Has anyone replaced the stock electrolytics in the piccolo with blackgates? I am curious whether this would be a rewarding upgrade given the $11 a cap (for NX), meaning ~ $150 for the upgrade, not to mention trying to fit the larger caps on the board. Seems like the only way to do it would be to mount them on some other board... or something. I am envisioning an Uber-piccolo with all Blackgate non-polar electrolytics, 0.1 uF FT-3s, Texas components 2375 nude resistors in the chosen signal path (just in the loading and gain values which are ideal for your cartridge), Elma or seiden audio grade switches, some Furutech female RCAs all of which would be run off the Bugle power supply, housed in a nice custom chassis of some kind... aa
Knowing that the closer you get to the source in an analogue system, ususally, the more beneficial the mod or tweak, I can't help but think such a project would be worth the price - maybe $4-500 I would think... Compared to the price of a good cartridge? Peanuts!
I have been running my piccolo into a parasound phono pre while I get my cornet running, so such a project would not make sense until I hear it through the cornet. I am sure that compared to the relatively lifeless and flat presentation of the parasound the cornet will be revelatory! However, i will start taking donations now for the piccolo project, so the funding is in place when the time comes
