is bigger always better ?

50jess · « **Reply #80 on:** 20 Sep 2011, 03:40 am »

Quote from: Rclark on 24 Aug 2011, 04:57 am

I wish I had a stock Two.2 so I could more accurately guage just how much of an improvement there is.

Rclark, did you use the .1uf Claritycaps to replace the 2.2uf Auricaps for your Virtue 2.2?

Rclark · « **Reply #81 on:** 23 Sep 2011, 04:33 am »

No sir, the only caps I have in there now are the .1uf Claritycaps which replaced the Virtuecaps. The Auricaps simply don't exist in there any more, I have no fullrange on this particular amp.

50jess · « **Reply #82 on:** 23 Sep 2011, 03:42 pm »

Quote from: Rclark on 23 Sep 2011, 04:33 am

No sir, the only caps I have in there now are the .1uf Claritycaps which replaced the Virtuecaps. The Auricaps simply don't exist in there any more, I have no fullrange on this particular amp.

Why didn't you opt for the 2.2uf Claritycaps?

Jason T · « **Reply #83 on:** 23 Sep 2011, 03:55 pm »

Quote from: 50jess on 23 Sep 2011, 03:42 pm

Why didn't you opt for the 2.2uf Claritycaps?

Because he is using the highpass feature (80hz)

WC · « **Reply #84 on:** 23 Sep 2011, 04:00 pm »

He also only has a Two.2, so the 2.2uF would also have some difficulty fitting. The 0.1uF was a tight fit.

OzarkTom · « **Reply #85 on:** 22 Oct 2011, 04:00 am »

Few weeks ago I received my Sensation amp back from Jason with the big Duelund capacitors sitting in my hi-pass section of my amp. He had used it for 20-30 hours before shipping it to me. I was very excited to get it back, since I had been without for so long. The magic of the amp was there before it left, I was hoping that would return with the new caps in it.

I knew there would be a burn-in period, but not near as much as I have had to go through. After 300 hours, I was threatening to ship it back to Jason and have him to return it back to the original condition.

At the moment, the amp has about 450 hours on it and finally the magic is returning. The sound is very lush, but very revealing at the same time. In fact, so revealing that the battery charger hooked up to the amp is now very obvious. I easily hear the electronic glareness that the battery charger produces.

I was told at RMAF that the full burn-in can take 600 hours on these caps. The image is much bigger than before. Soundstage keeps expanding as the hours keeps adding up. At the moment, I can whole heartily recommend the Duelund Alexander caps.

Quote from: Jason T on 19 Sep 2011, 12:47 am

We've done it again
this is a pair of Dueland Alexander .1uf copper foil caps. you can see the 2.2uf virtue caps under the huge Dueland caps

Rclark · « **Reply #86 on:** 22 Oct 2011, 05:51 am »

500 hours plus?? I believe those caps are used in the top of the line Magnestand MMG speaker mod, and I'll be opting for those. I think the caps he uses are still secret but I'd bet the farm they're Duelands.

I think the last final final thing I can now do to my amp, since I got it on batteries now, is eventually get one of dBe's Battery Busses on it.

OzarkTom · « **Reply #87 on:** 22 Oct 2011, 02:43 pm »

Quote from: Rclark on 22 Oct 2011, 05:51 am

500 hours plus?? I believe those caps are used in the top of the line Magnestand MMG speaker mod, and I'll be opting for those. I think the caps he uses are still secret but I'd bet the farm they're Duelands.

I think the last final final thing I can now do to my amp, since I got it on batteries now, is eventually get one of dBe's Battery Busses on it.

I have the DBE BatteryBuss but did not get a chance to hook it up before RMAF. If that improves my sound even more, and I am sure it will, I will have died and gone to heaven.

Rclark · « **Reply #88 on:** 22 Oct 2011, 06:43 pm »

...waiting for your report

. Don't die!

Xcalibur · « **Reply #89 on:** 25 Oct 2011, 03:13 am »

Thanks for the report on the Duelunds, OzarkTom. You made my day.

