Yes that is in my budget. Didn’t see that one thank you.
Okay here are pictures of the Texas Star DX500, RM Italy KL-503hd, RM Italy KL-703 and the CarlBuilt 400hd. Disregard the connectors that what’s I put on. Also disregard the word SLINGSHOT on the top of the CarlBuilt 400hd.
The Texas Star DX500 and KL-703 put out roughly the same wattage 450 give or take. That is not over driving them and using a Cobra 29 LTD Classic with about 4.5 watts dead key and 24 watts PEP. The KL-503hd does right at 300 watts as advertised. The CarlBuilt will exceed 600 watts output and is capable of being driven harder.
I don’t drive any of my amplifiers hard that goes for my Acom 2000P and Ameritron AL-82 both on 240 voltage and both exceeding 1500 KW.
I think the Pre-amp if that is something that interest you is superior on the RM Italy amps. If you’re looking for better tuned inputs (radio to amp) the RM Italy or the CarlBuilt are superior to Texas Star.
If you want to drive the amp hard both the RM Italy take up to a 30 watt input and they are more forgiving of a higher than 1.5 SWR on your antenna.
The CarlBuilt can easily take a 100 watt input. I don’t think it is as forgiving with high SWR
Inside the amps the Texas Star and RM Italy use a more finished circuit board. A few connections in the CarlBuilt are point to point soldering....meaning wires twisted together and then soldered.
Which do I like the best....my Acom 2000P, AL-1500 and AL-82 which are connected to my 10K Colossal 5/8 ground plane. The other antenna is a Sirio GainMaster 5/8 wave vertical dipole which I don’t push pass 450 watts.
Which amp will last longer between Texas Star and RM Italy I give the nod to RM Italy lasting longer. I think the CarlBuilt would outlast them both. The RM Italy does have reverse polarity protection and I think is ascetically more pleasing. Note how large the RM Italy 703 is compared to the others.
In my opinion amplifier failures are generally user error....SWR issues, driving to hard, over volting, under volting, improper connections be they electrical or coaxial.
If the amp doesn’t come with a fan for cooling...plan on adding one. The CarlBuilt comes with a fan.