Mod your Beresford 7520

[leo]

Leo,

Would a fail like this be covered under the guarantee? I've only ever ran it on the DAC.

Yes, a dac is never going to damage a 5A rated SMPS so they have to swap or at least repair it FOC no probs if under warranty

[Gazjam]

Right, strange goings on at trailer towers.

Came home just now to find that the Maplin PSU isn't psu'ing anymore. Fuse is OK. No volts output/led.

Any suggestions? (I've got the box but not the receipt, its about 4 or 5 months old)

Captain obvious strikes again, but here goes.....

Is the problem with the kettle lead rather than the psu?

Humour me, pull it out put it back in. Try another lead?

[trailer]

I was using a non stock lead on it. Went back to the maplin and checked that. Same same. Like I said, all suggestions are gratefully received.

[tizer2000uk]

Cheers.

I leave my kit on all the time as it happens. It makes everything sound better doesn't it?

That and a tin foil hat... Drawing a green line around the edge of cd's works pretty well too

[Gazjam]

Fess up - who's ever stuck a CD in the freezer?

[DaveK]

Hi All,
Can I apologise in advance if this question has already been answered - if so, can someone point me in the right direction, there have already been 585 previous posts on this thread.
I am committed to buying one of Stan the Man's 7520s shortly and, although my current kit may not be capable of giving me the benefits, I would be interested in upgrading it so as to introduce an element of future-proofing - who knows what kit I may ultimately get. It seems to me that the costs of the various upgrades are a relatively small price to pay for the improved performance obtained.
My main source is a MM PC (Vaio VGX-XL201) which is loaded with FLACs and some .mp3s, but I also have a Marantz CD-63 mk II KI, Sky HD box and Sony TT, all of which feed into a Marantz PM 6010OSE KI amp and then on to MS Mezzo 2 speakers. My plan is to insert the 7520 just upstream of the amp.
My questions are: -
1) which op-amp upgrade offers me the best sound quality, given what I intend to try and do with it? If this is not such a simple question to answer, what are the advanatges and disadvantages of each of the main two op-amp upgrade options?
2) I have limited understanding on this subject (as on most things, some might say ), but what benefits would the Maplin type PSU upgrade offer?
I am interested in as many opinions as I can get on both questions, (even critical ones as long as they are polite and intended to enlighten), so please feel free to add your two penn'orth.
Thanks in anticipation and cheers ,
Dave.

[HighFidelityGuy]

Hello all.

I've done some more troubleshooting of my crackly sound issue on the variable output.
I found that if I have 2x 4032's installed that I get crackles and fizzing through my speakers when I turn the volume knob. This mainly happens at high volume.

I first wanted to see if one of my 4032's was faulty, so I took the headphone one out and tested. No crackles. I then swapped the 4032's round (still only one installed
). No crackles. I then tried having two 4032's installed but the opposite way round to in the beginning. I got crackles.

So I proved that both of my 4032's work on their own but not both at the same time. I'm not sure why this is, so I'd be interested to hear some theories on this.

I then wanted to see if having any two opamps installed caused the crackles. So I first put a 4032 in the line out socket and a 49720 in the headphone socket. No crackles. So I decided to stick with that for now and do some testing with a scope to see how the output looks.

I'll report back later.

[Spod]

Hi Dave,
even at 12V the Maplin PSU is, to me, a step up from the supplied PSU, it just adds that little bit more "solidity" to the sound to my ears (and I generally have an unbeliever's ears when it comes to the effects of swapping cables etc.). It also adds the possibility to boost the voltage to 13.5v, though whether the changes that produces is a good or bad thing is a matter of opinion - but it most definitely does have an effect.

Both the 4562 and 4032 are a major improvement over the stock opamps. For most - though not all- in this thread I get the impression the 7032 is the winner, but there are issues with fitting it. I didn't have any problems with the Tirna supplied one but sounds like others have. The 4562 however is easy-peasy to fit.
I found the latter to possibly be slightly more exciting and have fractionally more natural vocals but its bass was a bit blocky or monotone, the 4032 at 12V I find a little clearer and just a touch more "luxurious".

Bear in mind that the opamps are cheap so I'd say its worth getting both and trying them out. Just make to sure to allow burn-in time.

[mwahahaha]

Can someone give a link of product code for the Maplin PSU - I can see a few on their site but none have 13.5V that I can find.

Cheers
Dan

[Krisbee]

Search for product code L11BQ

There's a used one on flea bay (item #180352661587 ) at the moment if you want to take a punt.