Several recent changes:

a) Added CH Precision L1 + X1 preamp.  Improvement over the excellent Krell Phantom in terms of detail, imaging, realistic timbre, and more open sound.  

b) Added 2 pairs of Echole Omnia interconnects, replacing Echole Obsession.  Improved realism of instruments, detail, and more open sound. 

c) Added Innuos Zenith SE (2Tb SSD) as server, replacing CAPS Zuma. Big improvement in soundstage and low frequencies. 

d) Put my Playback Designs MPS-5 DAC on the RSA Scuttle mk.3 rack, replacing the turntable.  Big improvement for the DAC sound.  

e) Put my analog front end rig in stand-by.  Sold Lyra Atlas and Tom Evams Mastergroove mk.2. I will focus on upgrading my digital front end for a while.

Cheers,

VPN

vn101606 September 26, 2017 12:33

Hello Slowikpl,

One of my photos above show two 56uF Duelund CAST-cu capacitors being cooked using the power cable configuration.  The minimum time will vary depending on the size of the cap, but usually a minimum of 4 to 6 days.

Alan Kafton sent me detailed instructions.  Instead of copying and pasting his long email, I suggest you ask him directly at [email protected] and I am sure he will send you the instructions.

After I installed the caps in the crossovers, it took a few more days playing actual music to finish the conditioning.

Cheers,

VPN


 

vn101606 December 25, 2016 12:15

Hello all.

slowikpl December 18, 2016 14:44

New room treatment. Removed the previous, mostly absorption, treament in the wall behing the speakers and replaced with:
- Center with 3 difusers
- Lateral difusers
- Top and bottom with 150hz absortion for room mode
- Corners: two 40hz ressonators for room mode

The sound now has more air, more detail, and the bass is more controlled and faster.  Had to ajust a bit the speakers positioning and toe in. Very good improvement.

vn101606 May 12, 2016 10:34

Hello Barry,

Thank you.  Yes, I have bees using a laser distance meter for a while.  Positioning and toe-in of speakers is fundamental, besides positioning and height of listening position.
Cheers,

VPN

vn101606 May 12, 2016 10:31

Hello VPN! Wow those Duelunds are big. Very nice job on the crossover. I see you have cooked the parts - they never would have broken in without that extra step. Oh, when you like the final speaker locations, try a laser distance meter to assure that each one is the exact same distance from the listening position. You'll be amazed at the soundstage benefits. Analog setup is great too.

barrysandy January 07, 2016 19:37

After many years without one, I purchased an analog front-end: (i) Technics SP10 mk3 modded by Steve Dobbins, (ii) Schroder LT tonearm, (iii) Lyra Atlas, (iv) Tom Evans Mastergroove mk2 phono preamp,  (v) SRA Scuttle mk3 rack.

Steve Dobbins came here to setup the turntable/tonearm/cartridge. Great guy, knows a lot about turntables.

vn101606 December 24, 2015 09:10

I will stay in touch and see your progress. Happy for you and nice work! Fun stuff this slowly modifying and improving a good existing system.

grannyring November 18, 2014 19:54

Grannyring, Thank you.

The sound is at a completely different level now with all the upgrades, most important of them are the speaker/crossover mods.

I still have to put the crossovers in their final enclosures that I got from Japan.

Some time in the future I will do the rewiring. I already have the wires, and the two gallons of the Cascode sealing product.

I am still dealing with positioning and room modes. When the positiong gets final I will put under the speakers the eight stillpoint ultra 5 that are waiting in their boxes.

vn101606 November 18, 2014 17:57

I connected the ground wire of the resistor to the negative binding post on the amp side of the crossover.

grannyring November 18, 2014 14:53

Grannyring, Thank you! What did you do regarding the extra lead of the Path Audio resistors? Did you connect with the circuit ground or with the - terminal of the resistor?

vn101606 November 18, 2014 14:15

Cut as short as is reasonable and tin. Don't cut too short in case you need to remove and place in a different speaker or crossover board. Then cover in cotton.

grannyring November 18, 2014 13:10

Dear Grannyring,

Thank you for the input. They are currently bare copper.

Do you think it is better to get them all tinned, or use shellac?

Better use silk or cotton?

