The Klimo Kent Silver are monoblock tube power amplifiers that left a clearly recognizable mark on the Italian hi-fi scene. Even today there is still a certain level of interest around these amplifiers, both from those who have owned them for years and from those who buy them used and then have to deal with neglected maintenance, aged components and repairs carried out in questionable ways. Their charm is also linked to the classic EL34 push-pull architecture, a very essential aesthetic and a name that, over time, has carved out its own reputation among tube amplifier enthusiasts.
For this very reason, when a piece of equipment like this arrives on the workbench, it makes no sense to simply replace a few failed components. You need to understand how it was built, what condition it arrived in, what design compromises were originally adopted and what damage may have been caused by previous unprofessional interventions. In this case I worked on the repair and restoration of a pair of Klimo Kent Silver that arrived in disastrous condition, heavily marked by tampering and improvised repairs.
This article is not an audiophile-style review. It is a technical analysis with practical observations, instrumental measurements and circuit considerations that may also be useful for those who own the same amplifier and want to understand whether it needs a serious overhaul, a full restoration or simply a properly executed check.
Initial condition and state of the equipment
The Klimo Kent Silver is a tube amplifier rated for 35 continuous watts, although, as we will see later, in practice the real power on 8 ohm is lower. Beyond the numbers on the specification sheet, the most important thing in a case like this was to assess the damage caused by previous repair attempts.
The initial inspection revealed a long list of problems: rough soldering, components soldered onto the stubs of others that had been badly removed, missing or damaged parts, makeshift fixings and various technical anomalies. In cases like this, the first job is not yet the actual repair, but understanding exactly what has been altered compared to the original configuration.
The goal of the restoration was not to turn the Kent Silver into something it is not, but to bring it back to an electrically correct, reliable condition consistent with its real capabilities. Even a device born with evident compromises can work well again, provided it is put back in order with method and competence. Here are some photos of the condition in which they arrived:
In short, the initial situation included cracked and glued resin tube sockets, deteriorated or exploded capacitors, components left loose and temporarily fixed with hot glue. This is the classic scenario where a bad repair ends up making the original defects of the equipment even worse.
On this subject, a small practical tip. Before disassembling equipment full of sterling wires, often all the same brown color, it is always advisable to mark the connections and photograph everything carefully. Once disconnected, putting them back correctly can turn into a puzzle. Marker pen marks on brown wires are often hard to see or completely invisible. Colored nail polish, on the other hand, is immediately visible. Besides being useful for temporarily locking trimmers and small screws without sealing them permanently, it is also very useful for this purpose. It is easy to find in many colors and costs very little, so it is a simple but very practical solution.
Repair and restoration work
After removing the boards, I started with a thorough brushing, focusing especially on the areas affected by soldering. This step was essential because, as I have also found in other Klimo equipment, the board cleaning during assembly was certainly not impeccable. Over time, flux residues tend to promote oxidation and corrosion of the copper.
I then carried out a complete washing of the boards, because in this case the general condition was particularly bad. I replaced the output tube sockets and all the electrolytic capacitors, except for the original blue capacitors which were still in good condition, as well as some resistors that I no longer considered reliable. Only after this work was it possible to reassemble everything with a minimum of order and technical consistency.
Output transformer and load impedance
Looking at the circuit, one of the first things you notice is that the amplifier only has two speaker terminals. The presence of an internal terminal block between the output transformer and the banana connectors might suggest the possibility of reconnecting the wires to obtain different impedances. However, it could also simply be a construction choice to simplify transformer wiring. In the absence of official technical documentation, it is safer to consider the secondary as fixed.
With 8 ohm applied to the secondary, the output transformer reflects approximately 8kohm on the primary. This means that by connecting speakers with different impedances, the impedance reflected to the tubes changes, and with it the available power, dynamic behavior, distortion and even the operating region between classe A, AB and conduction closer to classe B.
For this reason I strongly advise against using speakers with impedance lower than 8 ohm, especially on this amplifier and with this particular bias system, which I will discuss shortly. In practice the Kent Silver delivers about 25 watts on 8 ohm, while the declared 35 watts might only make sense on a 4 ohm load. As often happens in the commercial world, the number that is most convenient to print on the brochure does not always coincide with the most meaningful one in real use.
