better tubes. I think it would be a better deal if they sold it with better tubes even if they had to charge more to make up for it. I feel most people would be disapointed with the sound with the Sovteks. This would be a nice entry level tube amp especially for someone that needs the 90 wpc to drive ineffecient speakers.
| Product Weakness: | Comes with Sovtek tubes. |
| Product Strengths: | Excellent sound with good tubes. Good bang for the buck. Except for tubes most parts fairly high quality for the price. |
| Associated Equipment for this Review: | |
| Amplifier: | Carver TFM35 (now for subs) |
| Preamplifier (or None if Integrated): | Audio Research SP6b modified |
| Sources (CDP/Turntable): | Dynaco ProCD tube player |
| Speakers: | Homebrew ESL's and subs |
| Cables/Interconnects: | Monster |
| Music Used (Genre/Selections): | Rock/Folk/Jazz |
| Room Size (LxWxH): | 21 x 16.9 x 11.2 |
| Room Comments/Treatments: | medium soft room, big rug, overstuffed sofa etc |
| Time Period/Length of Audition: | 2 days on and off so far |
| Type of Audition/Review: | Product Owner |
Follow Ups:
Enjoyed your review...and especially your favorite cars you owned as well!!!I have used Svetlana's...but not the Sovteks. Although not in a Velleman, I have heard many times that Sovteks were a "guitar tube" and have not purchased any for Hi Fi, due to the rising midrange that can occur in many amps.
I am also most happy with the KR tubes I have purchased.
...If I had one more really fresh 12AT7 Telefunkin, I could give an opinion of their performance.
I have also wanted to experiment further in DIY ESL.
Again...enjoyed your review.
I just wanted to correct a mistake in my review.... There are 2 - 12AX7's and 1- 12AU7....not the other way around.
Hi Dave,Sovtek tubes sucks, hein? Your right, they are usefull when you test the circuit, because if it explode, your ears will miss nothing! I'm too interrested in that amp, but I wonder why it use three triodes before output stage. I see a driver stage and a phase splitter, but can you tell me what's the use of the third and what's the role of the 12AX7?
Speaking of 12AX7, try a Raytheon round plate from mid 40's or 50's. Yum!
You said that the chrome ring will not fit with some tubes. Can they be remove easily?
Thanks again for the review and enjoy the rediscovered music!
Daniel Trudeau
Actually I made a mistake in the review, thats what I get for typing and talking on the phone at the same time. There are 2 12ax7's and 1 12au7. I got it backwards. The 12ax7 is the phase splitter and driver and 1/2 the 12au7 is the input tube. The chrome trim ring just slides over the tube and rests over the hole where the recessed sockets are to hide the gap. I just had to leave them off with these tubes.
.
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