Leak Stereo 20 Modifications

[stevenvalve]

Do you mean Jensons, or Jupiter's?

You are right, It's Jupiter's, fixed it.

[stevenvalve]

The Jupiter Copper Foil 0.47uF 600VDC capacitors have been running for about 5 days and I can say these are one great sounding capacitor, one of the best out there. Upon comparing them to the best I have heard, (Duelund Copper Foil 0.47uF VSF the capacitor), they are very different, but very close in performance, each with its strengths, the Jupiter may be a little leaner, slightly brighter, and whiter, and do not have the duelunds lovely lower midrange on down bloom, weight and warmth, but they have a beautiful upper midrange clarity plus an all over sweetness and lack of distortion. Some audioheads will prefer the Jupiter's detailed smooth clean sweet character, but the final decision is always system dependence. A fine capacitor and with more run in time they can only improve.

[brenden]

Hi Steve . This mirrors my experience even though I am  not directly comparing them in the same position .
    I am using the Jupiters as power supply bypasses and the duelunds in the output coupling .at the moment . Both are magic.There is a wonderful calmness and lack of  distortion  with the Jupiters without any loss of dynamics or resolution .
    For me the .01 as a bypass on the power supplies  and Duelund on the output is a match made in heaven , not to mention my other copper foil polystyrenes and pps caps in critical digital areas .They all   contribute  their bit toward incredible digital playback .
  At some stage I will do a direct comparison on the output with the Jupiters and another few top flight caps but for now I dont feel like I am missing  out on anything whatsoever .
   

[stevenvalve]

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.

I have changed back to the Jupiters copper foil, i need to put in a lot of miles before i comment on them. Getting this cheaper leak to the same standard as the duelund leak is proving to be a challenge. 

[stevenvalve]

I have changed back to the Jupiters copper foil, i need to put in a lot of miles before i comment on them. Getting this cheaper leak to the same standard as the duelund leak is proving to be a challenge.

I have completely rebuilt this Leak in the last month i will post pictures soon. The bottom line seems to be, ONLY THE BEST WILL DO...........

[stevenvalve]

Rebuilt this Second Leak Last Month, I really had too, because the second Leak 20, filled with B grade parts just did not have the same Magic as the main Leak, so it was just a case of put in what i had. Everything i installed was spare and i thought why leave 2 Watt resistors like Allen bradley, Shinkok, and old Andionote, and even the new audionote models sitting unused in a box. I just measured and installed the right values and amazingly i ended up filling all the resistor places in the leak, but with no real tuning pattern just what fitted and to my real surprise the amp sounded superb, just goes to show that 2 watt quality resistors even randomly installed still work better as a hole than the 1 watt standard stuff. Then it was just a case of installing the worlds best capacitors Duelund VSF copper and a few well placed Solen PB 15uf capacitors, plus a partridge 8 Henry 200 ma choke. The sound now is really close to the full on leak stereo 20 but it is still a cheaper rebuild. But really i must say its not that cheap a rebuild anymore. One big problem is the Duelund VSF copper is so much better than anything out there, what does one do.

[stevenvalve]

I had a 4 Jupiter Copper foil caps laying around so i put them to good use, This leak just did not quite cut it against the other leak, so i installed 4 of these caps and the improvement is substantial. Now it is close, but as i said before its no longer a cheap rebuild.

[kajak12]

I had a 4 Jupiter Copper foil caps laying around so i put them to good use, This leak just did not quite cut it against the other leak, so i installed 4 of these caps and the improvement is substantial. Now it is close, but as i said before its no longer a cheap rebuild.

Whats cheap in audio?
i have no duelunds 

[stevenvalve]

I had a 4 STLX Copper caps laying around so i put them to good use. Out went the 4 Jupiter Copper foil caps and i installed 4 of these caps. Why because i could. Now it is just different, but excellent, basically its name your poison, but as i said before its no longer a cheap rebuild.

[stevenvalve]

I needed to try the Vintage 1950/60c English TCC oil Capacitors. but it proved to be a non event, i think these 4 had problems and the amp sounded distorted, But i have plenty more so i will try again soon with a another set.

[stevenvalve]

Picked up an immaculate standard leak Stereo 20 with all original insides. I can now see what they used as standard parts. I think this is the only original one i have seen. I had to put on the new speaker terminals. The standard ones are useless. It was really important the see what parts leak originally used and now i know.

[stevenvalve]

I am trying some new caps expensive and interesting.

[brenden]

That didnt take you  long to get them in 😊
     Here is a close up òf the  t cap  from Toichi   Japan
  Its a polypropylene  copper foil   and will be interesting how they compare to the best .
   Tone factory  are very weĺ regarded in Japan  and make paper in oils also .
   

[stevenvalve]

Picked up an immaculate standard leak Stereo 20 with all original insides. I can now see what they used as standard parts. I think this is the only original one i have seen. I had to put on the new speaker terminals. The standard ones are useless. It was really important the see what parts leak originally used and now i know.

Unfortunately i had to rebuild some of this new leak because age has damaged some of the electrolytic capacitors and resistors but of cause i used Allen Bradley 2 watt and Jensen electrolytics. But i will keep every original part intact where possible.

[stevenvalve]

A picture of the stock underside except the 100R green resistor is gone replaced by a choke.

[stevenvalve]

I have been installing mostly standard parts into the 3rd leak and in a real hurry, i did not take enough time watching things, and when finished i put it back in service. After about 2 days i heard what sounded like a shotgun blast from under the leak, what the hell.... well i put the 4-47uf on back to front, and you know what happens when you install electrolytic capacitors with the wrong polarity don't you....... Bang.  Pictures for your fun.

[rab]

ouch! ... and BOTH of them, too. How sad...