Cheers,

VPN

vn101606 November 18, 2014 11:30

Amen on the Path Audio resistors. I love them! Regarding your question on the Duelund leads. If they are tinned leads, then cotton insulation is best. If they are the bare copper leads, then you need to do more than cotton as they copper will oxidize and that will impact the sound quality over time. Some coat these bare leads with clear shellac and once dry cover with silk or cotton.

grannyring November 17, 2014 20:20

Started buying an analog front end, after over 20 years without one!

So far I bought a Technics SP10 mk3 turntable modded by Steve Dobbins, and a Tom Evans Mastergroove mk2 phono preamp. I am deciding which arm, cartridge, and cables to go with them.

vn101606 November 17, 2014 17:24

System edited: After a long time improving the active biamplification, listening, changing the pass xvr, measuring with REW many times, comparing to normal amplification with passive crossover (my modded external Duelund XOs), it became clear that the passive XO much much better, so I gave up the active biamp and will put a lot of equipment for sale. What matters is the music, and it is great now. In the external crossovers, changed the resistors from Duelund CAST to Path Audio. Changed the 220uF Solen caps parallel to 15" drivers, to Duelund Cast Mylar. Both were good improvements.

vn101606 November 17, 2014 17:13

C2300mc275, For the Krells I think the cap values are such that you can only fit eletrolitic caps, and wanted to have it done by Krell.

vn101606 August 08, 2014 11:41

Thanks a lot, Vn. Did you consider any of the so called "designer caps" as a performance upgrade? The Mundorfs or Black caps, or dueland, or Jensen?

c2300mc275 August 07, 2014 15:24

C2300mc275, They now use Nichicon caps for the recap. I sent you a PM with your answer regarding cost.

vn101606 August 07, 2014 13:25

Hi,

Nice setup and work with your system. I recently acquired some krell 750mcxs over here in the UK. They are about 8 years old I believe and although they just had a full check by the UK Krell engineer, I wanted to ask you about recapping. Where did you obtain the caps - from Krell or after market ones? What sort of money was it to recap them?

Cheers

c2300mc275 August 06, 2014 16:21

Thanks Vn101606! Very very interesting feedback and well done on what has clearly been a lot of hard work. Thanks for 'teaching' some of us about this whole process.

lloydelee21 August 05, 2014 15:23

Grannyring and Lloydelle21, thanks for you kind works. It has been a lot of fun, and great to hear the improvements.

vn101606 August 05, 2014 15:02

Lloydelee21,

Regarding the biamping, we finished the biampming, which did involve removing the portion of the passive crossover driving the 15" drivers, so they were driven directly by the amps.

We did a lot of trying, measuring and listening to find the best active crossover settings. With the Pass you can, for example, set the first pole to one frequency, and the second and third poles to a second frequency, similar to the effect of the low pass passive crossover for the 15" drivers. I am sure much more testing should be done.

However, it did not bring a significant difference, so I moved back to passive crossover and will try again a few months from now. Potential reasons: (i) Maybe it is because I had one dedicated line for each mono amp, and then put two mono amps in each line, and the Krell 750mcx monos are supposed to have one line each, (ii) Maybe it is because the Duelund passive crossover is so good, and we introduce the Pass XVR additional components in the circuit, (iii) Maybe the settings of the active crossover could have been better.

I will see if I can fit two more dedicated lines. Additionally, one pair of Krell monos just had the full re-cap. Now the second pair is with the dealer to do the full re-cap.

Hopefully in my next attempt I will be able to achieve a substantial improvement. If not, I will just sell the second pair of Krells, the Pass XVR and extra cables.

Cheers,

VPN

vn101606 August 05, 2014 15:01

Vn101606,

Just curious...have you finished the biamping work so that your speakers are now running fully bi-amped? I presume this involved removing the passive bass crossover so that your bass amp drives the woofers directly?

Just curious because I was advised to try this by a few people who own Wilson X1/X2s and have biamped their speakers...very tricky to do. But they said the speakers sound remarkably better. I have even heard this from Wilson dealers and Wilson Distributors who have heard such biamped speakers themselves.

So most curious as to whether this is what you are doing.

And also curious as to what the differences/improvements are. Thanks!!!

lloydelee21 August 03, 2014 09:17

Just wanted to say GREAT WORK...just discovered this thread...and really enjoying reading thru it. Love the dedication to perfect any already amazing set of electronics. Enjoy and pls keep posting!

lloydelee21 August 03, 2014 09:11