My gut had been telling me for a while that these were the caps for me, but now I'm that much more certain. I was waiting for somebody to confirm that the resolution improved too, not just the lushness, otherwise in my mind it isn't really an upgrade but rather a re-voicing of the amp in terms of tone.

Only downside appears to be the crazy long break-in. I was hoping they wouldn't be Blackgate like burn-in times, but that is what it appears to be.

Rclark · « **Reply #90 on:** 25 Oct 2011, 03:29 am »

Hey Jason, what was your opinion of the ClarityCap versus the Dueland?

And Tom, hopefully you get a chance to try the BatteryBuss

wsturner · « **Reply #91 on:** 25 Oct 2011, 06:31 pm »

OzarkTom,

Your top picture shows the .1uf bypass cap. But I don't see them in the finished product. Are you bypassing the new Dueland's?

Thanks for the review!

Scott

Jason T · « **Reply #92 on:** 25 Oct 2011, 08:05 pm »

Quote from: wsturner on 25 Oct 2011, 06:31 pm

OzarkTom,

Your top picture shows the .1uf bypass cap. But I don't see them in the finished product. Are you bypassing the new Dueland's?

Thanks for the review!

Scott

Scott
The dueland caps are also .1uf and replaced the .1uf sonicaps you see in the picture. The .1uf caps are the highpass (80hz) caps in our amps.
A bypass cap would be .01uf.

I'm not even sure if the dueland 2.2 or 3.3 if caps will fit in our sensation.

wsturner · « **Reply #93 on:** 25 Oct 2011, 10:11 pm »

Oh...I see

Wouldn't a replacement of the 2.2uf caps be a much more significant upgrade - assuming they would fit?

Scott

Jonathon Janusz · « **Reply #94 on:** 25 Oct 2011, 11:48 pm »

Quote from: wsturner on 25 Oct 2011, 10:11 pm

Wouldn't a replacement of the 2.2uf caps be a much more significant upgrade - assuming they would fit?

Scott, the bypass cap is used if you are using the 80Hz high pass filter built in to the amp; the bigger cap is used if you are running the output on the amp full-range. The [ahem] challenge lies in that Virtue built all of these amps in very attractive, room decor/significant other friendly, and comparatively SMALL packages. With many of the boutique caps, the trouble is getting them to fit inside the amps at all. I've got sonicaps in mine (and platinums on the bypass), and they both fit stacked one on top the other, but compared to the other caps discussed here, the sonicaps are physically pretty small.

This just got me to thinking. Seeing as we don't have the real estate in the chassis to build "out" to make room for all this cap goodness (in particular, the bigger full-range cap sizes), how about building "up"? How about some sort of bowl-shaped top (CNC from a slab of wood, bent perf plate like a tube amp cage, something like that?) to raise the overall height of the amp a couple inches - could make enough room to get those big caps under there?

wsturner · « **Reply #95 on:** 26 Oct 2011, 12:55 am »

Jonathon,

That is exactly what I did with my Sensation.

1) Remove all the caps, and solder in "easy connect" high quality connectors (maybe like the hookup wire-->board connectors).
2) Put the caps wherever you want, and hook them up to the connectors from step#1
3) Easily change them out as much as you want

Scott

OzarkTom · « **Reply #96 on:** 26 Oct 2011, 03:01 am »

The break-in period is crazy long, but I see now it is worth it. I will try to get to that BatteryBuss this weekend.

Rclark · « **Reply #97 on:** 26 Oct 2011, 06:11 am »

Sweet!

OzarkTom · « **Reply #98 on:** 27 Oct 2011, 03:25 am »

Is this amp getting even better? Tonight, I noticed the soundstage is larger than ever. Also, vocals and instruments are larger. Organs now sounds more true to life in Johnny Adams "One foot in the Blues". Dynamics is better, too.

Some cuts that were not holographic before, are now holographic. I hear more of the ambiance of the hall, more decay when fingers are snapped and chimes are played.

Rclark · « **Reply #99 on:** 27 Oct 2011, 05:17 am »

So you're liking the caps huh? You better, they ain't cheap right? Have you tried the Buss yet?