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FT Audio LW-1 Preamplifier (SS)

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LarBO

(A)

In Reply to: FT Audio LW-1 Preamplifier (SS) posted by Budrew on November 13, 2002 at 20:44:44:

I've had an LW-1 for nearly two years now and have really enjoyed it. The upgrade itch has hit, and I've been auditioning active preamps lately (both tubed and SS) and I'll tell you, my impressions so far are that you need significant cash outlay to better the LW-1 (depending on the system of course).
One thing I did that really improved the LW-1 was to replace the stock volume pot with a stepped attenuator. I chose a TKD attenuator for various reasons (among them is that it has the most steps that I've seen), and these are available from M. Percy. I've read here and at Harmonic Discord that the DACT attenuator also does well in the LW-1. I know that relative to the $500 list of the LW-1 itself a $100 - 300 stepped attenuator seems silly, but it really does bring significant improvement to the LW-1.

Follow Ups:

Has anyone compared the Channel Islands VPC-1 passive preamp to the LW-1??? nt - frank 06:22:43 11/15/02 (5)
nt
- Has you compared the Channel Islands VPC-1 passive preamp to Creek ? (nt) - Paul L 07:18:24 11/15/02 (4)
  .
  - Re: Has you compared the Channel Islands VPC-1 passive preamp to Creek ? (nt) - frank 15:25:15 11/15/02 (0)
    No, Paul, I haven't. But before I purchased the CI, I did compare it to the the Goldpoint SA-1 and ASL TI and reviewed my thoughts in the review section of this site. I picked these two to review, as both of these attenuators were of a totally different type than the CI. I like the CI a lot but I am always open to improvement. Since the praise used to describe the FT-1 could just as well describe the CI (the devil is in the details), I haven't yet gotten the impetus to send $500, spend lots of time breaking the unit in and auditioning for weeks, not something I really care to do, unless I have some indication that there will be a hearable improvement for my effort. To say "that FT-1 hasn't peaked my interest" would be a lie, I'm just looking for some positive reinforcement, in the form of a comparison.
  - Re: Has you compared the Channel Islands VPC-1 passive preamp to Creek ? (nt) - frank 15:25:05 11/15/02 (0)
    No, Paul, I haven't. But before I purchased the CI, I did compare it to the the Goldpoint SA-1 and ASL TI and reviewed my thoughts in the review section of this site. I picked these two to review, as both of these attenuators were of a totally different type than the CI. I like the CI a lot but I am always open to improvement. Since the praise used to describe the FT-1 could just as well describe the CI (the devil is in the details), I haven't yet gotten the impetus to send $500, spend lots of time breaking the unit in and auditioning for weeks, not something I really care to do, unless I have some indication that there will be a hearable improvement for my effort. To say "that FT-1 hasn't peaked my interest" would be a lie, I'm just looking for some positive reinforcement, in the form of a comparison.
  - Re: Has you compared the Channel Islands VPC-1 passive preamp to Creek ? (nt) - frank 15:24:41 11/15/02 (1)
    No, Paul, I haven't. But before I purchased the CI, I did compare it to the the Goldpoint SA-1 and ASL TI and reviewed my thoughts in the review section of this site. I picked these two to review, as both of these attenuators were of a totally different type than the CI. I like the CI a lot but I am always open to improvement. Since the praise used to describe the FT-1 could just as well describe the CI (the devil is in the details), I haven't yet gotten the impetus to send $500, spend lots of time breaking the unit in and auditioning for weeks, not something I really care to do, unless I have some indication that there will be a hearable improvement for my effort. To say "that FT-1 hasn't peaked my interest" would be a lie, I'm just looking for some positive reinforcement, in the form of a comparison.
    - Sorry about the triple post, I have no idea how it happened. nt - frank 20:47:03 11/15/02 (0)
      nt
Is this an easy tweak (I'm not technically literate, but willing to learn)? nt - Budrew 21:59:21 11/13/02 (4)
nt
- If I was able to do it - LarBo 22:34:03 11/13/02 (3)
  it can't be that difficult!
  With the TKD the biggest issue is mounting the attenuator. Rather than using a nut over the attenuator shaft as most do, the TKD uses three standoffs surrounding the shaft at about 3/4" radius. So the deal is that you have to drill holes in the LW-1 chassis (after removing the faceplate) that will match these standoffs. I just made a cardboard template with the attenuator shaft holding the cardboard in place to mark the standoff holes....then placing the cardboard on the LW-1 chassis with the shaft hole centered in the chassis volume knob hole I marked where the standoff holes should be drilled. Simple. The faceplate covers the standoff screws and once completed there's absolutely no change to the way the LW-1 looks.
  The DACT is even more simple as it is mounted using a nut around the shaft (same as the stock Alps pot). No drilling required.
  The wiring is simple. If I remember right for each channel on the TKD pin 1 is the input, pin 2 is the output (wiper) and pin C is the ground. Using a multimeter, the input to ground should always read 100K (as the Alps pot and replacement attenuator are 100K), and with the volume turned down the wiper should read just below 100K to ground. As you turn the volume up the impedence should drop compared to ground. (Bob Crump helped me figure this out.....Thanks Bob!). You can use this to figure out which pins on the stock Alps pot are input, output (wiper) and ground. Then just wire up the TKD (or DACT) the same way as the Alps was wired and voila!
  One thing, I don't know about the DACT but the TKD really took about 300 hours of signal through it to really settle out. It sounded much better than the Alps right out of the gate, but steadily improved (over a bumpy path) to where the soundstage really grew in width and height over many hours of play.
  Hope this helps.
  - Isn't 100K too high for most amps? nt - frank 07:26:14 11/14/02 (1)
    nt
    - Re: Isn't 100K too high for most amps? nt - Paul L 08:19:04 11/14/02 (0)
      Frank,
      The implementation of the volume control in the LW-1 is different from traditional passive. This is the value that we need in our x-coupler.
      Paul Lam
      P.L.C.Lam Consulting Inc.
  - Re: If I was able to do it - Paul L 06:20:18 11/14/02 (0)
    You need to do some drilling for the DACT mod. The thread hole need to be bigger and cut the notch at 9 o'clock position.
    e-mail to me if you need more detail.
    Paul Lam
    P.L.C.Lam Consulting Inc.

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