The bias system and its limits
The bias system used in this circuit is, in my opinion, one of the most questionable compromises of the entire project. The amplifier works in classe AB, but uses an auto-bias system, that is, cathode self-bias. The problem is that self-bias only makes sense in classe A, where the average current in the tubes remains essentially constant. In classe AB, on the other hand, the idle current is much lower than the average current drawn when the amplifier enters dynamic operation.
This means that in a classe AB amplifier with self-bias the operating point does not stay fixed, but continuously shifts following the signal. In other words, the bias becomes unstable. The cathode voltage rises when the output stage is driven, the operating point moves, and the cathode bypass capacitor inevitably introduces charge and discharge times that generate memory distortion.
In the video below I show exactly this behavior. The cathode voltage of one of the EL34 is about 32volt at idle and exceeds 40volt when increasing the input signal. In the video I raise and lower the signal on purpose to clearly show how the bias rises and falls together with the signal level.
This is also why I advised against using loads lower than 8 ohm. In that condition the operation moves even closer to classe B, the cathode voltage swing increases and distortion worsens. Not only that. The original capacitors I found, nominally rated at 100 volt, had exploded. It is very likely they also paid the price for this kind of stress.
Paradoxically it would have taken very little to obtain a more serious solution. If cost reduction was really necessary, it would have been better to adopt a simple fixed bias, maybe not adjustable, but still more sensible for this kind of configuration. Instead we end up with a compromise that saves a few components but unnecessarily worsens the behavior of the output stage.
Operating voltages and EL34 output tubes
There is often a belief circulating about these Klimo Kent amplifiers that the EL34 tubes are pushed beyond 500volt and that this explains their poor reliability reputation. In reality, measuring accurately, the situation is slightly different. The main smoothing capacitor, which indeed must be chosen for 500volt, during startup sees a peak of about 470volt, but then the voltage settles around 420-430volt once the tubes have warmed up.
The idle plate dissipation is about 25 watts per tube. It is not an absurd value, but it is still rather high. Personally I believe it would have been wiser to stay a bit lower, for example around 22 watts, to reduce the stress on the output tubes and improve long-term reliability margins. Part of the legend that tubes in this amplifier do not last long may also have originated from the EI EL34 tubes originally fitted in some units.
In my opinion these are overrated tubes and, in many cases, also fragile. Today you still see NOS matched quads for sale at completely irrational prices, with enthusiastic descriptions focusing on folkloric details like the getter, triple mica or other nonsense used to make them look special. The practical reality is much less romantic. It was a factory that, in the early 80s, remained to supply the residual demand for tubes that the market still required during the peak transistor boom. Built in the most approximate and spartan way possible, they are tubes that I have seen fail more than once without being abused. My advice remains to leave them where they are and not waste money thinking that just because they are NOS, they are also good quality.
Instrumental measurements
Let’s move on to the data. As already mentioned, RMS power on 8 ohm is about 25 watts. The damping factor is around 6. Below is the frequency response graph, with the ?1dB point around 15khz.
The graph clearly appears rather manipulated. Even without initially having the schematic, inside the circuit you can see several complex RC filters both around the feedback network and on the output tube grids. This suggests that, to bring the amplifier behavior within acceptable limits, it was necessary to correct non-negligible problems of the output transformer. The phase rotation is also quite significant.
Harmonic distortion at 1 watt is around 0.3%. In the spectrum you can clearly see components that suggest intermodulation products around the fundamental. This may depend both on transformer limitations and on the overall circuit behavior in the presence of feedback.
Square waves at 100Hz, 1khz and 10khz
Small personal reflections. How does it sound?
Sarcastic intent: the Klimo Kent Silver is an amplifier that offers an extraordinary sonic experience, characterized by authenticity, clarity and absolute involvement. The low harmonic distortion, standing at about 0.3% already at 1 watt, demonstrates its refined design and natural predisposition for extremely high-level musical reproduction.
