Connecting Headphones to Klimax System

Komri · Post by **Komri** » 2013-12-29 12:39

I found myself in maybe a naïve and troublesome situation last night. I was happy because I was just a new owner of Naim Headline with Naim NAPSC. After a glass of wine I was of to install the Naim components in to my system.

The system in short LP12, Kremlin, KDS, KK, Solo (old with no on/off), Komri.

Then I started to understand that there was no obvious solution to me on how to connect the Naim components to my system without losing performance (thru KDS) and also make it function in the best practical way (and in that order).

The solution I´m thinking of right now is to take signal from the unbalanced output from Solo. But that is also a very unpractical solution.

There must good solutions to listen to headphones from a Klimax system! ...or???

Please help with good musical and practical solutions!

Thanks!
Peter

Komri · Post by **Komri** » 2013-12-29 19:22

Fredrik; can´t you construct a simple RCA switch for this purpose... with no negative effects on the sound!!? :-)

A perfect ad-on for many Klimax Kontrol owners.... :D

By the way, does anyone now of a good sounding RCA switch, (one in - two out)?

Post by **lejonklou** » 2013-12-29 20:43

This is a tricky one, because none of your components are made to connect to a headphone amp.

In order to be able to listen to all three sources with your headphones, the Headline needs to be fed from your preamp. Your KK has no fixed output, but two volume outs: Balanced and unbalanced. These two are independent circuits, although with the same volume.

The best solution, therefore, is to run one pair to the power amps and the other to your Headline. If both signals need to be unbalanced, it requires an XLR-to-RCA cable that will connect to the balanced outputs of your KK.

Splitting the unbalanced output is not a great idea, in my opinion, as it will affect sound quality no matter how you do it.

That your Solo's wake up is another problem... I don't know how to solve that one.

Komri · Post by **Komri** » 2013-12-29 21:04

I was afraid of that answer. :-)

The least bad solution I think is to change the outgoing inteconnects from KK - to Solos or headamp.

Charlie1 · Post by **Charlie1** » 2013-12-29 21:27

If you are prepared to restrict your headphone listening to vinyl and use a Linto phono stage then you can use the spare pair of outputs on the Linto. Probably not any help, but worth a quick post

Komri · Post by **Komri** » 2013-12-29 21:58

OK, that was a great post and a good way to listening more often to vinyl!

Cheers!

ThomasOK · Post by **ThomasOK** » 2013-12-30 03:55

I was going to make the same suggestion as Charlie1. This can also be done with a Urika by using the balanced outputs with a balanced to RCA cable. I made up such a setup for one of my customers.

Thinking about this I came up with an even more interesting idea that should work for you and might have little effect on the sound of your Klimax/Komri setup (although I can't be sure of that). You could get a simple 3 or 4 to one RCA switch and connect the second outputs of the Linto (or Urika), Kremlin and KDS to the switch box and then the switch box to the headphone amp. Especially if you have a Linto (and if you go balanced from the KDS to the KK) you would just need three pair of unbalanced interconnects and the switch and you would be able to listen to all three sources easily. If you choose to try this you might also want to check and see if the main system sounds better with the switch set to a different source than the one playing.

I don't have any recommendations for a musically transparent switch but maybe others can help on this.

Post by **lejonklou** » 2013-12-30 11:37

ThomasOK wrote:You could get a simple 3 or 4 to one RCA switch and connect the second outputs of the Linto (or Urika), Kremlin and KDS to the switch box and then the switch box to the headphone amp.

This is not a bad idea, since you can set the switch box to another source than your KK is set to. If you don't, both the KDS and the Urika has a transformer based output that is not very happy to drive multiple inputs. Unlike the KK, which has independent circuits for balanced and unbalanced out, these two share the same transformer on Urika and KDS. To use both outputs is therefore something I don't recommend.

Komri · Post by **Komri** » 2013-12-30 11:53

Thank you ThomasOK,

I was also in those thoughts, but that's not possible with KDS. You can´t use both balanced AND unbalanced output from KDS at the same time. There are some posts on the Linnforum about this and why, and I have also tested myself and the result is really bad, so that is no option. :-(

I think I will use the balanced out from KK to headamp.

Then we have the problem with Solos that will wake when given a small signal from KK. I got an idea in the middle of the night which I tested. And that was to use the button on the back of Solo to switch between balanced and unbalanced in signal. No success... Solos wakes up anyway... :-(

So the only thing left is to unplug the Solos from the mains when listening to headphones. It´s doable but no practical.

Another question that I would love to have feedback on is this;

Which Headphones should I choose? I have a option in a deal to choose between Grado GS1000i and Sennheiser HD800.

(As headamp I have Naim Headline with NAPSC)

rowlandhills · Post by **rowlandhills** » 2013-12-30 12:03

I think the point Fredrik was making was that if you use an RCA switch then when it's not set to the KDS input then the KDS will not actually see a load on the second set of terminals, so it won't have a negative impact on the sound while using the KK and solos.

Komri · Post by **Komri** » 2013-12-30 12:07

OK!! :-)

I just read Fredrik's post, and I think I understand NOW, hove you both think. It´s woth testing.

So the mission now is to find the best musically transparent switch! Suggestions?

ThomasOK · Post by **ThomasOK** » 2014-01-03 00:37

Komri wrote:OK!! :-)

I just read Fredrik's post, and I think I understand NOW, hove you both think. It´s woth testing.

So the mission now is to find the best musically transparent switch! Suggestions?

That is what I meant by testing to see if it sounded better when switched to a different input than the preamp. I think even in units which have different circuits for the two outputs (which I had heard the Urika has) it would likely sound better.