Audio Note, WE-91A, Rega, Ayon

by jetrexpro on Audio NoteWE-91aRegaAyon
System firing down the long wall
New rectifiers. 5R4WGB "potato masher"
New power supply caps for my amp that work better with the 5R4WGB rectifier.
had some copper sheet left over from my amp build so I put the very sensitive phono circuit inside this copper that I shaped into a box
input stage on the left. RIAA circuit on the right
finished circuit including hi voltage b+ and filament connections
Audio Note Home Brew Phono Pre Amp circuit built in copper box. Its power supply is behind it in a larger aluminum chassis
Happy to be finished with the amp. It now takes its place in our listening/living room. And its wife approved!
Starting by trying to visualize how to fit everything underneath.
using a hole saw bit to make the holes for the tubes
The hole for the Goldpoint stepped attenuator is the trickiest hole to make since it doesn't go all the way through
Under side with the holes for the Audio Note RCA female plugs made. The C3m driver tubes are about an 1 1/2 inches away from the Goldpoint stepped attenuator and the RCA females and also very close to the attenuator. Extremely short signal path.
completed holes
installing the tube sockets
top with tube sockets installed
with more aluminum bracing so the amp can support the heavy transformers.
looking at capacitor placement and considering isolating the circuit from the power supply with a copper box
this is the copper mesh which serves as top of the copper box (once the amp is right side up). The mesh is in direct contact with the copper sides which will be attached to the copper cover, which I have not finished yet. This copper box will be grounded which will allow any electrical hash to go to ground and not enter the circuit.
with the tubes and chokes in place to see how it will function. Volume control will be very close to C3m tubes. Paper cut outs show where the Audio Note output transformers and the power transformers go.
ground wires terminated at the copper chassis.
ground wires terminated at the copper chassis.
Mounting the four filament transformers
Duelunds caps and the 300b bias resistors installed. Blackgate caps bypass.
Working on the power supply
Completed copper box. it will be grounded to earth thru the AC line ground so that any hash from the outside world goes to ground and doesnt get into the circuit
Carefully mounting the output transformers
Iron on deck
circuit with copper box
50k Goldpoint attenuator. One piece of unisulated silver wire going from the attenuator to the grid of the C3m driver tube. I am hoping with the copper box and extremly short signal path a grid stopping resistor and shielding will not be needed.
Completed circuit including star grounding
copper box
Amp is finished and ready for testing all of the voltages. I am most nervous at this point. The first time powering up the B+ is always scary. No matter how careful I am with wiring, there is always a possiblity of a mistake or a faulty solder joint. Or something touching something else that might cause a short circuit.
Testing went well and the amp passes audio. What a relief....
2nd version - tiger maple chassis
2nd version - tiger maple chassis
2nd version - tiger maple chassis
1st version bread board of my WE91a amp

Description

Audio Note, WE-91A, Rega, Ayon
1/20/12 -I built a 300b single ended triode amplifier based on Joe Robert's Western Electric 91A. Used all vintage caps and vintage resistors-Alen Bradley and Ohmite. These vintage parts came from Leeds Radio just a few subway stops from my apartment in Brooklyn. The coupling caps are .1uf V-Cap TFTF. Large motor run oils in the power supply. Sophia Electric 91-05 Opt transformers and Sophia Princess Mesh Tubes. Stancor PT's came from ebay.

3/2012: Replaced the Alps Potentiometer with a Goldpoint 50K stepped attenuator. More clarity and transparency through the entire frequency range.

Still not using a pre amp.

5/12- Replaced the oil capacitor C-3 biasing the 6C6 with a Black Gate.

6/6/12- Finished new chassis

7/12 - Added Rega P3-24 with Power Supply and Exact Cart. Will look at different cart options later

7/12 - Pulled the 24 gauge silver hookup wire used throughout the amp and installed 16 gauge pure copper wire. The 24 gauge wire gave the sound a weightless quality that I did not like.
The 16 gauge has been in for three weeks and I can report that the weight and depth has very pleasingly improved. Vocals have an added pleasing quality. Instruments throughout the entire frequency range have more depth and richness. The low end is more powerful. I can more easily perceive the stage that the players are performing on.

10/12 Pulled C-5 and didn't replace it. Pulling this capacitor has changed the sound of this amp. Clarity and detail throughout but especially in the lows thru the mid range. Much easier to detect decay and the accompanying reverb. Dynamics seem more unconstrained as well. It has decreased gain by around 20% but in my room with the AN-e's it does not matter.

