Author Topic: Leak Stereo 20 Modifications  (Read 71212 times)

Offline stevenvalve

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Re: Leak Stereo 20 Modifications
« Reply #60 on: June 02, 2015, 10:53:19 PM »
Well the Jupiter Copper Foil 0.47uF 600VDC capacitors have some great characteristics, including Transparency, speed, detail, they are also fairly open and extended. The weakness, they are a little lean, bright, and white, also they don't have the duelunds lovely lower midrange weight, warmth and energy, they lacked a little timbrel character. I feel that the Jupiters weaknesses stem from the use of the silver lead-out wires, sure these leads will give you clean transparency, but at what cost. Unfortunately most capacitor makers seem to be going down the silver route. They did many things better than the Duelund Copper Foil 0.47uF VSF, but at the end of the day the duelunds had more involvement weight and natural timbre.

There is a caveat, Jupiter sent me an email. quote
The caps are non polar, but to use the outside foil as a shield connect it to the lower impedance side of the circuit.
Chris Young
Jupiter Condenser.
 
Craig has listened to the Jupiter capacitors and feels they sound just superb, but only when they are installed in the right direction, if they are not set in the right direction they will sound ordinary. They are marked with a stripe but that mark is sometimes wrong and reversed in manufacture, (despite what the manufacturer says) unless you can measure them it's hard to know if they are the right way around. I used 4 and that allows for a multitude of wrong combinations. I will send mine to Craig to get right orientation and listen again.
« Last Edit: June 30, 2015, 08:21:11 PM by stevenvalve »

Offline stevenvalve

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Re: Leak Stereo 20 Modifications
« Reply #61 on: June 15, 2015, 12:12:23 AM »
Some new capacitors for the second Leak Stereo 20, these capacitors are not a red Wima clone. The brand is STLX. Ian will soon explain there claim to fame. I am now running them in.
« Last Edit: June 15, 2015, 12:15:12 AM by stevenvalve »

Offline brenden

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Re: Leak Stereo 20 Modifications
« Reply #62 on: June 15, 2015, 10:48:58 PM »
I will post some info later Steve , my internet is down for another week on the computer and doing this on the phone is a pita. These are Rubycon STLX film caps that have a huge amount of lead attachments at different intervals around the foil. This is said to result in vanishingly low impedence .The cost to build would have been horrendous and I am guessing they would have been an unviable commercial product. These are extremely rare and probably shouldnt have let Steve see them cause he wont give them back .......Doh
« Last Edit: June 15, 2015, 11:13:10 PM by stevenvalve »

Offline ozmillsy

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Re: Leak Stereo 20 Modifications
« Reply #63 on: June 16, 2015, 09:11:35 AM »
These are extremely rare and probably shouldnt have let Steve see them cause he wont give them back .......Doh

LOL !!   
It's all about the music,, not the equipment.

Offline Jehuty

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Re: Leak Stereo 20 Modifications
« Reply #64 on: June 16, 2015, 09:28:33 AM »
These are extremely rare and probably shouldnt have let Steve see them cause he wont give them back .......Doh

You learned the hard way Ian... :-X
Not all that matters can be measured, not all that can be measured matters.

Offline brenden

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Re: Leak Stereo 20 Modifications
« Reply #65 on: June 16, 2015, 01:50:11 PM »
In all seriousness Steve has been extremely helpful and welcoming, so I am more than happy to share the experience of these great parts.
     I often  aquire  more than I need for future use as well as friends who may like to try something  and that includes the KD guys .When I find a superior part thats uncommon or rare it i like  to grab them while they are there.
     I have 2 more of the rubycons for my own cd .Hopefully more will turn up one day .

Offline brenden

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Re: Leak Stereo 20 Modifications
« Reply #66 on: June 25, 2015, 01:09:27 PM »
Here is a diagram someone drew showing how the Rubycon film caps are constructed .I cant imagine this was an easy task .

