[Audiosmoot]

I am soon to purchase (provided it doesn't sell first) a Cairn KO-2. Partly this is my appreciation for what this product appears to be (a switchable amp I can use at both low levels of 10watts pure-A and higher levels of 100watts AB) and partly this is to contribute to the community information I have been unable myself to discover (if you know, please feel free to state any of the following, saving me the time and effort).

For over two months now I have scoured the internet, emailed previous owners, emailed Cairn both in English and French, and checked several forums (including Cairn's own) but no luck for any of the following:

1) RCA unbalanced input impedance
2) XLR balanced input impedance
3) Pure Class-A wattage into 4ohms (10 watts is into 8ohms)
4) AB wattage confirmed at 100 watts into 8ohms (even Cairn's own sources vary between quoting 100 and 125.
5) minimum ohm-load into which unit is stable (and corresponding wattage for these loads)
6) Gain
7) Why 4 transformers?
8 ) Minimum input voltage for full power?

I have wanted a real system most of my life, am 32 and am only just now purchasing my first system. Previously I've owned only $250 Walmart boom boxes. I got rid of my car, live above work and with the money I'm saving...Now I have a pair of BG Radia 520s (the original version--briefly dubbed 520DX), a matching 220 center, a pair of Acoustic Technology's Classic Series 3" single-drivers, am looking at a Bryston 2-Speaker Switching Unit and/or a Luxman 3-way (the AS-55), am looking at a REL G1 sub (or Velodyne DD+ or JLA Fathom for the room-correction), have a Cary Audio CAA-1 Amp, am wanting to purchase the above-mentioned Cairn KO2, am looking at Jungson WG 80watt pure-A Power Amp (also called Hedo and Caprio), am wanting to purchase a pair of EVS balanced ultimate attenuators, am (for now) taking the Audio Critic route of 'Radio Shack philosophy' cabling, am waiting for the Outlaw Audio 978, am considering the Oppo 95 (region/zone free), am considering the HRT Music-Streamer Pro (but the MSII+ just received a major upgrade and it looks like the "pro" will be a step-down until it is likewise upgraded--and apparently the company is in no rush to do so), am looking at a Metrum Acoustics Octave (but really want to wait for a balanced version--I've decided to go balanced from the start), am about to purchase 5-9k in soundproofing equipment to build a room-within-a-room in my apartment (and about 1k in power-tools to do it), Vienna Acoustics Schonberg, GoldPoint amp and source switch-boxes, stands for my center channel already bought, I essentially have cable-isolators (because the ones I've seen look just like these huge ceramic pieces used on electrical poles--and after Hurricane Ike a few came into my apartment--neat!)...All of this I will be posting about, but here I am.

When I get the KO-2 I will want to have it measured for all the specs I just named. I'm no engineer: some of these I've heard have no set value, but depend on the company's philosophy for measuring. Anyone know which ones I can measure, and how I would arrange that? Is it something I can expect a reasonably experienced audio-dealer to be capable of? I would then need to purchase something from them of course...but I will!

I have literally nothing hooked-up yet...and won't until more pieces are together, so still not for about 2-3 months. Sucks to wait.

PS: Had a great experience so far purchasing from Matrixdude, Lakenorman and RenoHifi (Mark) both off Audiogon; Just sending out my appreciation!

PPS: I'm not an emoticon guy. Maybe I should get over that already. 

[timind]

I owned one of those a couple of years ago. I never was able to find the specs on the amp. Here's a pic of the inside to wet your appetite.



Leaving for work soon so I'll post my impressions later this evening.
Good luck, and welcome to AC.

[timind]

Thought I'd finish my thoughts on the KO2.
I used it in the class A mode for the first few weeks I owned it and never heard it strain. My normal listening levels are fairly low. When I switched it to the class A/B mode I could not hear any difference. This may be because the amp always delivers the first 10 watts in class A and I wasn't exceeding that 10 watts.
It was a very neutral amp. Don't want to discourage your purchase but I feel there are better value amps out there. I sold mine for around $750 or so. Don't honestly recall but my AudioCircle ad comes up in a yahoo search and I see my asking price was $800.
Good luck whichever way you go. One more pic.

[Audiosmoot]

Thank-you! Refreshing to get some feedback finally on this thing.

Basically I'm set on this amp because I just do not like the dearth of info and feel like the community 'deserves to know'. Therefore it would be a waste to get the amp yet measure nothing about it. So please if anyone out there knows if I can really expect to be able to successfully have this amp measured for its specs...let me know.
I do love the idea of the amp, but it's a big risk for me: To start I want to run a passive pre only (maybe active later on) and with this amp I know none of the essential figures for compatibility.
It would possibly go great with my acoustic technology classic series...There just seem to be remarkably few particularly-low-wattage SS amps out there; I'm not likely to end-up a tube guy from what I've seen, yet I like several aspects of very efficient speakers paired with low-powered amps. When I look at SS amps that do qualify...they cost a good deal more. FirstWatts for example.   

[timind]

If you haven't looked at their old web site, here's a link.
http://www.icairn.com/old/Site2000-2005/index_va.html
I did not find the info your looking for there but it should interest you. You can copy teh owners manual and product brochure.

[Audiosmoot]

Yes, unfortunately neither their French nor their English sites, neither their current nor their archived product pages, neither their current nor their archived forums, neither their English nor their French email, and none of the three KO-2 related PDFs answered any of those questions. If they are still around, and not merely running off a dead, legacy site...it isn't exactly producing a difference info-wise.

[Audiosmoot]

Well I just made the plunge! My amp is shipped just as soon as I mail the money-order (tomorrow)!

[timind]

Well I just made the plunge! My amp is shipped just as soon as I mail the money-order (tomorrow)!

Ok, it's been a while. I'm curious if you have auditioned the amp yet?

[Audiosmoot]

The amp arrives tomorrow. That said, my system is not complete and won't be listening-tested for another week or two, then testing time is needed...

Unless you mean taking it to an engineer or dealer with tools to test the figures I named...for that I'll be making calls come Monday.