1/2013- Replaced the 1k Allen Bradley 6C6 Cathode resistor with a Vishay TX2575. This resistor is very neutral...almost as though it has no sonic character of its own. Each instrument has its own accurate color and detail but not at the expense of the overall musical message. Took about 100 hours of break in time.

2/16/13--After a month with the TX2757 in the 6C6 cathode position, including bypassing them with Black Gate Caps I decided to pull these resistors. They did not provide the richness and room filling sound that the A-B's and the older AN Tantalum did. A few weeks ago I got two of the most recent production 1k An Tants from the Hi Fi Collective.

These new Tants are more closely akin to the A-B's than to the TX2575's. They are not as sonically accurate or pure as the TX's. But they do fill the room with rich satisfying music like the A-Bs but with more detail and without the extra noise or warmth or whatever it is with the A-B carbon comps. Still running the amp without the 6C6 bypass cap.

2/2013--Built a home brew phono pre amp using the Audio Note M3 schematic.

4/2013-Upgraded to the Rega White belt and Groovetracer Reference subplatter. Excellent sonic improvement.

5/2013- WE91a amp---Replaced the the screen cap (6C6) which was an oil with a 12uf Solen cap. Have about 50 hours on the Solen. Not sure I like it. Makes the amp sound a little cold and forward. Will live with it for a while.

Late 5/2013. The 12uf Solen has broken in and I like it better than the oil that it replaced. Warmth but with plenty of detail.

Mid 7/2013 (Audio Note DIY Phono pre) ---- Added Audio Note Tantalum resistors into the signal path. 7/27/13-took out the .047 and .33uf Solen caps in the signal path of the phono pre and added .047 Vcap TFTF and .33 Audio note copper caps.

8/11/13 (Audio Note DIY Phono pre) After two weeks with the Vcaps and AN copper caps in the phono circuit my vinyl rig is a lot fun to listen to. A more beautiful and open sound than with the Solen caps.

10/12/13 WE91a---
replaced the 15uf oil cap that was biasing the 300b tube with a polarized 22uf Black Gate. Will listen for a while and see if I like it.

11/1/13 WE91a
The Black Gate by itself is still fine.

I cleaned the resistor and Cap leads, tube sockets and tube pins with 99% alcohol. They have been in the cicuit for 2 years and were tarnished and very dirty. Once cleaned much more mid range clarity and cleaner bass.

11/20/13 Added Gold Lion GZ34 Rectifiers. Sound is open and airy. Very nice

12/28/13 Added Emission Labs 300bXLS.

2/17/14- Audio Note Home Brew Phono Pre-Finished new chassis for the Power supply.
Added 8 more Tantalum Resistors (4 per channel) to the Phono circuit. Now the circuit has a few A-B's and 6 Tantalums per channel. Phono pre sounds a lot better than it did with the PRP red resistors.

3/16/14 WE91A. Because the EML300bXLS tubes are so well internally balanced, I was able to remove the Hum pots and still use AC heat. Now the 300b bias is going thru the center tap of the 5volt filament transformer. Without the hum pots, the sound is much freer and alive. I am liking this!

3/31/14-AN Phono Pre. Replaced several more PRP resistors that were on the plate of both the PS and circuit with Mills. Hopefully they will sound better than the PRP's

5/1/14 WE91a. Took out the Allen Bradley grid leak resistors and replaced with Shinkoh Tantalun resistors. took about two weeks to break in.
5/25/14 WE91a. Put the Allen Bradley grid leak resistors back in. The Shinkoh Tants made the amp have a glare that didn't go away even after the resistors were broken in.

Running the Amp at 425V B+ is sounding good with EML 300bXLS and GZ34's.

6/7/14 AN Home Brew Phono Pre-
Took out the last PRP resistors in the circuit and replaced with Allen Bradleys. Very nice change. Now the circuit has a good mix and Tants and Allen Bradleys. There are a few more PRP's in the power supply that I will replace very soon.

6/22/14 AN Home Brew Phono Pre- Took out the last of the PRP resistors in the power supply and replaced with Mills resistors

9/23/14 AN Home Brew Phono Pre - Installed Audio Note Copper Capacitors in the RIAA network. .0028uf and .0082uf in each channel

11/21/14 AN Home Brew Phono Pre - Replaced the six more Allen Bradley resistors (3 per channel) with Takman one watt resistors.

11/28/14 AN Home Brew Phono Pre - Tweeked the voltage in my phono pre. Very good results. Much more open and transparent sound. Orchestral strings sound really nice.