Offline omodo

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Re: Leak Stereo 20 Modifications
« Reply #67 on: June 25, 2015, 02:06:05 PM »
Here is a diagram someone drew showing how the Rubycon film caps are constructed .I cant imagine this was an easy task .

yeah, looks like a difficult drawing...  :P kudos

Offline brenden

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Re: Leak Stereo 20 Modifications
« Reply #68 on: June 25, 2015, 06:12:51 PM »
imagine trying to build one ?

Offline stevenvalve

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Re: Leak Stereo 20 Modifications
« Reply #69 on: June 30, 2015, 08:41:28 PM »
I have finished the cheaper Modified Leak Stereo 20 for the 47 Lab speakers and have installed ETI Speaker posts and female sockets plus more 2 watt shinkoh resistors.  The finished valve combination. 1 pinch waist D foil getter, E80CC made in Holland. 2 mullard long plate goal post getter, Blackburn made in 1957. 4 mullard 1961 Blackburn made, hole in plate, EL84. 1 Blackburn made GZ34 rectifier. The combination is riveting, so good it's hard to believe there is a better push pull amplifier out there. Not an amp for head bangers, if you what music that is engaging, emotional, and beautiful, this is it. It Just sounds magnificent, Here is a picture.     
« Last Edit: July 10, 2015, 07:54:45 PM by stevenvalve »

Offline stevenvalve

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Re: Leak Stereo 20 Modifications
« Reply #70 on: August 01, 2015, 08:12:59 PM »
As readers know i have been fiddling with different chokes on the full-on leak stereo 20, this choke is really good, its a UTC, CG40, but as you can see it's very impractical to use because of the size, eventually i have to fit one somewhere. I could bolt it on the top of the amp, but this amp is nearly mint and that feels like sacrilege, As for which amp I prefer, the answer soon. 
« Last Edit: August 01, 2015, 08:44:06 PM by stevenvalve »

Offline klackto

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Re: Leak Stereo 20 Modifications
« Reply #71 on: August 02, 2015, 10:13:28 AM »
I have one of those chokes as well, so I'd be interested to hear your impressions.
Like you though, I'm not sure I could cope with one of those sticking out the top of my Stereo 20.
Hope everything is ok in your neck of the woods ... heard there's been fires up your way.

Offline stevenvalve

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Re: Leak Stereo 20 Modifications
« Reply #72 on: August 03, 2015, 06:43:29 PM »
I have been trying to tune the 2 leak stereo 20s, interestingly they both prefer the same type of power cord. I have made various types to suit the application, my normal choice is nearly always a solid core wire about the thickness of internal house wire, and in most applications it works well, but not with these leaks. This is the way to do it, They need a copper multi stranded wire, then connect vintage 1930,40,50,60, male wall plugs with the copper or brass prongs, as you know the newer plugs made today are some type of bright metal and sound like sh!t. I used the original old leak English plugs on the amp end, they are brass or copper and do sound very good, so leave them on your leak. Always clean the tarnish from the old plugs with emery paper, finally use ferrite red rollers or similar to lower to noise from the mains. These power cords sound just great with both leaks. Simple cheap and effective power cord. Remember it's always a synergy thing.
« Last Edit: August 03, 2015, 06:49:36 PM by stevenvalve »

