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Mitch
Posted on Saturday, August 18, 2001 - 10:11 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yes I have one. The meter in mine had to be reglued, and the power-supply only is a 3 amp unit. It does do 300 watts on am with a radio that keys at 4 watts and swings to 12 watts. Mine has a bad power selector switch also, does anyone know if the 6 position switch can be bypassed and if so how?
By the way 600 watts on ssb isnt going to happen with this amp, 400 watts from mine with 35 in, but I dont run it that way, I drive it at 20 peak and get a swing of 300.
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Harpoonman
Posted on Thursday, September 06, 2001 - 10:28 am:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

OK, Folks.

The KLV 550 amp I won on the Copper Auction the other night came in yesterday! First, let me say the shipping was very quick, indeed.

As noted above and in another place or two here in the forum, the watt meter in the 550 had come loose. I don't think this occurred as a result of hard handling during shipping. It looks to me like the glue used to attach the meter housing to the inside of the metal front panel of the amp simply lost its adhesion over time. I simply opened up the top of the amp by removing the screws and checked to see that the meter was otherwise intact and still wired. It looked fine. I then placed a small amount of ordinary "super glue" at several points around the meter housing where it contacts the front panel of the amp and pressed it into place and held it there for e few seconds. Voila! Meter is fine!

The amp itself arrived in great condition (except for the loose meter). I read over the manual, which leaves a LOT to be desired! It is obvious that the manual has been translated from Italian or by an Italian whose skill with written English is rather shaky. Reading the manual is close to comical with its grammatical errors and the odd selection of certain words, but as far as I can tell its descriptions and instructions are accurate enough.

Upon connecting the amp, ensuring that all switches were off or neutralized, plugging it into the power source (it IS 110 VAC), I then powered it up. Everything came on fine, the meter lighted, and all switches worked fine. I ran some brief tests into a dummy load beginning with AM with the power selector in the "1" (lowest) position and progressing up the scale to "6". Then I did the same on SSB (switch moved to "SSB"). I have not had time to thoroughly "map out" the dead key, modulated AM carrier, and peak SSB power readings for each of the six settings, but I will do this and report back to you all soon. The amp worked beautifully in each position for both AM and SSB.

In addition, the receive preamp, which is controled by a preamp tuning knob, also works fine and does soup up my receive (but noise comes up, too!). Note that for the preamp to work the amp must be in "ready" position rather than "st. by" (stand by) position. I guess this is due to how the amp itself works, but I think it would be nice if the preamp could be activated without having to activate the amp (i.e. boost the receive without then having to use extra power during transmissions).

The built-in watt meter appears to be reasonably accurate. In the lowest output setting ("1"), the amp peaks around 120 or 130 watts on SSB. On its highest setting ("6"), it swings to just above 500 watts on SSB, at least on my Dosey Test Center. As I stated above, I have yet to check out all the outputs for each setting, particularly on AM (I don't use AM very much these days), but as I recall the amp dead keys around 250 watts on the highest setting and with modulation swings well over 300 watts! By the way, the Cobra 2000 puts out about 4 watts dead key AM and swings up to around 10 watts, and swings up to about 12 watts on SSB. This is what is going into the amp. The amp seems to work very well with this level of drive.

ALSO, THE AMP REQUIRED NO MODIFICATIONS TO WORK ON 11 METERS!! It came ready to go.

Now for the critical tests. How did it sound to others on the air? Well, preliminary reports from my buddies, some as far away as 50 miles, is very good! Everyone says that the amp is very clean sounding on both AM & SSB when properly modulated, and even on low setting has definitely helped my signal strength. In fact, I had one or two of the people who didn't realize it was me at first. When I said "This is Adam", they said something like "what the heck did you do?". So, the KLV 550 is working extremely well. I want to be very careful to 1) not push the amp too hard, I'm terribly afraid of frying the finals, and 2) minimizing any iterference to my neighbors. Especially on it highest setting on AM, the KLV 550 causes interference in my house that I never had before (like my voice coming over the computer speakers and the old 49 MHz cordless phone ringing when I unkey, and the lamp making singing noises - HA HA HA). So, I am recommending to myself very careful and prudent use of this device, at least until I see from my immediate neighbors what the true affects are.

Overall, the KLV 550 amp seems to be a very fine amp, especially for the money, and it appears to work quite nicely provided that you don't drive it beyond its input capability and don't get ridiculous with the modulation. I'm happy with it and thanks to Copper for the opportunity to bid on it and get it at such a good, low price.

Another side note: the little "ON AIR" lamp on the front of the amp DOES work, but it lights very dimly, and the brightness of the light increases as you increase the amp's output. I thought this was strange. Even at full output the lamp does not light up brightly. It isn't a bid deal to me as I frankly don't care if the amp came with this feature or not. Seems more like a gimmick to me and it is not important to the functioning of the amp. But, it should light up better than this if the manufacturer is going to the trouble to install them in their designs, I think.

