My solution is much less exoctic Im afraid. I purchased the afore mentioned MF X-Pre. Initially I found it to be okay, Ive heard worse but its far from the best. I did have to go over the manufacturers joints as quite a few were poor to say the least.
Anyway, I decided on keeping it abit and having a play with the guts. So, after a few posts on here, all bar four caps came out last night (think Ive changed 29 in total). A mixture of Panny FC's, Elna Stargent, Silver Mica and Polyprops went in. I managed to squeeze some big beasts into to power section and thus managed to increase the uF by a fair amout. I also changed the stock philips tubes for nos Golden dragon ECC88-1's. Ive got to say it wasnt easy, space is very tight but I managed. Also the tracks are very thin and Ive had to repair a couple of sections.
Bloody hell what a difference! even cold it was night and day, totally opened everything up. Ive got that wonderful mid-range back that only valves seem capable of revealing whilst creating a more focused sound.
Theres still two more caps I want to change when I can source some. Im going to hard-wire the rca inputs direct to the selector (I really dont like the pcb tracks) with silver ptfe wire and make a better external psu.
Should keep me happy for a short while.
Anyway, I decided on keeping it abit and having a play with the guts. So, after a few posts on here, all bar four caps came out last night (think Ive changed 29 in total). A mixture of Panny FC's, Elna Stargent, Silver Mica and Polyprops went in. I managed to squeeze some big beasts into to power section and thus managed to increase the uF by a fair amout. I also changed the stock philips tubes for nos Golden dragon ECC88-1's. Ive got to say it wasnt easy, space is very tight but I managed. Also the tracks are very thin and Ive had to repair a couple of sections.
Bloody hell what a difference! even cold it was night and day, totally opened everything up. Ive got that wonderful mid-range back that only valves seem capable of revealing whilst creating a more focused sound.
Theres still two more caps I want to change when I can source some. Im going to hard-wire the rca inputs direct to the selector (I really dont like the pcb tracks) with silver ptfe wire and make a better external psu.
Should keep me happy for a short while.