Offline stevenvalve

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Re: Leak Stereo 20 Modifications
« Reply #73 on: August 13, 2015, 08:44:13 PM »
As I have said i finished the budget Modified Leak Stereo 20, but I just had to see if I can tune it to sound as good as the full on amp. Could i make this cheaper Jensen electrolytic based stereo 20 amp sound as good as the full on solen duelund Stereo 20 amp, I needed to make up for the cheaper amps deficiency's because it used electrolytic capacitors. Typically electrolytic capacitors sound thinner, artificial, and slightly anemic compared to the best quality polypropylene or oil caps. One way to accomplish this task is to use different era valves, so i grabbed my obvious choice, some early D getter 1950s Blackburn RX1 EL84s, why, because they sound far fuller liquid richer and fatter that the later 1960 varieties, it turned out an inspiring choice, These early D getter 1950s Blackburn RX1 EL84s really make up for the leanness that invariably manifest itself with the use of electrolytic caps and its comparatively on the cheap, you can buy a set for a lot less than the price of the expensive amps 4 / 0.47 VSF duelunds. Now the amp is very very close to the expensive solen duelund modified amp. The finished valve combination for a budget Leak Stereo 20, 1 pinch waist 1950s D foil getter E80CC made in Holland. 2 mullard long plate goal post getter Blackburn made in 1950s, plus 4 D getter 1950s Blackburn RX1 EL84s, hole in plate. 1 Blackburn made GZ34 rectifier or Amperex GZ34. The valve choice for the full on Duelund Leak Stereo 20 is almost the same but use the later 1960s Blackburn mullard RX2 or RX3  EL84s, with the hole in plate.
« Last Edit: August 14, 2015, 06:41:51 PM by stevenvalve »

Offline stevenvalve

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Re: Leak Stereo 20 Modifications
« Reply #74 on: September 14, 2015, 10:29:46 PM »
I decided to compare a choke v the 100R resistor on the cheaper leak stereo 20. This leak always sounded a little rough, cause, and ragged, compered to the other leak, so i fitted the choke (as per pictures below) and Wow its so much better in every way, all those problems are now gone, there's now an obvious lack of grain, it's smoother, ordered, and in control, a rightness to the music, you can hear what the removal of noise has done, what's left is all the benefits. There is no more debate, a quality choke is the way to go.
« Last Edit: September 14, 2015, 10:38:54 PM by stevenvalve »

Offline zenelectro

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Re: Leak Stereo 20 Modifications
« Reply #75 on: September 15, 2015, 08:42:24 AM »
I decided to compare a choke v the 100R resistor on the cheaper leak stereo 20. This leak always sounded a little rough, cause, and ragged, compered to the other leak, so i fitted the choke (as per pictures below) and Wow its so much better in every way, all those problems are now gone, there's now an obvious lack of grain, it's smoother, ordered, and in control, a rightness to the music, you can hear what the removal of noise has done, what's left is all the benefits. There is no more debate, a quality choke is the way to go.

That seems to be the case - in just about every case.

I just doubled the size of the chokes in my DAC and similar effect. Not as dramatic as resistor to choke but still better.

Q - what are those big yellow caps?

PS Nice work! :)

Offline stevenvalve

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Re: Leak Stereo 20 Modifications
« Reply #76 on: September 17, 2015, 06:36:58 PM »
I have just fitted the Jupiter copper foil paper-in-oil capacitors and i have been told that a long run in is needed, i have sent them to Craig have the orientation checked and now it's no excuses time, do they cut it. They are replacing the duelund VSF caps so this will be interesting. The amp is playing music as i type, and the sound is very good.
« Last Edit: September 21, 2015, 10:02:14 PM by stevenvalve »

Offline brenden

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Re: Leak Stereo 20 Modifications
« Reply #77 on: September 17, 2015, 07:13:52 PM »
Hi Steve , the  Jupiters  do need over 100hrs  probably 150 .They change a lot during burn in  sometimes sounding thinner and then sounding warmer .Can be a bit disconcerting.
    Burnin of the Duelunds seems to be more linear .But after burnin both sound great.

   Terry , the yellow caps are the Rubycons , designed to have extremely low impedence for high end audio.Not made any  more unfortunately.
« Last Edit: September 22, 2015, 09:10:14 AM by brenden »

Offline ozmillsy

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Re: Leak Stereo 20 Modifications
« Reply #78 on: September 21, 2015, 08:11:00 AM »
Do you mean Jensons, or Jupiter's?
It's all about the music,, not the equipment.

Offline brenden

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Re: Leak Stereo 20 Modifications
« Reply #79 on: September 21, 2015, 06:37:59 PM »
Yep Jupiters. I was just following steves lead without thinking .lol.

   I had flu and horrible sinus headaches for nearly 2 weeks so please excuse my typos .I am back in the land of the living now.thank god .