12/6/14 Rega P3-24. I added a Audio Note iQ3 cartridge. Needs about 100 hours of break in.
Rega Exact is a great cartridge but opportunity came up. We'll see which I prefer once the iQ3 is broken in.

12/13/14 WE91a. installed Duelund Copper Cast coupling caps. After two weeks more natural sounding than the V-cap Teflon

1/12/15-Duelund Copper CAST 630v coupler caps have a very natural, emotionally engaging musicality with a very rich and colorful tonal pallet. Keepers for sure!

3/1/15-WE91a - Experimenting with WIMA power supply caps. These are Metallized Polypropylene. C2 in my power supply is a 100uf oil. I have replaced it with a 50uf Wima. I think the 50uf is a better choice as it controls the woofer a bit better.

3/7/15- WE91a - Added new custom built power transformers by Heybour. 250mA. Also added another WIMA cap at C1- its a 15uf.
B+ went from 424 to 450. 375v across the 300b plate. 76mA. With all these changes the amp has better control over the woofer. Punchy bass.

3/25/15 WE91a. Took out the Wima at C1. Made the amp sound harsh. Put it a GE F97 oil.
3/30/15 WE91a. Took out the Solen 12uf Cap on the screen of the 6C6 driver tube and replaced it with a 22uf Black Gate VK cap. The Solen is muddy compared to the Black Gate. I didnt realize how important the cap on the 6C6 screen is to the sound of the amplifier.

4/15/15 WE91a - A friend has lent me four low DCR 2H chokes (two per channel) to try in place of the single 10H Hammond in each channel. PS is now 15uf/1.8H/15uf/2h/50uf. Amp sounds faster and more nimble. Nice.

5/14/15 WE91a. I have bypassed the Wima Cap at C2 in the power supply with four very low value film caps. Too soon to draw any conclusions about sound.
5/31/15 WE91a. New production Audio Note 50uf Kaisei Power supply capacitors have arrived and after a week of burning them in, I have installed them in place of the Wima 50uf and all of those bypass film caps. will see which I like better in a couple of weeks.

6/13/15 WE91a. The New production Audio Note 50uf Kaisei Power supply capacitors have been in my power supply for two weeks - about 100 hours or so of playing time. They have a purity, and a crystal clear clarity that no other cap in the power supply has had. I am going to replace the rest of the PS oils with these to see what happens. Maybe it will be too much- who knows. They dont have too much of a sonic signature. They just sound very free and open so adding a few more may be ok. If not I can put an oil back in.

7/10/15-WE91a. Installed Audio Note Ultra Hi B output transformers today. Will need a few weeks to come around.
9/1/15 - WE91a. The Audio Note Transformers and great with excellent depth and coherence. Added copper shrouds. 
9/25/15 -Western Electric Speaker wire and interconnects. I like the speaker wire better than my Audio Note Lexus copper. More direct. They make the Lexus cable sound soft around the edges and diffuse. The WE Interconnects are very good too. But still learning about there sound.
10/11/15 - WE91a. Took out the 6C6 driver tubes and installed C3m drivers. 

11/28/15 - WE91a. Added Regulation to the Screen of the C3m driver tubes. K&K CCS board and an OD3 glow tube that is puts out 150volts. The C3m driver tube and regulation is an excellent driver of a 300b output tube. Very fast  and dynamic with lots of detail and musicality. I am very happy with the sound of this amp.  Probably not making any more changes for quite a while.

1/1/16 - WE91a I still notice a bit of extra weight in the lower mids so I replaced the last oil cap in the power supply (c-1) with an Audio Note Kaisei 50uf cap.

2/1/16 -WE91a. After adding additional Audio Note Kaisei capacitor to the power supply, the voicing of this amplifier is complete. The power supply is 50uf/5h 30ohm choke/ 50uf and it sounds dynamic fast and clean. With all Kaisei caps in the power supply the lower mids are now more open and that weight I mentioned above is gone. Will rebuild the amp onto a new piece of wood and hide all of the hi voltage parts underneath. Will post pics of the new build as it progresses.

3/10/2016 - WE91a.  New Chassis is finished. The new build features and extremely short signal path and a copper box known as a "faraday cage" which isolates the audio circuit from RF/AC, Cell phones, and other nasty's. The goal here is to eliminate the grid stopping resistors that are usually necessary on many tube grids. In a SET amplifier any extra part effects the sound especially a resistor in series with the grid. They are usually necessary on the C3m grid as well. Without a grid stopper the C3m tube can squeal and make all sorts of other very harmful noises but with my new chassis implementation I have not needed a grid stopper.  If the C3m tubes continue to behave it would be a major step forward. The sound of the amp without a grid stopper is more open free and natural.

