Karma - Monoprice Fabulousness!
Comments
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I'm struggling to understand why so many want a piece of gear that is likely to fail or worse. Shakes head......walks away.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
I'm struggling to understand why so many want a piece of gear that is likely to fail or worse. Shakes head......walks away.
I was gonna proxy enter a number for you father @F1nut , but then thought better of it!
Basement: Polk SDA SRS 1.2tl's, Cary SLP-05 Pre with ultimate upgrade,McIntosh MCD301 CD/SACD player, Northstar Designs Excelsio DAC, Cambridge 851N streamer, McIntosh MC300 Amp, Silnote Morpheus Ref2, Series2 Digital Cables, Silnote Morpheus Ref2 Series2 XLR's, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Pangea Power Cables, MIT Shotgun S3 IC's, MIT Shotgun S1 Bi-Wire speaker cables
Office: PC, EAR Acute CD Player, EAR 834L Pre, Northstar Designs Intenso DAC, Antique Sound Labs AV8 Monoblocks, Denon UDR-F10 Cassette, Acoustic Technologies Classic FR Speakers, SVS SB12 Plus sub, MIT AVt2 speaker cables, IFI Purifier2, AQ Cinnamon USB cable, Groneberg Quatro Reference IC's
Spare Room: Dayens Ampino Integrated Amp, Tjoeb 99 tube CD player (modified Marantz CD-38), Analysis Plus Oval 9's, Zu Jumpers, AudioEngine B1 Streamer, Klipsch RB-61 v2, SVS PB1000 sub, Blue Jeans RCA IC's, Shunyata Hydra 8 Power Conditioner
Living Room: Peachtree Nova Integrated, Cambridge CXN v2 Streamer, Rotel RCD-1072 CD player, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Polk RT265 In Wall Speakers, Polk DSW Pro 660wi sub
Garage #1: Cambridge Audio 640A Integrated Amp, Project Box-E BT Streamer, Polk Tsi200 Bookies, Douglas Speaker Cables, Shunyata Power Conditioner
Garage #2: Cambridge Audio EVO150 Integrated Amplifier, Polk L200's, Analysis Plus Silver Oval 2 Speaker Cables, IC's TBD. -
Smart move.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
Because humans just can't resist FREE STUFF!I'm struggling to understand why so many want a piece of gear that is likely to fail or worse. Shakes head......walks away.
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I'm struggling to understand why so many want a piece of gear that is likely to fail or worse. Shakes head......walks away.
What's life without a little adventure? -
Adventure is one thing, kerblamo one can do without.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
Remember, third time's a charm.
The 3rd amp just might perform well.
Who knows. I haven't heard a tube amp in 40 years, so I took a chance.
Most people just listen to music and watch movies. I EXPERIENCE them. -
Agreed. I'm a tube newbie, but got the bug. I picked up a Bottlehead SEX amp for the office rig to replace the Monoprice!
Basement: Polk SDA SRS 1.2tl's, Cary SLP-05 Pre with ultimate upgrade,McIntosh MCD301 CD/SACD player, Northstar Designs Excelsio DAC, Cambridge 851N streamer, McIntosh MC300 Amp, Silnote Morpheus Ref2, Series2 Digital Cables, Silnote Morpheus Ref2 Series2 XLR's, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Pangea Power Cables, MIT Shotgun S3 IC's, MIT Shotgun S1 Bi-Wire speaker cables
Office: PC, EAR Acute CD Player, EAR 834L Pre, Northstar Designs Intenso DAC, Antique Sound Labs AV8 Monoblocks, Denon UDR-F10 Cassette, Acoustic Technologies Classic FR Speakers, SVS SB12 Plus sub, MIT AVt2 speaker cables, IFI Purifier2, AQ Cinnamon USB cable, Groneberg Quatro Reference IC's
Spare Room: Dayens Ampino Integrated Amp, Tjoeb 99 tube CD player (modified Marantz CD-38), Analysis Plus Oval 9's, Zu Jumpers, AudioEngine B1 Streamer, Klipsch RB-61 v2, SVS PB1000 sub, Blue Jeans RCA IC's, Shunyata Hydra 8 Power Conditioner
Living Room: Peachtree Nova Integrated, Cambridge CXN v2 Streamer, Rotel RCD-1072 CD player, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Polk RT265 In Wall Speakers, Polk DSW Pro 660wi sub
Garage #1: Cambridge Audio 640A Integrated Amp, Project Box-E BT Streamer, Polk Tsi200 Bookies, Douglas Speaker Cables, Shunyata Power Conditioner
Garage #2: Cambridge Audio EVO150 Integrated Amplifier, Polk L200's, Analysis Plus Silver Oval 2 Speaker Cables, IC's TBD. -
But in all seriousness I'm looking forward to checking this beast out. I definitely WILL be ordering some new tubes to roll into it, because why not?
