I replaced the volume pot on my tube preamplifier.
Replaced the two mono Alps pots in phono preamp with Tocos (Tokyo Cosmos), RV24 units. I heard good things about these pots on other forums. Fair bit of work getting them to fit into the Croft 25R. I had to loosen the tube boards and drill out the mounting holes for the larger threads. The pots were only $26 for both inc tax and shipping. Huge improvement in speed, clarity, solidity, and transparency. I'm blown away.
Well I have to say I bought 2 mono ones on ebay one went scratchy in a short time. I lived in Alaska at the time. So I contacted the Company Kayoko Shinbori, Sales Dept. TOKYO KO-ON DENPA CO., LTD. 56 Orimoto-cho, Tsuzuki-ku Yokohama, Kanagawa 224-0043 JAPAN Phone: +81-45-470-9341 Email: [email protected] This guy was so great I never looked back. They make them to order now days 5 years ago. One of the best deals in Audio in my mind! Well worth the wait.! |
@rowd Thanks. I use mono pots too. Maybe we need to pressure manufacturers to use better pots. |
ROWD and I have been through this and if anyone does not think this is a MAJOR ISSUE they cannot hear….here is my short story I by accident ruined a khozmo attenuator while painting a faceplate on a dual mono passive and pulled the other out and then substituted with ALPS and I was floored which led me to another world….and as a result I even took a 5K ARS SONUM FILHARMONIA AND ripped it apart to replace the ALPS with a pair of KHOZMO which now set externally on the chassis and the difference made a 5K integrated sound like a a 10 k integrated…..CHEAP POTS TURN MY STOMACH. |
@jordi Obviously, I concur. Contrary to the seeming naivete of my opening post, I have run into this issue before. I built an overkill phono preamplifier back in the day and it sounded fantastic (with a cheap RS sourced pot). I was to demo it to a dealer and wanting to make the best impression, replaced the pot with a Sfernice unit ordered from France. I hastily swapped out the pot, tested on the scope and packed up the amp. The demo went well with the dealer saying, "don’t call us, we’ll call you." Let’s just say, the fancy pot destroyed the sound. And that is why I’ve waited all these years to try a different pot. |