4/2/16 - Audio M3 Phono Pre- I had some copper left over from my amp build so I made a 8x6x2 copper box and put the phono circuit inside. Pics added.

5/16- Bought Kondo KSL-LP silver interconnects and am using them with Audio Note Lexus Bi Wire copper speaker cables. After trying various IC's like homebrew WE-16g and Ocellia silver reference and various Speaker cables like WE-16g and 10g and Kondo KSL-SPz, the Kondo KSL-LP silver interconnects with Audio Note Lexus Bi Wire copper speaker cables really bring something special to the table at least to my ears system and room.

9/20/16 Ayon CD07 - put in NOS Raytheon 5687 tubes and after a week of break in they sound tremendous. Transparent mids fast and clean lows and clean extended highs. Better than any tube thus far.

10/2016  WE91a - I removed the 91k bleeder resistor from the last cap in the power supply. I can't believe how much more open, free and transparent the sound is. It's like that bleeder had clamped down on PS and now without it there is more energy coming into the room. Any tonal warmth that had been left in this amp is now gone.

11/2016 WE91a - with the bleeder resistor removed I noticed a tinniness in they high frequencies so I removed the GE 12gauge wire from both the power supply b+ and ground and replaced it with vintage WE 16gauge wire and that tinniness is now completely gone. The WE vintage wire sounds very good just as others have reported.

1/2018 -WE91a. Replaced the Goldpoint 50k stepped attenuator with a Seiden Shunt stepped attenuator loaded with Audio Note tantalum resistors. Its been in for about a month and I am shocked at the change in sound. Extended highs and lows and more lively mids. Huge step up. The highs and mids are so open and beautiful. Powerful bass. A very worthwhile change.

3/2020- WE91a.  Over the past year and one half, experimented with a .22UF Russian vintage cap in the coupling position in place of a duelund .1uf copper cap after growing tired of the  accurate and analytical presentation of the Duelund. The Russian cap did not do anything that I liked even after a year of listening. It was kinda like all the instruments turned the color of grey. I’ve had some Audio Note copper .47uf caps sitting around for a few years so put them in around the first of 2020 so they now have three months on them. 

The AN copper .47uf coupling caps after a two month an up and down ride stopped changing about a month ago. So I’ve been listening for a solid month after they finally settled in.  

I perceive no less detail with them compared to the duelunds but the detail is integrated into a more musical and three dimensional presentation. There are real instruments playing in front of me. Much more texture and dimension. There may be just a bit of glue tying everything together but even with the glue, there is individual instrumental color and tone in spades. A bit more overall warmth and richness.  Keeping in mind that my system has AUDIO NOTE output transformers, speakers, speaker cables, resistors and capacitors, kondo interconnects and an AN IQ lll Cartridge. So I would have thought adding an Audio Note coupling cap would have been to much, but it actually brought everything together in a very nice way.

 I think they might be too much of a good thing in a system that already fills out a three dimensional space but for me they add something lovely and musical that was missing. This reminds me that there is no such thing as the best capacitor or best anything else....

Read more...

Room Details

Dimensions: 25’ × 12’  Medium
Ceiling: 9’

Components Toggle details

    • Audio Note UK Audio Note UK AN-e LX HE
    Fun to listen to speakers that do a nice job with most types of music
    • DIY WE91a
    Very natural sound amp with good pacing. Duelund Copper cast caps. Audio Note Ultra hiB Output Transformers. Very short signal path and power supply wiring.
    • DIY Western Electric WE-91A
    Old breadboard

Comments 326

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Owner
The Belden interconnects now have well over 100 hours of burn in and with a quick listen before breakfast they are sounding very nice with lovely tone. I'll be comparing these to Kondo KSL-LP silver interconnects to see which I prefer. I have been trying the Kondo for several months with an option to buy at a very good price.

jetrexpro

Owner
Salectric, I am surprised by the synergy of these WE16g wires. Like Grannyring; they leave me shaking my head.

Grannyring, one run per pole continues works very well in my smallish room. I can also try two runs using my existing bi-wire configuration by stripping off some more of the insulation and jumping between the two positive and two negative pols.

I am going to re try the Belden IC's over the weekend and will report back. By then they will have over 100 hours in my back room system.

jetrexpro

I found with my 10 watt SET amp one run was fine, but with my 100 watt Hybrid 2 runs were a must. A friend has 89db speakers and a 300 watt hybrid amp and two runs were much better. High wattage amps combined with less than efficient speakers seems to equal the need for two runs.

