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Fellow DIY inmates, I've decided to upgrade a few items in my tube arcenal.I've spoken with a few in the industry on their experiences and suggestions but wanted to pick the brains of my fellow inmates.
Do I start with my amp or my speakers
The amps are monoblock ASL KMP-22's an SE design using the obscure 6c33 output triode. Speaking with Bill @ response he suggests to upgrade the power caps - their rating: 470uf/385v - this particular rating cap has been difficult to locate for me. Are there any places that I can shop either online or locally to the SF bay area that I can purchase upgraded caps from? Bill mentioned Panny's for this cap - I've seen Jensens and Black gates but found them to be 4-8 x's the price of Panny's.
The speakers are Paradigm Ref studio 20 V2's - someone suggested that I tweak these guys too - somewhere on the x-over to swap out some parts - is it worth it? I'm limited to bookshelves and I do love the sound but I was recently treated to new Triangle ESW's and noticed a marked improvement in width of soundstage - I a/b'd my ref 20's and the triangles and noticed the difference immediately. Not that the paradigms do any thing "wrong" they are actually very very well loved by me and thus my quest to improve if possible the speaker.
However, if it's easier to move up the chain with re: bookshelves that can provide the same type of dynamics and sonic presetation with a wider soundstage and better (incrementally) imaging please let me know.
I was made aware of the speakers' limits based upon the a/b on the same equipment, music and components, the only differences were the speakers themselves. Again, I'm just trying to improve the soundstage and refine the imaging.
Is that something I can achieve with a "tweak" here and there or am I asking too much of them?
Which comes first? The amp or the speakers - train/school of thought would say the speakers but I turn to you, my fellow inmates, for suggestions.
A component change, cables, source, etc, will not achieve my goal because of the audition.
The amp is sort of "secondary" because I know that regardless of the amp the speakers is where I noted the greatest differences.
TIA for a relatively newb DIY'er
Follow Ups:
It's very much an innate process to do good DIY. What do you want to build? What gets your fancy? From there, it's research time. Most DIYers focus on one thing- speakers, amps, whatever. Got good woodworking skills? Try your hand at some proven speaker designs, then branch out from there. Love the glow of tubes? Build a tube linestage.At this stage, kits are your friend. The Bottlehead electronics are pretty good and well supported/documented. If I had to pick a reasonably priced speaker kit, the BK-16 from www.madisound.com would be high on my list, as would the eventually upcoming frugel-horn from planet 10 hifi
If you really liked them why don't you buy them and sell yours? They also look nice so high WAF.Changes to your amp will never equal the vast changes a different speaker can.
If not, start with experiments with the speaker stands, locations, and room treatments. If these are not optimized, you will not know what results you have achieved with other tweaks, and you can actually make things worse for when you do optimize the setup.Next thing to look at would be amp support. All tube amps are microphonic to some extent, and it is important to minimize the vibration that gets to the tubes themselves. Same warning applies here, also.
Michael Percy Audio carries high-quality components at reasonable prices. You need to download his catalog and order by mail, but he is quick to respond most of the time.
In the Bay Area, Halted Specialties (HSC Electronics) carries a lot of surplus parts at very low prices. I visit the Rohnert Park store often and have found some amazing bargains there.
You can use capacitors with higher voltage ratings without risk, but it seems premature to start swapping parts in the amps. I would look at the rectifier bridges first, and upgrade to HexFRED or similar diodes if the bridges are conventional p-n junction diodes. These are noisy and affect other components in your system. The noise may affect sound-stage and imaging performance, as RF noise in general limits sound-stage depth in most systems.
I didn't a/b in my system - not possible. I brought my speakers to the store and had a chance to hear them there - I'm familiar with the material played and have my own copies.At home, I am very limited to what I can and can't do to room, stands and placement due to WAF. However, what I heard at the store with my speakers mirrors what I hear at home - quite a statement consider the mega dollar componenets upstream inclusive of cabling costing many times my total system retail value.
This is how I arrived that my speakers were now the weak link though I hardly find that they do anything wrong, just not the last word in width of stage, the ability to pick apart the music (layering), nor absolute pinpoint imaging - I'm not after "hi-fi" so I'm careful as to what direction I'm headed in - especially with tubes but I'm envious of what I heard with the Triangles vs. my Ref 20's. And since I heard them in the same system, with same cables etc. figured that my speakers were to blame for the lacking.
I'm hesitant to mod the amp, just because I don't want to screw them up. They also already have auricap coupling caps, and caddock resistors, supposedly upgraded hexfreds as well but after speaking with Bill from response - he seems to like to hit the power caps first.
Should I just try different speakers instead of modding my ref 20's?
I appreciate the sources, especially in the bay area, and in advance for any further advice!
Regards,
My concern and reason for asking is that you could get better speakers, take them home, and not hear the improved sound-stage performance if you cannot place them properly and supply appropriate wall treatments to reduce the early reflections.I've liked Triangle speakers whenever I've heard them. I think one reason is they use a large midrange driver over a wide frequency range, which takes the crossover problems out of the critical mid-band.
If you can try them in your home without committing to them, that would be the best thing to do.
If the amps are already modded, then you won't degrade them if you are careful. Power supply caps are tricky if the replacements are not the same size and shape. Keep in mind the cans are part of the circuit and may be at high voltage with respect to the chassis.
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