New Lejonklou Preamplifier

[Charlie1]

This thread is making me very interested in the kikkin. I'm in the market for an upgrade and was tending toward replacing my Kairn (SMPS) with an Akurate Kontrol! I only have a single source (LP12 and karik decomissioned) since I bought an Akurate DS last year. I love the ADS and would like to add the dynamic PSU - preferably get a free one in the great summer sale. I'd appreciate opinions on the following system options:-

Current System Akurate DS (non dyn) > kairn (SMPS) > LK100 > Keilidhs

1) Replace Kairn with Akurate Kontrol and add Dyn to ADS or

2) Replace Kairn with kikkin and replace LK100 with something like a Akurate 2200 / Majik 2100 and add Dyn to ADS

Both cost about the same. Thoughts?

I think a 2nd hand KK (original spec) makes more sense than a new AK if you want to spend £3k+ on a pre-amp. It also offers an additional upgrade option beyond the Dynamik in the form of KK/1.

If you want to improve tunefulness without upgrading to the KDS and exceeding your budget, then the Dynamik for ADS is ideal. A good support for the ADS would also help and finally Linn Silvers between ADS and pre-amp. Silvers are on sale here for £160 as new - see 'For Sale' section.

It’s difficult for me to comment more than that as I’m not familiar with the rest of your system, so don’t know if I'd feel the playback section needs an overhaul in addition to pre-amp to balance things out. Of course, that’s entirely subjective preference anyway. But I guess in an ideal world I’d want to compare something like:
1. ADS> 2nd hand KK(original – not KK/1)> LK100> Keilidhs
vs
2. ADS> Kikkin> 4100> 2nd hand Ninkas (aktiv)

4100/Ninkas is just an example within your budget. If you bought the power amp 2nd hand then you’d have even more options.

[Efraim roots]

If I order a Kikkin next week will I then have the upgraded version or should I wait?

[lejonklou]

There will be news before the end of this week.

[Komri]

There will be news before the end of this week.

:)

[DeQMaster]

I have a late Kairn Pro with SMPS feeding my klout.

As i have various sources Kikkin, being a preamp with only one input, is not an option unless kikkin gets various inputs.

Fredrik, is this going to happen in a foreseeable future?

[lejonklou]

Not sure, DeQ.

It would need to become good enough and possible to manufacture at a reasonable cost. Currently I can't fulfill them both, so there won't be anything in the near future.

[DeQMaster]

Real pita.

Surely it will be a noticeable upgrade over my Kairn Pro, and new Linn products like Akurate Kontrol, or Klimax Kontrol, are, by far, out of my budget.

[Broccoli]

My dealer (Anders at Tonläget) suggested that it could be one of the active cards in the amp causing my problem. So I figured I will just disconnect them and see if the problem disappears.

A very late update on my problem with my 5105 making a very large "thump" when going into standby.

As my dealer suggested, this was indeed caused by my Keltik active cards. When removing the cards, the thump is hardly noticeable. It seems as my combination of active cards and the 5105 is somewhat of a mismatch in this regard.

But my system sings musically, so this is not a big problem. (I am however thinking of selling my Keltiks due to space problems. A passive speaker with just one amp and one set of cables would be sooo nice. I could always by Keltiks again when I move to something bigger than my one room apartment.)

(Mods, feel free to move this into a separate thread.)

[lejonklou]

Thanks for the update, Broccoli!

The old aktiv cards indeed had some problems when partnered with certain amps. It's possible (and in some cases necessary) to mod them to work properly. There's no simple fix available though, as it varies between different card/amp combinations and usually requires some measurements.

Hope you got the problem solved.