With a constant power of 35 watts, the Klimo Kent Silver opens up a wide and deep soundstage, with millimetric precision and impressive three-dimensionality. The image is stable, sculpted, almost holographic. The most complex dynamics are reproduced with authority, cleanliness and absolute control.
The human voice emerges warm, transparent and precise. Instruments materialize in space with crystal-clear detail, reproducing every smallest interpretative nuance. Even with large-scale music the Kent Silver stands out, offering a credible, airy and emotionally rich reconstruction.
In summary, the Klimo Kent Silver is a surprising amplifier, capable of excelling with any musical genre and offering a deeply engaging listening experience.
In reality I was only able to listen to these amplifiers with the speakers available in the workshop, and what I can say for sure is that, once restored, their behavior was consistent with what emerged from the measurements and instrumental tests. The sarcastic tone of the fake review above is not directed at the Klimo Kent Silver itself. It is meant to mock a certain way of talking about audio equipment in some magazines, filled with rivers of evocative words but emptier than a beer barrel after Oktoberfest.
Every now and then someone defines these articles of mine as reviews, but that is not the point. What I do is analyze circuits, observe design choices, measure, verify, and share what comes out, for better or worse. When I find a well-made solution I say it. When I find a questionable compromise, I say that too.
The fake “How does it sound?” section was born exactly for this reason. While unsuccessfully searching for the schematic of these Klimo Kent amplifiers, I came across a text where someone even tried to put them on the same level as the GM20 by Graaf, with a final conclusion basically saying they were on par.
Frankly no. Here we are comparing equipment of very different levels. And this has nothing to do with personal taste or brand loyalty. Even without being a fan of OTL amplifiers, from a technical and construction point of view you cannot put the design attention of a GM20 on the same level as a Klimo Kent, which remains an amplifier built with evident compromises and a significantly lower budget.
Partial repairs and pointless modifications
I also had another pair of Klimo Kent Silver come in, again after passing through the hands of the village idiot. In one of the two amplifiers a power supply capacitor had failed, and the genius decided to replace only the failed one, leaving the other amplifier completely original. Result: the customer ended up with two amplifiers that were no longer identical, one with new components and the other with old components already near the limit. Moreover, the capacitor still present in the other amplifier was also close to the end of its life, so it was only a matter of time before it failed too. This is the classic example of work done without any logic: when working on a pair of monoblocks, especially on critical components like power supply electrolytics, you replace them in both amplifiers, not one yes and one no.
The masterpiece, however, was something else. On both amplifiers someone had decided to replace the signal wire that runs from the RCA connector to the board using solid copper wires about 3 mm thick, because according to him the signal was more “current-capable”.
Of course there was no shielding, and the wire ran less than a centimeter from the rectifier bridge and the entire power supply area, basically in the worst possible place, nicely positioned to pick up noise and interference.
We are at quite high levels of stupidity here, because the signal at that point is very low level and the only thing needed is a proper shielded cable, not a copper rod! Obviously I removed everything and installed two simple pieces of double-shielded Proel audio cable, which is exactly what is needed in that position.
Unfortunately these things happen because many enthusiasts get dragged into strange theories, trends, forums, improvised “gurus” and people who talk about current, miracle copper, cable directionality and other fantasies, without having the slightest idea how a circuit actually works. The result is that even good equipment gets ruined by useless or even harmful modifications. The advice I can give is simple: before modifying an amplifier, or having it modified, ask yourself whether the person doing it has really understood how that circuit works, or whether they are just applying some theory read on the internet. Because between improving a piece of equipment and ruining it, the distance is often much smaller than one might think.
Conclusions
In conclusion, the Klimo Kent Silver is an interesting amplifier, but it must be seen for what it really is. It is not an untouchable holy grail, and it is not junk either. It is a piece of equipment that can work well again, but it requires a properly executed overhaul, especially when it comes from years of use, inactivity or improvised repairs.
If you own a Klimo Kent Silver and notice instability, abnormal noises, output tubes that are overstressed, suspicious capacitors, worn sockets or simply do not know the real condition of your amplifier, the best thing to do is have it properly checked. On equipment like this, improvisation is the fastest way to make things worse.
Electrical schematic sent to me by a reader of the website
