Ali Tait
26-02-2012, 16:33
Selling my Pre 2, and thought I'd offer it here before it goes on the bay.
I have spent a fair chunk of change on this. All resistors and caps have been renewed in both the Pre and the PSU, with resistors all uprated to improve reliability and decrease noise. All resistors in the signal path are Takman Carbons, and caps are Silmics. The PSU has a mix of Takman, Allen Bradley, Kiwame and Mills. Smoothing caps are Rifas. The volume pot is now a Hi Fi Collective stepped attenuator using Takman Metals, and the selector switch is a Seiden. These two items alone cost £132.68. All phono connectors have been renewed also, and at the same time, I renewed all the signal cable with wire bought from diy hifisupply. A Mullard ECC88 will also be included.
This is a great sounding pre, and is edged only slightly by the modded Pre 3 I'm using now. I'd say it would better a stock Pre 3. It is basically a miniature triode valve amplifier, and uses output transformers, giving it huge drive capability and it's pretty much immune to impedance mismatches. Will drive long I/C's with ease.
Not had a lot of use since all the upgrades as I now work away from home, so my system is only used at weekends.
I can also mail all the circuit diagrams and build intructions to the buyer.
I'm looking for £400 plus postage, which is a pretty good deal when you consider a built Pre 3 and PSU from WD now costs £1044.
Couple of pics below, I have more if anyone's interested, PM your email and I'll send them.
http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/2991/dsc01736d.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/856/dsc01736d.jpg/)
http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/5009/dsc01738kt.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/26/dsc01738kt.jpg/)
I have spent a fair chunk of change on this. All resistors and caps have been renewed in both the Pre and the PSU, with resistors all uprated to improve reliability and decrease noise. All resistors in the signal path are Takman Carbons, and caps are Silmics. The PSU has a mix of Takman, Allen Bradley, Kiwame and Mills. Smoothing caps are Rifas. The volume pot is now a Hi Fi Collective stepped attenuator using Takman Metals, and the selector switch is a Seiden. These two items alone cost £132.68. All phono connectors have been renewed also, and at the same time, I renewed all the signal cable with wire bought from diy hifisupply. A Mullard ECC88 will also be included.
This is a great sounding pre, and is edged only slightly by the modded Pre 3 I'm using now. I'd say it would better a stock Pre 3. It is basically a miniature triode valve amplifier, and uses output transformers, giving it huge drive capability and it's pretty much immune to impedance mismatches. Will drive long I/C's with ease.
Not had a lot of use since all the upgrades as I now work away from home, so my system is only used at weekends.
I can also mail all the circuit diagrams and build intructions to the buyer.
I'm looking for £400 plus postage, which is a pretty good deal when you consider a built Pre 3 and PSU from WD now costs £1044.
Couple of pics below, I have more if anyone's interested, PM your email and I'll send them.
http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/2991/dsc01736d.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/856/dsc01736d.jpg/)
http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/5009/dsc01738kt.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/26/dsc01738kt.jpg/)