[Elecraft] amp

[Kevin]

Hi MIke,

There's no good reason for Elecraft to invest the time and money into 
manufacturing a 1-1.5K Watt amp.
The market is very small and the competition is fierce, not only from 
other SS amp manufacturer's but from those that still sell tube type amps.

You can't compete on price with the likes of an Ameritron, QRO, 
Commander (whenever they decide to resurface) and even Alpha.

That leaves features and the more features you add, like stupid proofing 
a SS amp, and the inevitable built-in "match 1500W to my rain gutters" 
tuner, you've lost the price war.

If you buy an Ameritron AL-1500 with the 8877 Eimac tube, a contest 
proven amp with thousands sold and thousands of hours, you can afford to 
re-tube it twice and still not hit the magic $6K mark.

Solid state amps have come a long way but they have a real long way to 
go before matching the reliability and price point of a tube amp.

I'd love Elecraft to prove me wrong but think they'd be better served by 
focusing their efforts on the "K4". The barbarians are at the gate 
performance wise and I'd really like to shove a stick in some FTDX-5000 
owners eyes.


On 04/27/2012 04:10 PM, Mike K2MK wrote:
> Hi Scott,
>
> People are buying foreign made solid state legal limit amps like the Tokyo
> Hy-Power HL2.5FX and SPE EXPERT 2K-FA at $6000 plus. I hope the success of
> the KPA500 leads Elecraft to reconsider either a 1KW or 1.5KW amp.
>
> 73,
> Mike K2MK


-- 
R. Kevin Stover
AC0H