Yaqin and Musical Fidelity Tube Buffer Questions

Thanks,

The Mundorf M-Cap Supremes arrived today.

I actually discharged the caps in the buffer the professional way. I connected a high resistance element between two screwdrivers, wore glasses, rubber gloves and rubber soled shoes, and touched the screwdriver tips to the plus and minus poles of each cap. I realize this was overkill, but good practice if I ever have to work with an electric motor starter winding cap.

Now I'm ready to get the Mundorf's soldered in.

I can identify the plus and minus poles of the caps in the buffer based upon how they are grounded, but how can I determine which pole of each Mundorf is plus and which is minus? Or are they non-polarized?

This post has been edited by inspired on October 13, 2009 05:53 pm

I figured out the placement of the .1uf Mundorf M-Cap Supreme bypass caps and soldered them in tonight.

There's not much room where the caps need to be situated, but with careful planning and bending of the leads, I was able to place the caps and hot melt glue them in an extremely solid manner.

The sound was immediately agreeable, but it would certainly be premature to critique. I've just got an hour of burn-in now, and will update after about 100 hours of use.



This post has been edited by inspired on October 13, 2009 08:35 pm

very nice work. congrats on a successful project.

Thanks,

These are amazing units for a very fair price. With the price of the CD1 Tube Buffer, upgraded Caps, a replacement Amperex Holland 6DJ8 tube, Herbies Tube Damper and a Shunyata power cord, I'm at $303 for stellar sound.

I also have a Musical Fidelity X-10v3, Herbies Tube Dampers and a "Little Pinkie" power source. My cost for the X-10 using the same Shunyata power cord is $578, essentially double that of the Yaqin.

Before the cap mod on the Yaqin, I rated the sound quality of the Musical Fidelity about 5 to 8 points better on a scale of 100. After the mod burns in I will re-evaluate, but I know already from listening that the Yaqin has improved.

For the price difference of about 1/2, it will be very hard to beat the Yaqin for overall value, and tubes can easily be rolled in the Yaqin for even more flexibility.

This post has been edited by inspired on October 14, 2009 05:27 am

Nice work.
Keep us posted.

I noticed in the photo posted by cuoreboy back on March 8, 2008 that he bypassed the output caps with an even better grade of Mundorf 0.1uf caps (silver/oil) in a similar fashion as to how I've bypassed the power caps.

Being relatively new to upgrading, I find it easier to solder in bypass caps than getting all the way in there to de-solder and replace the existing caps, so this appeals to me.

It seems both my mod and cuoreboy's affect the higher frequencies.

Two questions:

1) Now that I've already bypassed the power caps, would bypassing the output caps be overkill?
2) Is there a simple bypass modification that would also improve the lower frequencies?

Thanks

This post has been edited by inspired on October 14, 2009 11:31 am

In resume, bypass capacitors help filter the electrical noise out of electronic circuits. They do this by removing the alternating currents caused by ripple voltage. By doing this, the overall sound become more transparent, accurate and detailed with more emphasis in mid-high freqs.
IMO, to improve the low freq range instead trying to bypass you should try recap the outputs caps with better polys – WIMA MKP 10, Metallized Polypropylene is what I generally use with very good results. Also a good power cable sometimes work on improving the lows, generally I use Supra LowRad power cables. Excellent cable, imo.
I’m a firm believer in bypassing and not only in the filtering caps but also in dac’s, opamps etc….Most digital circuits benefits a lot with bypass caps. I’ve been doing that in years with very good results.

Thanks Clint, you have been very patient and helpful as I set out to improve this buffer.

I'm not upset with the bass performance, the sound from this buffer is truly stellar. I was just curious to learn if there was a simpler mod besides replacing the output caps that would yield further performance improvements.

I guess I might as well plan on re-capping the unit as I have just upgraded power as far as I can with my current budget.

Here's the circuitry:

--- New Siemens breaker box with dedicated 20A breaker for audio system.
--- 10' run of 12-2 WG Romex to outlet box with CryoParts.com 20A PS Audio Power Port Premier.
--- 6' 20A Signal Cable MagicPower cable to power conditioner
--- APC H10 Power Conditioner
--- I have been experimenting with 3 cables from power conditioner to the Yaqin
------ 5' 15A Shunyata Diamondback Platinum
------ 5' 15A Groneberg Quatro Reference
------ 4' 15A VH Audio Flavor 1 Cryo with Furutech FI-11 Copper Connectors

Right now the VH Audio Flavor 1 seem to be the best overall choice, but the Shunyata's are quite new and probably not quite run in completely.

As the bypass caps have seasoned for perhaps just 18 hours, it is also too early to judge, but I think I will plan on at least replacing the output caps before I call it quits.

This post has been edited by inspired on October 14, 2009 03:52 pm

Now you're talking "my language"!!!!
IMO, an independent electric circuit with a separate wire ground are one of the first upgrades an audio enthusiast must do before spending money in expencive IC's.
Keep us posted.