12 months of tweaks and improvements to the system

[Firebottle]

It's been a long time since Jimbo of this parish has heard my system and it got me thinking. What improvements have been made and how many since he last heard it?

The answer is a lot over the period of the last 12 months, from a relatively stable extended period, bar a couple of cartridge swaps.
Each has given an incremental jump in performance, some more so than others of course.

The total is 8, the rough order going like this:

1. Giving consideration to getting the best out of the valves used in my KIN preamp. Sort of a re-visit to the original design and the compromises made at the time. I re-biased the valves to have a greater anode voltage so pushing the operating point slightly further up the curve.
Result was a small increase in linearity.




2. Making an improvement to combat the narrow treble beaming of the Quad electrostatics. I fitted some ribbon tweeters to the top of the ESL57's with a really good enlargement to the listening area and much better treble dispersion.






3. A real brain storm to tackle the next one. How to improve the linearity of the FET cascode input of the phono section in the KIN preamp. The valve stages are run in a 'super linear' fashion and I knew the the FET was the weak point in the design.
After a lot of thought I came up with a unique way to transform the linearity with a small loss of gain. This really brought the KIN forward in MC performance, a very worthwhile improvement indeed.

4. Next was the purchase of a higher performance cartridge, had to be strong here to wrestle the wallet open
Was very fortunate to pick up are-tipped Lyra Clavis, I have no desire to look for anything else as it is superb.

5. Another flexing of the wallet, this is getting to be too much of a habit Better interconnects, oh my giddy yes - cables.
I had made a few using Mogami cables but along came Spotfire cables, now used throughout the system. Those that have heard the Spotfires know what increases in transparency they can bring, a very good improvement overall.




6. Oh no, more expense A bit of valve rolling, or rather going for the best, swapping out for Telefunkens. Thank goodness I'm not using ECC83 valves in the KIN, instead something that is in good supply at a lot less expense.
The result was excellent, smoother and more balanced sound.

7. A bit of a no brainer this one as I knew improvements could be made. The TT was a completely standard GL75 so I replaced the plinth with a beech ply plinth from Donmarrese orf this parish. Oh wow what an improvement to the solidity of the image.
Very good upgrade.




8. The last but definitely one of the best, replacing the Alps Blue pot in the KIN for a quality stepped attenuator. Enter the Acoustic Dimension attenuator to really open up the KIN's full potential. I've commented on the results in the 'Stepped attenuator' thread, suffice to say I am thrilled to bits.




I don't think there are many more tweaks to be had, but as they say 'never say never'.

[Bigman80]

It's been quite a journey, hasn't it!

All very worthwhile improvements and especially this latest one.

The improvement to the FET in the phonostage was also quite staggering at the time too. I don't think that should be overlooked!!

The Lyra Claris is a superb cartridge and again, an astute purchase.

Happy to have shared the journey mate.

More to come!

[Jimbo]

I will definitely be over at Christmas Alan for a listen. I think its going to be interesting to hear the sum of all those improvements. You put me to shame with my efforts - a phono cable!:roll eyes: But it was a superb upgrade to the system, hard to believe a cable could make so much difference.!

[hifinutt]

fascinating stuff , now to a non techie like me , what does

I re-biased the valves to have a greater anode voltage so pushing the operating point slightly further up the curve.
Result was a small increase in linearity.

mean in english ?