Dude, I'd wait on ordering new tubes, first find out if it's stable enough to warrant the expense. Just a word of caution....do not leave that thing on while your not home.
Looking forward to the story....lol
HT SYSTEM-
Sony 850c 4k
Pioneer elite vhx 21
Sony 4k BRP
SVS SB-2000
Polk Sig. 20's
Polk FX500 surrounds
Cables-
Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable
Kitchen
Sonos zp90
Grant Fidelity tube dac
B&k 1420
lsi 9's -
I'm struggling to understand why so many want a piece of gear that is likely to fail or worse. Shakes head......walks away.
Cause tubes are cool! And you might as well have another amp... even if it’ll burn your house down
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Fair enough. I'll let it "burn in" with the stock tubes at first.Dude, I'd wait on ordering new tubes, first find out if it's stable enough to warrant the expense. Just a word of caution....do not leave that thing on while your not home.
Looking forward to the story....lol
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My Karma Monoprice...thing... arrived today.
Few things I noticed right away that just scream quality. The taller left tube's socket is skewed which makes the tube sit at an angle, it comes short of touching it's cage by just a few mm.
It smells like electronics and glue. Like a little taste of what a transformer factory in China must smell like.
Fit and finish on the EQ knobs, power button, and master volume knob are mediocre. Volume knob turns super smooth though. Also, I didn't take a photo of the speaker binding posts but they are very nice.
When you power it up, it makes a pop sound come through the speakers. That's nice. Then it makes a high pitched noise for about 10 seconds until it fully turns on. At idle there is a slight hum from the amp, as well as a background noise coming through the speakers. When powered on, it continues to exude it's electronics and glue smell, although now with an added burned smell. Like melting electronics.
Tried to play a CD through it, and as soon as the signal comes in, even with the volume knob turned down, there's a ton of static crackling. If I turn up the volume knob, I can hear the music behind the crackling and it sounds OK but there's just tons of almost constant static crackles over top of the sound.
Tried unplugging it and then removing and re-seating all the tubes, but same symptom. So maybe a bad tube or broken solder joint somewhere?
As it is right now it's not usable. So yeah, off to a great start here! -
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Well at least you have the fire extinguisher nearby!
I never ran a CD through it, just the BT of which, well already documented here!
Have fun bro! Basement: Polk SDA SRS 1.2tl's, Cary SLP-05 Pre with ultimate upgrade,McIntosh MCD301 CD/SACD player, Northstar Designs Excelsio DAC, Cambridge 851N streamer, McIntosh MC300 Amp, Silnote Morpheus Ref2, Series2 Digital Cables, Silnote Morpheus Ref2 Series2 XLR's, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Pangea Power Cables, MIT Shotgun S3 IC's, MIT Shotgun S1 Bi-Wire speaker cables
Office: PC, EAR Acute CD Player, EAR 834L Pre, Northstar Designs Intenso DAC, Antique Sound Labs AV8 Monoblocks, Denon UDR-F10 Cassette, Acoustic Technologies Classic FR Speakers, SVS SB12 Plus sub, MIT AVt2 speaker cables, IFI Purifier2, AQ Cinnamon USB cable, Groneberg Quatro Reference IC's
Spare Room: Dayens Ampino Integrated Amp, Tjoeb 99 tube CD player (modified Marantz CD-38), Analysis Plus Oval 9's, Zu Jumpers, AudioEngine B1 Streamer, Klipsch RB-61 v2, SVS PB1000 sub, Blue Jeans RCA IC's, Shunyata Hydra 8 Power Conditioner
Living Room: Peachtree Nova Integrated, Cambridge CXN v2 Streamer, Rotel RCD-1072 CD player, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Polk RT265 In Wall Speakers, Polk DSW Pro 660wi sub
Garage #1: Cambridge Audio 640A Integrated Amp, Project Box-E BT Streamer, Polk Tsi200 Bookies, Douglas Speaker Cables, Shunyata Power Conditioner
Garage #2: Cambridge Audio EVO150 Integrated Amplifier, Polk L200's, Analysis Plus Silver Oval 2 Speaker Cables, IC's TBD. -
I'm going to start the Popcorn now.
