Phono II story continued

Just before Christmas I posted a request for help with my newly built Phono II and was very grateful for all of the wisdom and assistance offered...

I said that I was going to change the orange drops to Auricaps (as I had already done in my Kit 6550). I ordered the Auricaps from Partsconnexion on Dec 15 by normal airmail delivery and didn't expect to see them before new year but, to my amazement they arrived 2 days before Christmas! Nice present!

I duly set about fitting them to the pcb but not without some trouble (see my request for a new Phono II pcb in the wanted section!) due to the thickness of the Auricap wires. In hind sight I think I should have fitted pins to the pcb and soldered the cap wires onto these - ah well you live and learn!

Any way I got it all working after a minor pcb track repair and gave the new caps some prolonged running in over the holiday and I'm really pleased with the results. Most notably the bass is improved - tighter and more weight. The treble and mid range are also improved being more open and "crisper" - the vocals and cymbals on my vinyl copy of Diana Krall's "the girl in the other room" sounds fantastic! The balance might not be to everyone taste but it is mine.

The output seems slightly down on my old EAR 834P which was well matched to the CD player output - has anyone tried tweaking the output up?

I now have an EAR 834P for sale but will have to manage the timing well to ensure that my other half doesn't reappropriate the funds into the general coffers!

I also fitted the Brimar ECC83's I'd been using in my EAR 834 with great results.


Regards,
Steve