Dear Mr. Tea-Bag,
I am sorry to have missed the earlier group buy for an UltraFSP board/kit/JFETs. I've added my user name and the desired parts to your spreadsheet. Is anything else needed (besides patience)? Thanks for this incredible service you provide. Really quite amazing.
In admiration,
- David LePell
Albuquerque, NM, USA
I am sorry to have missed the earlier group buy for an UltraFSP board/kit/JFETs. I've added my user name and the desired parts to your spreadsheet. Is anything else needed (besides patience)? Thanks for this incredible service you provide. Really quite amazing.
In admiration,
- David LePell
Albuquerque, NM, USA
many of the critical parts you can use on the UFSP.
2SK170, 2SK369BL, C3-C4. C1-C2, a number of them you cannot. If you have an older kit, I could make a transitional kit I think to cover the differences.
Currently there is only demand for 7 boards. That is being optomistic that I won't see the typical 20 percent drop out rate.
Ideally we want closer to 20 to keep costs in control. Demand for other boards is also not high, so I am not inclined currently to run a group buy.
Once I have my kits more ready to sell anyways, I will close GB which will probably gather a few more people interested.
Sort of, the Minikit includes measured transistors for Q3,Q7.
The 2SK369 and 2SK170BL are optional and not included.
This is mentioned in the BOM spreadsheet.
UltraFSP BOM - Google Sheets
CAP Shootout
I wanted to do this so long ago, but so many things changed last year, I could not get around to it.
But, I have been putting energy back into some of my own gear intermittently now.
So the basis of this post is to get to some results on listening tests with different C3-C4 caps. I added a board set with some standoffs that I could take the caps in and out and use alligator clips to add in. As one would guess, this is not the best method of connection. Take that into account.
Under test was
Mundorf EVO Aluminum Oil
Mundorf EVO silver/Gold Oil
Clarity Cap CMR
Miflex KPCU-01 (does not fit well) KPCU02 would probably fit better.
The short answer is, the better, more expensive capacitors you put in there, the better it sounds. I was hoping that I could find a value setup here by using an inexpensive C4, but this does not work out.
The Miflex, exceeds both Mundorfs, and is a bit less expensive that the Mundorf Silver Oil and Clarity CMR. It adds a little body to it, less than I remember than the Jupiter cap does. The Mundorf Silver/Gold Oil are close in clarity to the Clarity Caps, but they do not seem to have the same amount of body. They are possibly a little ethereal sounding, as I think HumbleHifi notes, but I did not find it overbearing in anyway. The Clarity are a little more dramatic and dynamic sounding.
By comparison, the Mundorf EVO aluminum Oil are flatter sounding, less detail, less dynamic. They do not get in the way, but are underwhelming by comparison. I would not want this to be the final say cap for anyone.
Prior to this, I had tried the CSA caps by Clarity. They also have copper content. They sounded as dynamic as the CMRs, but lack delicacy a bit, probably missing a bit of detail and add a bit of grain. The others above I did not detect grain, but admittedly was using a different system in a different time window - but I did take notes.
I wish I had more caps at my disposal. Although the Mundorfs EVO and Clarity where taken into mind for fit, especially for C4, there are a lot of caps out there that could work in C4 and many more in C3.
Keep in mind of course, that my ears are slightly over a half-century old. So I am lacking a bit of top end detail and probably others from this. My only luck is that I have trained my ears over time to be able to differentiate good from bad sound. A blessing and a curse as many know.
So far, my recommendation still stands with the Clarity CMR, Especially for C4.
I wanted to do this so long ago, but so many things changed last year, I could not get around to it.
But, I have been putting energy back into some of my own gear intermittently now.
So the basis of this post is to get to some results on listening tests with different C3-C4 caps. I added a board set with some standoffs that I could take the caps in and out and use alligator clips to add in. As one would guess, this is not the best method of connection. Take that into account.
Under test was
Mundorf EVO Aluminum Oil
Mundorf EVO silver/Gold Oil
Clarity Cap CMR
Miflex KPCU-01 (does not fit well) KPCU02 would probably fit better.
The short answer is, the better, more expensive capacitors you put in there, the better it sounds. I was hoping that I could find a value setup here by using an inexpensive C4, but this does not work out.
The Miflex, exceeds both Mundorfs, and is a bit less expensive that the Mundorf Silver Oil and Clarity CMR. It adds a little body to it, less than I remember than the Jupiter cap does. The Mundorf Silver/Gold Oil are close in clarity to the Clarity Caps, but they do not seem to have the same amount of body. They are possibly a little ethereal sounding, as I think HumbleHifi notes, but I did not find it overbearing in anyway. The Clarity are a little more dramatic and dynamic sounding.
By comparison, the Mundorf EVO aluminum Oil are flatter sounding, less detail, less dynamic. They do not get in the way, but are underwhelming by comparison. I would not want this to be the final say cap for anyone.
Prior to this, I had tried the CSA caps by Clarity. They also have copper content. They sounded as dynamic as the CMRs, but lack delicacy a bit, probably missing a bit of detail and add a bit of grain. The others above I did not detect grain, but admittedly was using a different system in a different time window - but I did take notes.
