Phono preamp cap upgrade and VCap questions

[dubwoofer]

I'm looking into upgrading the capacitors in my HagTech Cornet Octal phono stage to try and achieve better musicality and transparency. Here's a list of capacitor suggestions I found:

C6 - Mundorf Silver/Oil bypassed with .1 uF Russian Teflon FT-3 (Sig)
C1/C3 - Sonicap Gen 1 (EQ)
C5 - Sonicap Platinum (Sig)
C7 - Sonicap Gen 1 (EQ)
C8 - Sonicap Gen 1 (EQ)

SC Gen 1's should work well enough in the EQ circuit, but I've read very good things about the VCap TFTF series and would like to use them in the front of the preamp instead of the SC platinums. Will the VCaps and Mundorfs have good synergy or should I look for an output cap with less 'color'?

 

[SY]

I'm looking into upgrading the capacitors in my HagTech Cornet Octal phono stage to try and achieve better musicality and transparency.

That probably won't do it. If the sound is not right, then you need to look at circuit changes. Have you checked that the RIAA conformance is accurate?

BTW, I did some testing comparing V-Caps to cheap bipolar electrolytics as coupling caps, using an ears-only method (The Bastard Box). No-one who tried was able to hear the difference, including me.

edit: Your other issue here may be excessive input capacitance if you're using an MM cartridge. For any circuit mods, you might want to start there.

 

[DF96]

"Musicality" and "transparency" are either mutually exclusive or mean precisely the same thing; you cannot pass a music signal unchanged while at the same time adding something which the original musicians and producers omitted for some reason.

 

[analog_sa]

Will the VCaps and Mundorfs have good synergy or should I look for an output cap with less 'color'?

Don't think anyone else should take this decision on your behalf: it's too personal. Dunno about the Vcaps, but Mundorf SIO and SonicCap Platinums i hate with a passion. This came upon me gradually after an initial "wow" period. Taken together they are so bright they may permanently damage your hearing

Yet still, there are folks who love them

 

[dubwoofer]

I should have figured experimentation is the only way to answer my question concretely. I'll report back when I settle on something I like.