Finally, I realize that these amps probably come to Copper already boxed up, so they cannot be easily accessed to check them out, but I would respectfully suggest that Copper consider opening these boxes when an order is placed to ensure that the meter, and the amp overall, is OK before shipping to the customer since the loose meter seems to possibly be a consistent problem. I also think that the manufacturer should attach the meter to the front panel with real hardware of some kind rather than glue! Although the KLV 550 is working great for me and I am currently satisfied with it, I really hope that the manufacturer's use of (cheap) glue rather than (more expensive) hardware to attach the meter is not an indication of how the rest of this amp was built! To dredge up an old joke, I hope this amp is not a "FIAT" (i.e. a "fix it again tony")! And my apologies to all you Italians and folks of Italian descent.

Only time will tell...

73s

Adam
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Anonymous
Posted on Friday, September 07, 2001 - 10:15 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Got mine today- won it on the auction- well I was leery with all the stories about the busted meters, but mine was very well packaged both by the manufacturer and Copper. As for actually using it- WOW! It screams-
I think that at this price point there's NO competition. Able to work stations all over, both sideband and AM-
got many compliments on the station, too-
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Harpoonman
Posted on Sunday, September 09, 2001 - 10:10 am:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Good to hear that! I, too, have been getting out all over the place and everyone says the station sounds very good and very clean with the KLV 550 running, even at its highest setting. I think the key to keeping this amp on the air is not to push it too hard, it is after all solid state and the transistors just are not likely to be as forgiving of abuse as tubes generally are. Be sure to not push the amp with too much wattage and I think you'll have a long-lasting piece of equipment!

I took careful measurements of the power output from my KLV 550 and the results are below. Keep in mind that I'm using a Dosey TS 4001 Test Center to get these readings. I tested the amp at all settings on both am and ssb using 1) a Cobra 2000 GTL which on AM dead keys at 2.9 watts and swings with modulation to about 10 watts and on SSB swings to 12 watts, and 2) a Uniden Washington which on AM dead keys about 1.6 watts and swings to 13.5 watts and on SSB swings to almost 20 watts.

KLV output at six levels with the Cobra 2000
Level AM Dead key AM Modulated SSB Peak
1 29 W 100 W 130 W
2 47 W 170 W 240 W
3 58 W 250 W 280 W
4 71 W 290 W 300 W
5 100 W 320 W 340 W
6 160 W 400 W 450 W


KLV output at six level with the Uniden Washington
Level AM Dead key AM Modulated SSB Peak
1 17 W 130 W 145 W
2 28 W 260 W 260 W
3 33 W 290 W 290 W
4 41 W 310 W 320 W
5 51 W 350 W 360 W
6 76 W 410 W 470 W


Note that I don't really know how accurate my Dosey is, but this is what I saw, and these readings appear to be fairly consistent with the readings shown by the amp's built-in meter, so...

Note that the Washington gets higher output since it is driving the amp with a greater input. However, I think I will generally use the Cobra 2000 with the KLV 550 amp since it doesn't drive it as hard and therefore may be easier on the amp.

Also, my report of over 500 watts SSB was off. I must have misread it that first time. Maximum SSB output seems to be more in the 400-450 watt range, as reported above by Mitch. I'd be interested in seeing what other KLV 550 owners have been getting. Any reports?

Bottom line, again properly operated, this amp SINGS!!

Adam
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Harpoonman
Posted on Sunday, September 09, 2001 - 5:35 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

And a BIG thanks to the Forum Master (I assume?) for tabulating my figures in the above message so nicely! It's a good thing someone out there knows more about HTML and such than I do!

Adam
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Tech181 (Tech181)
Posted on Sunday, September 09, 2001 - 10:59 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Harpoonman,

Thanks for the info! It's good to finally see HONEST postings regarding amplifer power output. That is what you can expect here at the Copper Forum!

Steve
Tech181
Tech181@copperelectronics.com
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Clay Smith
Posted on Monday, February 11, 2002 - 4:48 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hello, My klv550 arrived with the meter loose. Upon operation, the power selector switch wouldn't make good contact in the first or sixth position. Positions 2,3,4,5 worked well. Good reports from all. Returned to Copper and am anxiously awaiting repair or replacement. This is taking more time than I would like...
My Dosy showed about 450-475 on high w/2527.
Good luck all! Clay Unit 34 27.3850 lsb Northern Ca.
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Taz
Posted on Tuesday, February 19, 2002 - 7:34 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I LIKE TO RUN MY KLV-550 ON LOW

It makes good swing and it runs great to and it will run all day like that!
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Taz
Posted on Tuesday, April 02, 2002 - 2:36 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I run mine with a plain jane 2.0 watts and works on a perfect 4:1 ratio.

for example on high i deadkey 100 and swing to 400.

Right about 4:1 ratio on all settings.
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Taz
Posted on Tuesday, April 02, 2002 - 2:48 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I also noticed that there is 2 fans on the melaka. When you press the power switch one fan comes on. When you key the radio the othe fan comes on. Is that the way it is supposed to be?
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jyd
Posted on Tuesday, April 02, 2002 - 8:17 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

yes
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Jimmers58
New member
Username: Jimmers58

Post Number: 2
Registered: 12-2016
Posted on Friday, March 15, 2019 - 11:47 pm:   Edit Post Delete Post    Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hi i need to find the 6 position switch.for the klv-550 need to find parts/thank you

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