Elecraft Amplifier to be announced at Visalia CA Hamfest

Who makes a SS legal limit for less? The MFJ is about $3K for 1200W, with no tuner, the Dishtronix is almost twice the price at $11K, Icom PW1 is 1KW and $5K, the SPE Expert 2K is $8400... the SPE 1.3 is probably the closest match and it' $6K as well with an ATU.

I think it's a great price point for a US designed and made SS amp.

Steve
KV6O

 

The KPA500 is around $2,100. The KPA1500 is around $6,000. That was my base for comparison. I guess I'm having a hard time imagining why it's a $6,000 amp other than Elecraft's target market is willing to spend that much on an amp.

 

Based on simple math, if the KPA500 is a reasonable deal at $2100, the the KPA1500 is an absolute steal at $6000.

It's 3x the power at slightly <3x the price point. Usually, things go the other way (to get twice the power, the price is x3 or x4).

 

Solid State amps - particularly ones that can do legal limit, are expensive compared to tube amps. On a per watt basis the price is basically the same. The Electaft actually comes in as one of the cheaper (if not cheapest) SS 1500W amps out there, which is pretty cool!

The closest in price and output appears to be the Expert 1.3K, which is really a 1300W amp (not really a big difference), and it can't do 100% duty cycle modes at that level. There isn't a lot of info available about the Elecraft amp yet - can it do 1500W RTTY? What are the IMD figures?

In any case, I am glad to see a 1500W amp from Elecraft, and I am impressed with the initial price. Depending on the capabilities, I might upgrade my current QRO Technologies amp to this one in the future!

Steve
KV6O

 

Not sure what you are worried about; For higher quality amps, the price is, and has been, around $4 to $5 USD per Watt.
The Elecraft KPA-500 that I have is $4/watt.
The new Elecraft KPA-1500 is $4/watt.
The Flex Genius full legal amp will be ~$4/watt (OK, $4.66 per watt at legal (1500w), but if, as they claim, it's a 2KW amp, then $3.50/watt)

It was claimed that the SPE Expert Italy amps are a bit less, but so is the size of their Power Supply, which limits duty cycle. So it's not just the specified watts, it's what can you actually do with them and what duty cycle, reliability, etc. (Not trying to start a war, they are fine amps.)

The Acom A600s is $4.67/watt.

Given that most of us do just fine with 500 watts, what is the problem?
Put another way, going from 500 watts to full legal (1500 watts) also requires a large investment in different Antenna, tuner, serious dummy load, better feedline, 240 volt service, larger separation between home and tower (larger property, unless you ), where the cost of the more expensive 1500 watt amp is only one smaller portion. The $4/watt is the cheap part.
So going to a full 1500 watt station takes serious cash and motivation.
[I am very much good with my 500 watt station for now ]

Just saying....

 

But think about the children...

I'm trying to find a tie-in between amplifiers and children, but there must be one, somewhere.

 

I might have something for ya' Steve; Children are loud. They like to be loud, and the only way to be heard is
to be louder than the other loud children. So children love amplifiers even if they don't know technically what
they are. This formula/theory stands well in explaining CB (Childrens Band).

Does that work? [A little? Maybe? Aw well.....]

Cheers

 

That's the most accurate description I've ever heard...

There's also the "good at pushing buttons" factor.

 

Not really. I have a 1500 watt tube amp. The cost of upgrading my feed line was $7.00 on a spool of RG-213 I found at the ReStore, the old Drake dummy load wasn't much at all, and I didn't need to move my antenna. I spent $30 on wire and another breaker for 240v service into my basement shack. $6,000 is a lot of money when you can buy a legal-limit tube amp for about half the price. The RF devices used in these amps cost less than the 3-500zg tubes in my Henry 2k, and the microcontrollers used in the protection circuits and tuners cost less than all of the variable capacitors and coils in the Henry. What will it cost long-term to send the amp back to Elecraft for service? If you blow a transistor, how much will it cost to install new matched devices in the whole amp?

 

I have two words for you...
RF
Exposure