Yes, Elecraft did have two prototypes fairly early on--a model "800", and a
larger model "1600", or something close to that nomenclature wise. I saw
them both at Pacificon one year, and they looked very nice. I think this
was an "Eric" project, so you probably need to speak to him as to whether or
not they might ever revive the larger amp project.
I don't know exactly what stunted the further development of these amps at
the time, but I can guess! Obviously, we eventually got a 500 watt amp,
which is a very nice fit for a lot of us. This is probably a pared down
version, but refined also, of the model 800.
I have no doubt that Elecraft could successfully produce a KW, or KW+ amp.
However, the problems of doing so are clearly substantial. As many "voices"
as we always hear asking for such a model, you might think it would be a big
success. However, a very big stumbling block would probably be price! Such
an amp would not be cheap, and I suspect it would be well beyond the budget
of a great many who would otherwise want one. As the market potential for
something like this goes down due to pricing, the pricing actually goes up
to make up some of the shortfall (and recover the development costs, etc.).
So, the ultimate price can seem inordinately high.
Then you have the plethora of issues that higher power causes. How many
prospective purchasers would have to rewire their shacks for 240 volts? How
do you keep these big gun amps "clean" spec wise? Etc. Etc.
What I'm not sure of is whether or not Elecraft could sufficiently
differentiate their big amp from those that are already out there. I can
imagine there would be a heck of a lot of "nit-picking" about this or that,
and it would be a real headache.
This high power stuff is a whole different ballgame from what I think the
focus of Elecraft has generally been so far. There are several companies
out there that concentrate on nothing else. Even though they are capable of
it, I'm not sure Elecraft wants to divert their attention this much to
effectively do battle in that arena. Besides, I get a very strong
impression that they already have more than enough ideas in their heads to
keep them busy for a long time to come. They can't do everything, nor do
they want to.
Dave W7AQK
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