[Elecraft] KPA 500 vs New 1500 watt amp

[w7aqk]

Terry and All,

Your view is shared by a lot of us, but not everyone.  The hard core QRO 
folks are having a euphoric experience right now.  Christmas in April ! 
Well, I think it is great that their wishes seem to have been granted.  I 
suppose if all the stars lined up just right I could be one of them! 
However, like you, I have some difficulty justifying the cost/benefit. 
Also, I'd be hard pressed to make something like that work at this location. 
So, I don't need to spend a lot of time lamenting not having a bigger amp, 
and it really wouldn't help me "hear" any better.  It is not insignificant 
that it will cost almost 3 times as much to gain only slightly more than 1 S 
unit.  Then, when you factor in the question of "how often do I really need 
that?", the justification becomes even more obscure to me.  One thing is for 
sure, a lot of electricians just got more work!  I strongly suspect not 
everyone is 220 V ready!

I think it is rather interesting how Elecraft has come to this point.  Many 
years ago, I saw first hand (at Pacificon) the two amps they had as 
prototypes, one of which was "legal limit".  Then they went silent for a 
good while before coming out with just the 500 watt model.  I thought that 
was a very astute decision, but probably because it suited me perfectly.  I 
can only guess at how this strategy evolved.  I actually expected this 
bigger amp to come out earlier, but I do not second guess Elecraft on their 
decision making.  They seem to be pretty capable of making very good 
decisions without my advice!!!  The groundswell of interest in a bigger amp 
has been hard to ignore, and obviously they didn't ignore it!  Then Eric 
tickles everyone's chain recently by asking "what would you want to see in a 
big amp?"!  That doesn't even meet the definition of "foreshadowing"!  It 
was more like "check your bank accounts folks!"

Elecraft has nearly mastered the art of stimulating expectations.  Have you 
noticed that, when something clearly doesn't fit their plans, they will 
quash the conversation, but when it isn't so far fetched the silence is 
deafening?  I think they have as much fun doing this as they do designing 
the stuff!  I can almost hear them giggling as they put together that 
cropped photo of the new amp!  Anyway, put on your crash helmets and 
protective gear at their booths in Visalia and Dayton.  It's going to be 
crowded!

O.K.  Now what do we talk about???

Dave W7AQK


-----------------------------------------
From: Terry Brown <n7tb at comcast.net>


If the new Elecraft amp is indeed 1500 watts it might be worth considering 
that going from 500 to 1500 watts is only about 4.5 Db or less than 1 S-unit 
in signal strength.  If I owned the KPA 500 it would be a hard sell to get 
me to move to ANY 1500 watt amp.

Respectfully,

Terry, N7TB