But even my 10 watt SET gained more bass weight with the two runs. Not night and day, but enough for me to stick with two runs.

I am most interested in your final comments on the Belden as I and many folks I turned onto this cable just love them. We all sold big dollar cables.

Again, system synergy will win in the end.

This WE wire still has me shaking my head. It should not sound this good. Tinned and stranded...yikes one would think.

grannyring

That's good news Jet. Thanks for the additional comments. While I am not familiar with your Lexus cable I would expect it to be a synergistic match to your AN speakers, so your reactions to the WE have particular relevance.

salectric

Owner
Grannyring and Salectric, I am home now and listening just to make sure what I was hearing last night holds true. I am finding that I need only one run per pole (4 per speaker in bi wire) to hear a richness and fully developed bass mids and highs with these WE16g speaker cable. Just to make sure I listened to some rock music that I know very well and the bass is as fully extended as with my AN Lexus. These cables are pretty special. Gorgeous clear mids and highs that allow harmonic complexity that I am not used to hearing. It could also be that my new transformers are further breaking in as well but I am pretty sure the WE wire is mostly responsible-Jet

jetrexpro

Need two runs on the WE wire per pole for great bass and fullness. I found this is the key in many systems!I have not tried 3 or 4, but?

grannyring

How would you characterize the low end on the WE wire, in terms of extension, fullness and detail?

Those were the areas where I had concerns with my WE wire but I only used it for a few hours so it was not broken in by any means.

salectric

Owner
Salectric, Un-terminated. Bare ends. I did solder the amp ends since I had to twist the two wires together to make the bi-wire. The Belden IC's have the Switchcraft RCA connectors that everyone is using. My Audio Note Lexus has huge spades on the amp end and bananas on the speaker end. I have thought many times about removing them since they are probably not helping the sound, but did not since it might hurt their resale value.

jetrexpro

Jet,

Are you using any connectors on the WE 16g wire such as spades or just the bare ends? What type of RCA plugs have you attached to the Belden?

salectric

Owner
Charles,
The Western Electric 16 gauge wire sounds really nice. I burned them for 5 days in my 2nd system and have been listening to them for 2 evenings. They have a similar tonality to my Audio Note Lexus speaker cables but sound more direct and cleaner. The Audio Note cables sound softer and diffuse. Soft around the edges. The WE16g more direct-less diffuse at the same time dynamic rich and room filling. So far so good. I am surprised!

The Belden IC only have 24 hours of burnin time so its too early to say much. I gave them a quick listen last night and they need more time. At this stage they did not sound very good.

jetrexpro

Jet,
I certainly trust your listening impressions and you have an exceptionally fine system. I would be very interested to read your comparisons of the low-cost wire versus the highly regarded silver Kondo cable. Given the current hype/praise If the Belden comes even reasonably close this would be a worthy feat in my opinion. Same thought applies to the Western Electric cable in comparison to your Audio Note wires.
Charles,

charles1dad

Owner
Grannyring, I ordered the Belden Interconnects along with the Western Electric speaker wire. I have been trying Kondo silver interconnects with an option to buy. Seller will give me a very very good deal or I would not even consider them. I'll be able to a/b belden with kondo. That should be very interesting.

Will the Western Electric speaker wire best my beloved Audio Note Lexus??? We'll find out! Regards and thank you again for the info - Jet

jetrexpro

Owner
Joe, It was my pleasure. You are welcome back any time. I am looking forward to another visit to your place to hear the new Elrogs.

Grannyring, thank you. You know the rewards of DIY and thank for your many ideas. Looking forward to trying that Western Electric speaker cable/Belden IC.

Charles, Joe and I were talking about how similar our systems sound. I agree with you that these transformers are a very good investment indeed!

jetrexpro

Jet,
It sure seems that buying these premium grade Transformers was a very wise and fruitful decision. I believe you and Joe and imagine your system must sound simply terrific and oh so natural 😄
Charles,

charles1dad

I went over Dave's home yesterday and we spun a few tunes. I concur with his thoughts. His system is very musical with beautiful tone and timbre.
Bass is very tuneful and clean, midrange is open and fleshed out, and highs are articulate and delicate.
Dave you did a great job on the amps they sound great! Oh, I forgot to mention those trannies are huge.
I'm sure with more time they should open up even more.

