Hello all.
There has been an upgrade pending for my Croft Epoch Elite pre amplifier for a while now. About a year ago it was fitted with an Alps Black Beauty pot by Glenn. As we all know Glenn likes his dual pots but with this pre amp it would have meant drilling more holes in the acrylic or surface mounting a control knob to which would've looked a little odd.
The Alps Black Beauty sounded superb and it's to no surprise to most that this pot is a superbly made bit of kit. Now unfortunately discontinued and replaced by another model. But the Black Beauty is still regarded as one of the best Alps pots made and even the dodgy black market have reproductions of them!
Alps Black Beauty - Image ©2014 Tannoyista
So what was I wanting from an upgrade? Well firstly it came on a recommendation from Marco as he upgraded his BB to a DACT attenuator with distinct improvements in realism and air. So after deliberatiing whether I should also go with a DACT I was about to go for one but then AnthonyTD (Tube Distinctions) suggested a Khozomo attenuator. This sounded a much better option for me simply because of how many steps the DACT had being 24 steps. The BB also has 24 steps. But the Khozomo has 48 steps so works much better for me and with the kids in bed I could adjust the volume much better.
I'd seen them being talked about on the net quite affectionately. Although the early batches of the first MKI pots did have reliability issues they did seem to be isolated cases and Khozomo have now acted on those faults.
So after looking at them I found that a mkii version of this unit was now available albeit only through partsconnexion.com at the moment.
So I contacted Arek of Khozomo direct and asked about the new versions. The new version does look different from the previous version as it's red in colour, different style connections and a torque adjuster. Internally they are a fully new design too and come in shunt and series specs with Vishay, Takman or SMD resistors.
One thing I would like to add at this point is that the looks are superficial to me because it will always be hidden so this upgrade was a purely sonic adventure. But you have to admit, they do look superb...lol
Image property of Khozomo
The great thing about these is that you can change the loading resistors for example ZFoils, Caddock or whatever you fancy really. The model I went for was the ZFoils (47K) and the SMD version in shunt.
The order was placed and 3 working days later it arrived safely from Poland.
Images ©2014 Tannoyista
The ZFoils are dead easy to install and wiring was a little tricky but that's because the wire I have in my pre is something like 0.5mm... maybe thinner.
Images ©2014 Tannoyista
Fully installed and powering up I found that the sound had lost something... hmm.. What was it? - Well, it's quite apparent after the first few tracks.
What was missing was NOT a bad thing. When before the bass presence was even and maybe a little off beat/slow now the bass was more focused, faster and less lingering, rock solid too. It's like removing a muddiness to the sound. Transients are improved and more profound giving realism, air and presence to the music and it's recorded surroundings/environment. The music is also less strained and shouty and maybe less microphonic on certain frequencies too.
Tracking is spot on and much improved over the BB too. The action of the steps is also very nice, it feels slick and solid. I've not had chance to experiment with the torque adjuster but to be honest in it's default state it's perfect.
The Alps Black Beauty is a lovely pot let's get that in to perspective and it has many fans including myself but to quote others who I've spoke to "once you have heard what a decent attenuator can do it's there for life" I have to agree.
Up to now (4 hours and counting) I'm very happy with this unit and the service from Arek. He answered my picky questions well, lol. A first class service if I may say.
I'll report back with more findings once the ZFoils have dug in a little more as they will need to loosen up further.
http://www.khozmo.com/
Cheers
Joe