I wish I had more caps at my disposal. Although the Mundorfs EVO and Clarity where taken into mind for fit, especially for C4, there are a lot of caps out there that could work in C4 and many more in C3.
Keep in mind of course, that my ears are slightly over a half-century old. So I am lacking a bit of top end detail and probably others from this. My only luck is that I have trained my ears over time to be able to differentiate good from bad sound. A blessing and a curse as many know.
So far, my recommendation still stands with the Clarity CMR, Especially for C4.
Attachments
Tea-Bag,. Thanks for the excellent review. Considering the cost for each capacitor that was an expensive project. I'm very happy with the Clarity Cap in c4 and the Mundorf Supreme in c3. This is an awesome phono preamp, I've tried a MM and a MC lol cartridge so far and the sound exceeds any other preamp I've owned.
So now we get pcb`s, part`s, tech support and kick *** sound, and the development department is testing cap`s for us. I`m stating to feel really spoild here!
Thank`s a million guys!!
The Clarity CMR is it 400v or 630v?
400V for 2.2uf. My .1uf is a 630v. There is no 400v version according to Clarity.
CMR polypropylene audio capacitor from ClarityCap
I did hear the Mundorf Supreme Silver/Oil in C3 in aljorden system and it was also very good. I don't have one in an appropriate value to test here.
Today I added another listening session to my cap swapping regimen.
I introduced two new C3 caps, a RussianK40Y9 .1uf and a Miflex KPFM-01 .1uf.
I also purchased some 2.2uf Miflex KPAL units, which are scary large devices that have no chance of reasonably fitting into current testbed box. The Clarity CMR, remaining the reference choice for C4.
The K40 holds it own, it gives up some detail for some smoothness of the outer edges and can make a really bright recording calmer, and a more organic quality. It does not give up too much, and is quite inoffensive.
The KPFM-01 from Milflex outperforms the KPCU-01 cap in my system, and is less expensive. It has a lot of detail retrieval without grain or etch or excessive tone alteration. The KPCU offers the same amount of detail retrieval, smooth, but it's got a stronger tone to it. Think Irish versus standard tea.
The one weakness of a CMR are that they excel at being a revealing capacitor, and are very balanced on well recorded music. When you go into your stash or poorly mastered recordings that are bright or mechanical sounding the CMRs will not take the edge off.
So I tried the KPAL 2.2uf on C4. They are not a night and day difference here, but they do well with the KPFM and also the K40 in C3 with recordings that sound too electronic and have a strong glare. They are a little more organic sounding, even if there is a minor loss of detail.
I am also convinced that if I had a darker system that the Mundorf Silver/Gold EVO would fair better in my listening tests. I know my system seems bright to others, so tend to not want to overemphasize that.
I introduced two new C3 caps, a RussianK40Y9 .1uf and a Miflex KPFM-01 .1uf.
I also purchased some 2.2uf Miflex KPAL units, which are scary large devices that have no chance of reasonably fitting into current testbed box. The Clarity CMR, remaining the reference choice for C4.
The K40 holds it own, it gives up some detail for some smoothness of the outer edges and can make a really bright recording calmer, and a more organic quality. It does not give up too much, and is quite inoffensive.
The KPFM-01 from Milflex outperforms the KPCU-01 cap in my system, and is less expensive. It has a lot of detail retrieval without grain or etch or excessive tone alteration. The KPCU offers the same amount of detail retrieval, smooth, but it's got a stronger tone to it. Think Irish versus standard tea.
The one weakness of a CMR are that they excel at being a revealing capacitor, and are very balanced on well recorded music. When you go into your stash or poorly mastered recordings that are bright or mechanical sounding the CMRs will not take the edge off.
So I tried the KPAL 2.2uf on C4. They are not a night and day difference here, but they do well with the KPFM and also the K40 in C3 with recordings that sound too electronic and have a strong glare. They are a little more organic sounding, even if there is a minor loss of detail.
I am also convinced that if I had a darker system that the Mundorf Silver/Gold EVO would fair better in my listening tests. I know my system seems bright to others, so tend to not want to overemphasize that.
I did not have to adjust TP. I was using a higher gain cart which doesn't drift a lot, even when restarting this often moving caps in and out. If I was doing LOMC, the warm up time and drift would be a bigger factor.
Although 4V is ideal, Salas I think noted it operates at 2-6 Volts before SQ is affected or you just lose sound.
I imagine most people will not take this route and swap them out < 10 minutes each time.
Although 4V is ideal, Salas I think noted it operates at 2-6 Volts before SQ is affected or you just lose sound.
I imagine most people will not take this route and swap them out < 10 minutes each time.
T.P. voltage is not directly related to C3 C4 swaps indeed. Indirectly you would simply want to check its comparable between listening sessions.
Because for having the lid open or closed and for different warm up times it can serve as a barometer to confirm you compare under similar equilibrium states of the full circuit.
BTW I didn't know Mike had this easily communicating subjective impressions talent. Must start caps info site.
Humble home made Tea.
It was black when I put it on there, but not sure how it looks now.
I just think, what errors might I make, or do make, and apply them logically to the kits if at all possible.