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Update Elecraft KPA 1500 amp.

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k4lrx:
I did a little research on this amp after it had been on the market for some time, there was only one complaint and that was the fan noise. To some, it does not matter, while others it may be an issue. To be honest fan noise does not bother me, I use headphones any time I operate and rarely hear anything other then what I want to hear.  For the asking price of one nickel shy of $6000 the power supply is included, the initial ad seen with the first announcement did not indicate this at all.

In addition a five foot cable is included so you can place the power supply where you want it, either behind your desk, or on the desk or any location you want with only the limitation of the cable length. Longer cables will be a available in the near future per a statement from the company. I suppose if you needed a longer one you could make it your self, nothing special about it.

Praises were for clean signal, nice smooth QSK and and very low phase noise. There were a few comments on the speed of the fans the unit runs and the more heat it generates the higher the speed of the fans. Others have reported this is not a problem, plus running the amp at full power will not sound like a jet terminal due to high fan speed.

Turn on takes about six seconds to boot up, really not a problem the unit is shipped with out AC plug installed, that is up to you, gee I am sure for most hams this is not a problem. I would run it on 220 VAC due to the current demand, installing a 220 plug takes about ten minutes if that and you are ready to go. Your local hardware, or Loew's has plenty of 220 plugs.

If you go to the Elecraft web site they have a FAQ PDF available, this amp will work with any rig capable of generating 50 watts of drive power. Those who have this amp already have sung praises, only one complaint about fan noise, guess it depends on how sensitive your ears are and if it bothers you.

This is indeed an impressive amp, you may never need another amp and of course you can move into the 21st century by solid state and no tubes. Reliability so far has been good and no instances of units being returned for service have been reported, time will tell on this.

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