I wonder what the static crackles are?Most people just listen to music and watch movies. I EXPERIENCE them. -
HT SYSTEM-
Sony 850c 4k
Pioneer elite vhx 21
Sony 4k BRP
SVS SB-2000
Polk Sig. 20's
Polk FX500 surrounds
Cables-
Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable
Kitchen
Sonos zp90
Grant Fidelity tube dac
B&k 1420
lsi 9's -
For those of you playing along at home, our story so far:I'm struggling to understand why so many want a piece of gear that is likely to fail or worse. Shakes head......walks away.My Karma Monoprice...thing... arrived today.
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When you power it up, it makes a pop sound come through the speakers. That's nice. Then it makes a high pitched noise for about 10 seconds until it fully turns on. At idle there is a slight hum from the amp, as well as a background noise coming through the speakers. When powered on, it continues to exude it's electronics and glue smell, although now with an added burned smell. Like melting electronics.
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In all seriousness -- well, some seriousness -- such crackles are likely either poor contact of the tube pins in the sockets or a loose (e.g., cold soldered) connection or possibly a poor grounding contact (e.g., a wire with a lug on the end that is supposed to be secured to a grounded screw -- but has worked loose).
Reseating the tubes is a good idea, but it may be that the pins are dirty and/or the "receptacles" for the pins on one or more of the tube sockets needs to be retensioned. This can be done with patience and a pair of hemostats. Tube pins may be cleaned effectively with emery cloth (wipe the pins down with a slightly damp cloth or Q-tip afterward to remove schmutz). For less severe cases, I have been known to use a bit
of CAIG DeOxit D5 spritzed delicately onto a Q-tip. Again, follow up with a dry Q-tip or cloth. The only issue with Q-tips is to be careful of leaving cotton fibers behind. One may procure foam swabs for electronics cleaning, if one is so inclined.
The odd thing, though, about this particular amplifier is that it's pretty well documented that the tubes don't actually do anything in it. Thus, it seems relatively unlikely that the tubes are the root cause. Not impossible, but fairly unlikely. Easily testable by wiggling the tubes in the sockets (gently) while the amp is on and connected to loudspeakers (low volume, of course).
Another fun troubleshooting tool for loose connections and for microphonic tubes is a Tinker-Toy or a chopstick. I am guessing the application of such a tool for troubleshooting should be self-evident.
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Thanks. I'll try testing it again later and see if I can determine if it is the tubes that are causing the issue or if it's something else.
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I'm guessing loose internal connection due to shipping/handling (on top of perhaps less than stellar QC).
Guessing. -
Alright, so I tried it again and it was doing the same thing when I had a CD player hooked up, so I decided to hook up my phone to the RCA input instead.
No more static crackles! However, the static crackles returned when I increased my phone's output to the 80-100% range. If I dialed it down to like 75% volume on the phone, no static.
So I guess this means it's not the tubes or a bad ground, but something in the preamp section being overloaded when the input signal is too "hot"? -
So, it's sounding "good" now, but I just walked back into the room where it's playing, and the entire room smells like slightly burned/melting electronics.
So basically this thing is putting out it's own disgusting potpourri while you use it. -
So, it's sounding "good" now, but I just walked back into the room where it's playing, and the entire room smells like slightly burned/melting electronics.
So basically this thing is putting out it's own disgusting potpourri while you use it.
Hmmm. Is that what you call burn in? Basement: Polk SDA SRS 1.2tl's, Cary SLP-05 Pre with ultimate upgrade,McIntosh MCD301 CD/SACD player, Northstar Designs Excelsio DAC, Cambridge 851N streamer, McIntosh MC300 Amp, Silnote Morpheus Ref2, Series2 Digital Cables, Silnote Morpheus Ref2 Series2 XLR's, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Pangea Power Cables, MIT Shotgun S3 IC's, MIT Shotgun S1 Bi-Wire speaker cables
Office: PC, EAR Acute CD Player, EAR 834L Pre, Northstar Designs Intenso DAC, Antique Sound Labs AV8 Monoblocks, Denon UDR-F10 Cassette, Acoustic Technologies Classic FR Speakers, SVS SB12 Plus sub, MIT AVt2 speaker cables, IFI Purifier2, AQ Cinnamon USB cable, Groneberg Quatro Reference IC's
Spare Room: Dayens Ampino Integrated Amp, Tjoeb 99 tube CD player (modified Marantz CD-38), Analysis Plus Oval 9's, Zu Jumpers, AudioEngine B1 Streamer, Klipsch RB-61 v2, SVS PB1000 sub, Blue Jeans RCA IC's, Shunyata Hydra 8 Power Conditioner
Living Room: Peachtree Nova Integrated, Cambridge CXN v2 Streamer, Rotel RCD-1072 CD player, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Polk RT265 In Wall Speakers, Polk DSW Pro 660wi sub
Garage #1: Cambridge Audio 640A Integrated Amp, Project Box-E BT Streamer, Polk Tsi200 Bookies, Douglas Speaker Cables, Shunyata Power Conditioner
Garage #2: Cambridge Audio EVO150 Integrated Amplifier, Polk L200's, Analysis Plus Silver Oval 2 Speaker Cables, IC's TBD. -
Another 80 hours of burn-in and that thing will be singing.
