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Basement Tube audio finds

Don't just swap tubes. If you did no work on the first Knight mono chances are some of the original caps have finally quite working.

I would suggest that you start a new thread called 'Knight Kit KM-15 repair' or something so that others who have similar amps can chime in from the start. Say what you have or haven't done already and post a clear pic of the underside. It may well just need a few new caps. I see Tom B has also given a link the schematic in post #8. You are good to go!
 
Dandy said:
Don't just swap tubes. If you did no work on the first Knight mono chances are some of the original caps have finally quite working.

I would suggest that you start a new thread called 'Knight Kit KM-15 repair' or something so that others who have similar amps can chime in from the start. Say what you have or haven't done already and post a clear pic of the underside. It may well just need a few new caps. I see Tom B has also given a link the schematic in post #8. You are good to go!
Click to expand...

will do. thank you for the input :)
 
still at it. oddly I tried using the kn 940A again and it worked. :music: It needs work though. A bit of screeching from the right channel. I shut it down. It sounds nice other than that though. I recently have been a few amps. an HK330b, a 430 Twin Power, Sansui au5500 and a couple of others. I havent gotten around to the pair of knights yet, but they will be practice for maybe the Citation shown below.

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I started looking for a nice tube set up. I bought the following today. The mac isnt an exact pic of mine, but the HK is. Can't wait to get it. I had some mkIII monos purchased, but the guy refused to package the tubes separately and got really rude about it. Bad news. The Citation has been used recently, but has never been restored. I'll probably do that myself, or have someone else take care of it for me, but for now I'll probably hook these up and see how things go. I really wanted to do a tube preamp but just cannot justify the cost right now and still have it be with in my visual taste and financial parameters.


source is a dual turntable, and a nakamichi cd player. I also do spotify high quality.

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You might want to do some minor recapping of the Citation V before putting many hours on it, or it might wind up same as your Knight. I had a Cit V catch fire on me before. The Cit V is a quality, valuable piece of audio history with auguably some of the better iron even made. Do you really want to have to look for unobtanium parts due to the lack of $2 worth of new caps?
 
knight 12 watt...

W9TR said:
Digital,

That little guy is a Knight Kit KM-15. 15 watt class AB push pull amp. The one you found looks to be in good condition.

I built two of them from kits when I was 12. My first real stereo. I think it uses 6BQ5 outputs, but I'm not certain - that was a looooong time ago.

To take the top cover off, you need to first take the bottom cover off and then you can access the screws holding on the top cover.
Click to expand...

I also built several years ago when I was a kid. around late 50's I guess. I had some friends that got them. I bought several when Allied had them on sale for $12.99 or like that. Nothing spectacular but OK sound.

Paul
 
analog addict said:
You might want to do some minor recapping of the Citation V before putting many hours on it, or it might wind up same as your Knight. I had a Cit V catch fire on me before. The Cit V is a quality, valuable piece of audio history with auguably some of the better iron even made. Do you really want to have to look for unobtanium parts due to the lack of $2 worth of new caps?
Click to expand...


haha hey, quit pointing that gun at me! ;) I plan on doing Jim McChane updates and getting the thing dialed in by a pro or myself. :thmbsp:
 
Digital K said:
I plan on doing Jim McChane updates and getting the thing dialed in by a pro or myself. :thmbsp:
Click to expand...

Good idea!
Sometimes it's hard for some people to take it seriously because we're used to fiddling around with harmless digital mp3 players and ipads. These vintage amps are not only valuable but it is critical to give 'em proper respect. I've seen so many examples of people blowing things up and putting themselves in danger. If you decide to diy, do read all the available info in this forum - should be enough to give you a good idea.

Good luck with your restoration and looking forward to seeing great results! :thmbsp:
 
I will not be able to resist popping it in and trying it out thats for sure, but I will definitely be going through it. here is a nudie shot:

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starquest52 said:
your lucky to be able to enjoy this with your grandpa, cherish him while hes still around.
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This is an understatement ^^^. My Grandfather was also an Electrical Engineer,and college professor. I made a mistake when I was around 19,or 20. We were talking about tube equiptment,and I said I would like to build a tube amp. His reply was "Why in the hell would you want one of those?" I still remember that to this day. I never got around to building that with him. I regret that to this day as well. Never took one of his courses at the college either (another big regret).

I guess the point is exactly what I quoted. Cherish him while he is still around.
 
Amp/preamp sounds great. Will probably send it out for some mcchane upgrades after christmas. :) The thing definitely got better after a few hours which leads me to believe it wasnt used much.... new set of matching 6l6GC tung sol tubes on the way.

I've been using the high quality version of spotify to test it out. It definitely definitely does not like having my phone hooked up via Y cable.

Next its on to some new cables. I stopped by the Best Buy Magnolia store and peeked around. They had a McIntosh 275 set up there. He switched between standard (but obviously still nice) cables, and some silver cables. I'm not sure it sounded better, but it certainly sounded more spatial. Currently I'm using a set of component cables left over from the cable guy with the blue peeled off. Unacceptable. For speaker wire its just some high definition wire I bought from midwest speaker here in MN. I spent last night reading about cabling. What a nightmare world that is....

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Nice finds!

When you clean them, be very careful of the lettering on the chassis. Some lettering comes off way to easy.
 
hooked my deftech bp7004's up to the set up. not good. very inefficent. The Klipsch KLF 10's definitely do a better job... I cant seem to find a happy place in the room as of yet....

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Picked up some kimber and audioquest cables, AND a new turntable. pleased. I got the carbon debut table from pro-ject. I got the last one at needle doctor, the display. Sadly the antiskate weight is not in the box. I'll have to head down there tomorrow....
 
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