Goldpoint SA4M-47 passive 'preamp' winging its way to Marco Towers...

[brian2957]

Will there be any room left once you've got Martins system into the car

[CageyH]

I bet he wishes he had an estate car.

[Marco]

As long as Macca leaves his wallet at home, we should be able to squeeze all the stuff in...

Marco.

[danilo]

Yup, Geoff, I love it. Before these mods were carried out, it was 80% as good as my Croft, which is a £3k preamp (and has seen off many much more expensive items in its day), and the Goldpoint has cost me less than £500 so far, so that should tell its own story in terms of where it's at sonically, and in terms of SPPV...

I'll be taking it along to the forthcoming Liverpool bake-off (at Oldius towers), so it'll be interesting what folks there think of it.



Yes, it's currently with Chris, receiving some further updates, so it'll be interesting how that sounds when it comes back. In stock form it was very good indeed

Marco.

Aww.. right.
I can 'believe' the bits of Silver wire, as it's 4% more ' conductive' than Copper, 'may' have audible effect. All 4 Inches of it.
But a couple of Silly expensive resistors .. that only God herself could hear audible difference with.. Does stretch gullibility.
Ermm.. What about all those other 21 (?) series resistors in the Dact gizmos? They brand Z foils too ???
Or the dozen or two resistors in the audio path ..Before AND After the signal traverses the passive?

Wish MY hearing was acute enough to differentiate what only Very Expensive Laboratory grade Test gear has trouble identifying when only ONE resistor is in the test loop,

[Marco]

I can 'believe' the bits of Silver wire, as it's 4% more ' conductive' than Copper, 'may' have audible effect.

Excellent. I'll let you know if I can hear one, after I collect the unit later today.

But a couple of Silly expensive resistors .. that only God herself could hear audible difference with.. Does stretch gullibility.

I suggest that you read post #262, on the following link, where the resistor tests were carried out, with each type used exhibiting a different, easily discernible sonic signature, and where an explanation was given of why the Z-Foils 'won': http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...855#post690855

Ermm.. What about all those other 21 (?) series resistors in the Dact gizmos? They brand Z foils too ???

Not yet, but that may happen. It'll simply depend on how far I want to go with this project.

Or the dozen or two resistors in the audio path ..Before AND After the signal traverses the passive?

Indeed, and in those areas of my system some similarly "silly expensive resistors" exist. Everything matters when optimising a hi-fi system. However, at the moment this is simply about maxing out the passive. Trust your ears, be happy and enjoy the music, is my motto!

Marco.

[Marco]

Had a listen last night and I'm rather surprised (and shocked) at the level of improvement these recent mods have brought about!

I suspect that most of the sonic improvement gained has come from the hard-wiring and removal of the PCB... Anyway, more later, after an extended listen today

Marco.

[Jimbo]

Think Glenn Croft also came to that conclusion when he decided to hard wire all his amps many years ago.

Would be interesting to have a standard Goldpoint to have as a comparison to see how far you have improved it?

[Macca]

Does anyone dispute that hard wiring is better? I thought the only reason it isn't done universally is cost.

[Marco]

I believe that there are some misguided souls around who consider that a well-constructed PCB is better, including I believe, the chap who produces the Tisbury. The older models were all hard-wired point-to-point, but the newer ones feature a PCB, which is touted by the manufacturer as an 'improvement'!

Marco.

[Marco]

Think Glenn Croft also came to that conclusion when he decided to hard wire all his amps many years ago.

Would be interesting to have a standard Goldpoint to have as a comparison to see how far you have improved it?

Yup, Jimbo, Glenn got it right long ago. In terms of the latter, yes indeed. However, I have a sufficiently retentive memory to know that the unit, as configured now, is sonically in a totally different league!

And not as a result of any massive expenditure either, mostly just adjustments borne from common sense and good engineering practice....

Marco.