Thanks for having me over, it was a good listen.
I'll sent you those cables out to you this coming week.

snopro

Very nice post. Love reading about your DIY experiences. Love it! Well done sir!

grannyring

Owner
I have 100 + hours on these new Audio Note Ultra Hi B Double C Core output transformers so its time for an update.
It is obvious that these transformers were born to work with Audio Note speakers. The 2.7k primary impedance is supposedly ideal for both these speakers and the 300b tube...at least that is according to what Audio Note says.

The musical emotional intentions of the singers and instrumentalists and even the full orchestra are displayed in a way that translates into an emotionally connected and charged moment. It's hard to put this into words, but I find myself spellbound by almost anything I spin on vinyl or CD. When a flute or sax or any instrument is playing a phrase I hear the weight of that phrase and also an increased coherency and detail that is extremely musical. But the operative word I use here is COHERENT.

Over the past few months I optimized the power supply so it is fast clean and nimble, but there is something very coherent and dynamic and fast going on now that is completely new. I think it begins with the lower mids and bass. So very powerful, dynamic and large scale without being bloated or slow. The new speed and coherency is creating this musicality. These transformers seem to have extended the reach of the extreme low bass reminding me on occasion of subwoofer territory. The music seems to ride atop the bass and lower mids in a musical way that it did not before. This gives every instrument and voice an added presence and gravitas. Orchestral climaxes are scary events now-So fast and coherent and large scale I am afraid I will get a knock on my door from a neighbor. The large dynamic swings, the push pull from the quiet to loud is completely transformed into a musical emotional event. I am simply shocked at the dynamic range of these transformers.

It has taken a full 100 hours for the mid range to start developing the depth and nuance of the Sophia Electric transformers. The delicate nature of the Sophia's is beautiful and very musical in its own right. The Audio note transformers are starting to display that inner midrange beauty that I had come to expect and was missing. At about the 75 hour point that midrange started to slowly come alive. I am guessing I am in for a treat over the coming weeks as these trannies further developed. From what I hear they need well over 200 hours.

jetrexpro

Owner
System edited: Installed Audio Note Ultra Hi B output transformers today. They will take a few weeks to come around. Put on some big orchestral music just to see how they sound right off the bat. The bass is very powerful and controlled. I also heard some very interesting depth and texture. They sound like they have a cold and will probably sound like this for a days.

jetrexpro

Agreed Jet. I am not sure I can even fit those TC caps in my amp......very little room.

I replaced Mundorf SIO which are really good, but not great.

grannyring

Owner
Bill - Charles is right!! LOL! What coupling caps did the Jupiters replace?
I am curious about how these new Audio Note power supply caps would compare to your Clarity Polypropylene caps. I shouldn't be so quick to do a blanket dismissal of Polypropylene since I have only tried Wima.

jetrexpro

Bill,
Well, that promise not to monkey with the amplifier sure didn't last a long time did it😄😄 . It is understandable, Larry Moore the designer of your amplifier was committed to making an excellent sounding amplifier using off-the-shelf parts and he succeeded in doing so. It seems only logical to me that upgrading the internal wiring and using high-quality capacitors can't help but make a noticeable improvement, we don't blame you for this Bill😃
From your description, it seems that overall this is the most satisfying and enjoyable amplifier you have owned so far. I suspect you will keep this amp for a very long time and enjoy it immensely. So why not fine-tune it and extract the most performance you can from this amplifier?
Charles,

charles1dad

Jet, I could not help myself and upgraded the input IC wire in my 845 amp from Mogami to Neotech NEI 1001 pure silver IC cable. I also put some Jupiter copper foil coupling caps between the 46 and 845 tubes. Oh my, very nice results. The caps were already burned in. Love this darn amp.

grannyring

Thanks for the update. I will try some once they get the values I need. I need 200 - 220uf and I read they will be coming out with more values soon.

grannyring

Owner
Grannyring and all interested DIYers,

The Audio Note Kaisei 50uf caps have been in my amp for two weeks and have about 100 hours on them and their sound has settled so it is no longer changing. All that I said above holds true. They have a purity and clairty that no other cap I have tried in my power supply has. I have tried oils, polypropylene, polypropylene with bypass. The Audio Note guys know the Black Gate sound and I believe they have worked on these caps so they sound like Black Gates. An open and very free sound. They don't have much of a sonic signature, they just somehow allow a clarity and purity to shine thru. Because I dont detect a sonic signature I feel confident in ordering more to replace the remaining oils my amp's power supply. Regards-Jet

jetrexpro

Good stuff!

grannyring

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