kel84 upgrade

[psg60]

I just won a pair of mullard ecf80 valves on ebay. I've heard they make an improvement over the standard ones so I thought I'd give it a go !! . . I hope they turn up today

[psg60]

ok. They came !! I took one more listen to the old ones then put these in.

Now I don't know if i'm imagining things but they sound much better !! Bass seems improved. overall it's wonderful (Not that it wasn't before !!)

very happy . . although worried now . . do I change the jj's ?? . . if this amp is this good, what's the 88 like ?? . . sould the wd speakers sound better !!

HELP !!!! I'm on a slippery slope !!

[Phil Y]

I would not worry about a WD88 unless you need the extra power. If you have reasonably efficient speakers there are big gains to be had tweaking the KEL84 and for peanuts compared to the cost of the bigger amp.

Regards, Phil.

[psg60]

power is fine at the mo

anymore tweaks that are worthwhile other than the ecf80's ??

I went for the xl version so it already has some tweaks

thanks

[psg60]

I'm off again !! lol . .

would something like these make an improvement over the JJ's that came as standard ??

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...link:middle:uk
thanks

[david counter]

I've got a very similar set and in my opinion they are better than the JJs,

never been a big fan of JJs

[buddam]

I also have these & they are very good.

Re the other upgrades you could do, it depends on how much time you want to spend on refining what is already a cracking amp. If you don't mind a bit of soldering then you could change some of the more important resistors to Kiwames or possibly the new Takmans that are highly thought of.

My own KEL84 has certainly held its own in rather exhalted company at various get-togethers. Not better than others, not as musical as some, not as powerful as some, etc etc. But not far short in any department. And, given the basic design it can drive quite insensitive speakers with relative ease. For instance, it handles my (or are they Gerry's - I forget!) maggie planars better than my souped-up KT88 amp. That amp in turn sounds better with box speakers.

Hope this helps

Adrian

[Phil Y]

What changes does the XL version have?

Regards, Phil.

[psg60]

if I remember rightly, the capacitors are upgraded and the bridge too.

thanks for the advice I'll have a think

[bearded fiddler]

I recently upgraded my KEL 84 too. I replaced C4/C5 and C8/C9/C10/C11 (standard orange types) by Soniqs SAX polypropylenes, I replaced the bridge rectifier by Schottky diodes and finally I substituted Soniqs ICT signal wiring (white sleeved, silver plated) for the Soniqs blue screened twin core wire.

The end result is a bit too lively to my taste. The sound is very detailed and powerful, but lacks the warmth and charm that made the original amp so delightful (at least to my ears).

Does anyone have an idea what part of the upgrade might be the culprit here?