Any suggestions re; KiT6550 brightness?

[Greg.]

Originally Posted by John Caswell

Initially instead of spending lots of money on "boutique" capacitors , do as Richard says and buy some MKT 1813 from RS/ Cricklewood or some "Orange drops". Put them in and see what you think after some days/weeks, I think you might be surprised at the results.

John

I agree, John (and Richard). A pack of five polyesters (£10) for the price of one (four needed) Mundorf Supreme. I’ll wait to see what Tony wants to do, but I think it’s well worth trying the polyesters before going on to something more boutique. If nothing else it provides a baseline to work from.

[bob orbell]

Much agree with Richard and John, orange drops, also. junk that silver wiring ****, I, like so many on here find it bloody good for about 2 hours, after that the sound becomes tiring , change it for simple cheap screened cable fancy components can be expensive and take the sound over the top. Bob

[Intenso]

Thanks Guys, we going to try the Vishay caps.

On the upside I've been using Phil's old KEL84 with Telefunken Gold ECF80s.

What a lovely sweet sound this amp produces...

[Greg.]

Originally Posted by bob orbell

Much agree with Richard and John, orange drops, also. junk that silver wiring ****, I, like so many on here find it bloody good for about 2 hours, after that the sound becomes tiring , change it for simple cheap screened cable fancy components can be expensive and take the sound over the top. Bob

I’ve always used silver plated oxygen free copper PTFE insulated wire (as used in all WD kits) in all my amps for signal after I found cheap screened copper cable sounded flat and compressed. In every case it has worked a treat and I have enjoyed the increase in detail, authority and resolution it brings to the sound over standard copper. So many slag off this type of wire without even trying it. Some sort of internet folk law has evolved with absolutely no evidence to support the view. It’s the usual internet misinformation thing. Never have I had a bright sound with this wire. I don’t use pure silver apart from the leads from my tone arm and even these do not produce a bright sound. This type of wire is an audio benefit. Those who depose it often have never tried it. Without doubt it will not be the cause of Intenso’s issues and in anycase, he declared his amp sounded wonderful (with this wire fitted) previously and has now concluded the issue may be around the rectifiers used. Unless you can prove otherwise, all of you this applies to, stop spreading the misinformation.

PS. Several years ago, I made some 4m pair lengths of speaker cable that was all silver plated copper. The system with them inserted sounded awful and yes, very very bright. Maybe the real history on all of this is a reference to silver plated speaker wire. As said, truly awfully bright. Within a chassis or as interconnects, I can’t fault it.

[pre65]

I'd advocate changing the Jensens.

I had a similar problem with my Audionote (copy) pre amp.

[bob orbell]

Well Greg, I have used the WD wire and others of silver plate in interconnect and hook up wire inside the amps. and can ashore you the sound I was hearing was far too bright, just as the shunt pot mod, massive amount of detail, but after a short time intolerable, maybe it is my choice of speakers, they use ribbon tweeters (monitor audio PL100 MK II) but with simple cable in all the signal paths it is wonderful and I am not alone in my comments, even a change to fancy capacitors produces a sting, I can now listen to music for hours without fatigue, so I still say to Intenso, junk the silver ****. Bob

[Greg.]

Ok, let’s get a few things sorted out. If some of us find silver plated OFC signal cables work, it is not acceptable for you to refer to silver plated cables as ‘crap’. As ever, this is a subjective personal assessment, so don’t knock what others find good just because it doesn’t work for you. My amps have also worked well into speakers with ribbon Tweaters such as the popular Reiver Edingdales.

I really don’t want to be rude to you Bob, but you have knocked the use of silver and silver plated signal cable, the shunt pot mod and other stuff being done by innovative hobbyists. At the same time you declare that your hearing has gone to pot, you’re using hearing aids and I think you have said you suffer from tinnitus. If that is the case, are you really in a position to give current quality advise.

Apart from the very bad speaker cable build experiment I did with silver plated wire, I have never had any problem with it inside a chassis or as an interconnect. All my interconnects are made of this stuff even now using a commercial Devialet amp. I have pure silver from my tone arm into my phono amp (Longdog Audio MCJ3 Jfet valve hybrid). Then this silver plated into my power amp. It all sounds wonderfully not bright.

My hearing is very very acute for my age, regardless of being a professional diver (ears subjected to massive pressure changes) for 13 years. I consider myself very lucky. No tinnitus and the ability to hear frequencies well beyond my age expectation, such as the sound of the electronic cat repellents we have to use here in our gardens.

I appreciate you are arguing based on your past experience, but the subjectivity of that argument is completely flawed because others like me have found a very different outcome. I know you’ll not change your mind on this and likewise, nor will I. Surely we should allow the punter to decide what works best for them, respecting always their conclusion. I won’t be upset if others do not like SPOFCW. As said, it’s all a personal subjective thing.

[bob orbell]

Greg, I have absolutely no intention of offending you or others and even if you are rude to me I shall take no offence, I respect your choice of cable, as I do others, but I have tried and disliked silver cable as have others, this thread came from Inteso asking for advice with his bright presentation, I have responded to the problem with my own findings of silver and my advice still stands, Intenso will never know if he dose not try. With regard to my hearing, yes it is now poor, but I am commenting when my hearing was good. No I don't wear hearing aids, I have a pair but hate them as they make my problem worse, I still listen to my music and know it sounds very good, in fact I have just made some changes to my two power supply's using Mills power resistors and have noticed an even cleaner sound, so not all doom and gloom yet . Bob

[John Caswell]

Gentlemen,
Do not let this thread dissolve into a slanging match, otherwise I or others will censor it.
If someone does not like something and says it is "****" respect their opinion, even if you do not like it.
Everyone is entitled to one, which judging by the current press is no longer true.
Go back to the old adage - "sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me"

John

[Intenso]

A quick update,

We replaced the Jensen caps with the Vishay's today and this has cured the distortion I was hearing.

My impressions of the Vishay's is that they provide a well balanced natural sound. Perhaps not as full sounding as the PIO when they were on song but then again they only have a few hours on them so may fill out with a couple of 100 hours on them.

Very pleased to have the amp singing again, thanks to all...