First off I a while ago I pulled off some orange drops I bought from Digikey for the stock Cornet2 build. When I was doing all the upgrades I decided to try the polystyrene and tin RIAA caps from Richard Marsh. Richard Marsh designs these REL and Multicap pieces.
After cleaning the holes with #2 no clean copper wick and some 99% alcohol, In went those cute little addorable PIO K40Y9 caps that Pat and I sourced from the Ukrainian mob (just kidding). Dag Nab It they are smart looking pieces. Sorry the picture is not 100% sharp.
It takes a magnifying glass to see the orientation markings. I decided to utilize the outer to inner winding orientation on these critters.
Pat the sound is so much smoother now with a natural liquidity and overall relaxed sound. The REL Multicap models were excellent sounding caps. However compared to PIO they sound just a hint more etched and grainy in comparison to these. Perhaps a better way to describe styrene and tin is bite and edge
After letting the PIO break in a few hours I found myself listening to my favorite test albums and just grooving to the music instead of analyzing each sound. That is a good thing for me. When I can just go with the flow of the music I know nothing is getting in the way of the performance. I was able to hear all that great detail and transient information as I did with the Styrene and tin but in a sublime way. It was there but never cried out or demanded my attention.
I sense more 3 dimensionality and I am really pleased to say I got all this supple sound without losing any of the air and space around the instruments that I like so much with these Cornet2 phono stages.
Is it better with PIO than with Styrene and Tin? That will be a system dependent issue.
In my highly resolving system the PIO is a better fit. Those tiny little PIO's are just too cute not to solder on a Hagerman board. They do take just a few bends with the needle nose plyers to get the leads to fit right but nothing major.
They sounded great from the first cut. This is a definite money saver vs the REL Multicaps and they are a serious slice of fun.
In my book I consider this a step up for guys like you and me who have very revealing tweeters.
For those that don't know my system my speaker go from 18hz to 40khz. The range from 2750 hz to 10k is covered with a 3" titanium MB Quartz midtweeter and the highs are covered with a ribbon tweeter. If there are highs present on a recording I am going to hear them like an electrostatic speaker married to a ribbon tweeter.
Pat, you are going to hate me because you are going to get a million questions about where to find these caps. BTW I think these will be easy to source and I might even be able to get these from my FT-3 vendor. They are marked 0.047uf and 1000na which is 0.001uf. I think I purchased 12 of these for less than an all you could eat buffet. I have a few of the 0.047 PIO if anyone is building a new Cornet2.
For those with a soft or laid back system the styrene and tin caps might be just the ticket. I suspect that this is going to be another of those system dependent issues based on your amps, cables and speakers. Heck even your room plays a major role in how you hear the music flow.
Here is how my Cornet 2 is looking today. I have the incoming signal caps mounted back on the board and have removed the Teflon from the first 47uf Panasonic ED cap. It was unnecessary.
Pat when will that Cornet 2 of yours be breathing life?
Cheers!