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I mean it actually sounds decent. A bit anemic on the bass and a bit shrill/harsh on the highs, but it sounds better than I thought it would.
Just not sure if I can actually tolerate it's nasty **** stench.
Edit: Also the fact that you can't use with any standard line-level sources like a CDP that outputs at 2v or whatever is pretty lame. -
Ok so an hour of listening later, I hate to say it, but it doesn't sound half bad.
Just playing files off my phone, but this would be a cool setup for someone's garage, etc. As long as you're cool with using a source like a phone with a variable volume output so you don't overload it and get the static. It would've been nice if they put in a simple muting relay so it didn't make a static pop through the speakers when you turned it on. I guess all the budget went to add Bluetooth to it instead.
That being said it still stinks to high heaven and I'm pretty sure whatever odor it's releasing is cancerous.
So with that glowing endorsement, does anyone who didn't get "lucky" and win this Karma still want it? -
I’ll pass thanks! Basement: Polk SDA SRS 1.2tl's, Cary SLP-05 Pre with ultimate upgrade,McIntosh MCD301 CD/SACD player, Northstar Designs Excelsio DAC, Cambridge 851N streamer, McIntosh MC300 Amp, Silnote Morpheus Ref2, Series2 Digital Cables, Silnote Morpheus Ref2 Series2 XLR's, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Pangea Power Cables, MIT Shotgun S3 IC's, MIT Shotgun S1 Bi-Wire speaker cables
Office: PC, EAR Acute CD Player, EAR 834L Pre, Northstar Designs Intenso DAC, Antique Sound Labs AV8 Monoblocks, Denon UDR-F10 Cassette, Acoustic Technologies Classic FR Speakers, SVS SB12 Plus sub, MIT AVt2 speaker cables, IFI Purifier2, AQ Cinnamon USB cable, Groneberg Quatro Reference IC's
Spare Room: Dayens Ampino Integrated Amp, Tjoeb 99 tube CD player (modified Marantz CD-38), Analysis Plus Oval 9's, Zu Jumpers, AudioEngine B1 Streamer, Klipsch RB-61 v2, SVS PB1000 sub, Blue Jeans RCA IC's, Shunyata Hydra 8 Power Conditioner
Living Room: Peachtree Nova Integrated, Cambridge CXN v2 Streamer, Rotel RCD-1072 CD player, Furman 15PFi Power Conditioner, Polk RT265 In Wall Speakers, Polk DSW Pro 660wi sub
Garage #1: Cambridge Audio 640A Integrated Amp, Project Box-E BT Streamer, Polk Tsi200 Bookies, Douglas Speaker Cables, Shunyata Power Conditioner
Garage #2: Cambridge Audio EVO150 Integrated Amplifier, Polk L200's, Analysis Plus Silver Oval 2 Speaker Cables, IC's TBD. -
...as soon as the signal comes in, even with the volume knob turned down, there's a ton of static crackling. If I turn up the volume knob, I can hear the music behind the crackling and it sounds OK but there's just tons of almost constant static crackles over top of the sound.
And you thought you had to spend a fortune to get that sweet vinyl experience!
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...this would be a cool setup for someone's garage
Yeah, that thing is exactly what I want around gasoline vapors!
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...does anyone who didn't get "lucky" and win this Karma still want it?
New karma.....only eligible if you've been a CP member for less than a month and have less than 100 posts!!
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Hah! I sincerely doubt it. I just took a look at it, it's box, and the manual I don't see any references to UL or CSA.
The only thing it has is a FCC ID number because it has Bluetooth.
Anyway this is boxed back up now!Is this item Underwriters Labs (UL) and Canadian Standards Association (CSA) approved?
