Preamp Deal of the Century

Fiddler,
Great post, thank for sharing with us.
I have Chenin, after opening I have found 10 big white caps (they are glued to walls). Are you talking about them ? As I understand you have replaced only 2 of them ?
Which ones ?

Could you provide me with exact resistance of DACT (type, A or C) ?

What have given you more benefit replacing caps or Alphs pot ?

Has any owner any experience with balanced power ?
Is it beneficial with Supratek ?

Sorlowski,

Fiddler is talking about the output caps(just before it goes to the ouput RCA's). In my Chenin, which maybe same as your unit, it is the Auricap (yellow) with 1uF/450V rating on mine. I have not replaced mine nor planning to replace it. I am happy about my preamp as it is.

First tubes, then umbilical cords, now caps. Soon, we have to rewire the whole preamp from PS to the linestage unit. Nothing wrong with all that I suppose. I was guilty riding the "tube carnival", did not bother about the umbilical cord, but I have a feeling the teflon caps will have a difference in sound and might try it in the future.

I tried balance power on the preamp. I did not like it a bit but your experience can be different.

regards

Thanks,
I will have to check how many of them (yellow 1uf/450V)are there.
I agree that Supratek sound really good from the start, but I'm hoping that with some "help" it can be that good like Lamm or VAC :)
What changed in Suratek sound with balanced power what you did not like ?

To me, it sounds very clean almost "sterile" like. Bass is a mother but seems to be louder than the rest. Again, my comments were from my experienced only. FWIW, my left regulator tube (which was brand new) crap out after a week when I was using balance power. Coincidence, maybe, but it glowed red then turned powder white and scared the daylights out of me. Luckily, it did not damage the preamp so I switched to regular power scheme asap.

regards

Sorlowski,

I'm not sure which caps you have in your preamp. My Chardonnay had the stock cap Mick was using about two years ago. He then told me that he found the Auricaps to be better. I installed them. They were better. (I am hesitant to point you to the specific caps as your unit may be different than mine, but they are the output caps off of the tube sockets in my unit).

However, after reading opinions about the Mundorfs vs. Auricaps, the Mundorfs seemed clearly the superior cap. I tried them. Sure enough, they were considerably better than the Auricaps. The Auricaps were fuzzy by comparison.

I had read rave reviews about the V-Caps for some time. I finally decided to try them. They are huge improvement over the Mundorfs and on another planet from the Auricaps. Simply do a search. With only one exception I can find, everyone seems to agree the V-Cap is simply in another different league than any other cap. It certainly is in my experience. And if you read the reviews from a number of highly regarded manufacturers, the V-Caps have no equal.

Regarding your question, which is better - the DACT or V-Caps. Hard to say. I installed the DACT long ago. Had I installed the V-Caps first, the DACT may have made as much difference as the V-Caps, but in the order that I installed them the V-caps made an amazing difference. I honestly believe based on other component upgrades I have made, the V-Caps alone made more difference than a $7,000 component upgrade I made about two years ago.

Amandarae, the V-Caps significantly improved the tonality of my unit, especially the piano. Not to mention the overall clarity. But I can understand your reluctance to change your unit. The Supratek in stock form is terrific, but I feel like my unit is so much better now it's not funny. Remember that Mick has to weigh parts selection based on a target price point of a particular unit. Using a DACT and V-Caps in a Chardonnay would probably increase the price of the unit by $600-$700 (with mark-up) if not more. But IMHO, the product can be improved if one is willing to spend the money.

Having said all that, in the end you may prefer a stock unit over an upgraded unit, but my ears tell me it's no contest. And just to give you a frame of reference, I prefer the cleanest, most transparent, detailed and tonally accurate preamp I can get. I am much closer to that now than I was with a stock unit.