The Cornet2 I bought from Hagtech a few weeks ago was finished last week. This was my first project and since I asked so many questions of the "skilled" crowd and was asked for a report, well, here it is. First, the assembly was exactly as JH described. Things really did fit like a nice glove. There are only 3 points that could be improved on in the instructions, and likely these would only be for the beginners out there. 1. the "polarity" issues of capacitors presented some issues for me to overcome. The electrolytics require this, and apparently, the others don't (although I upgraded to the Auricaps, which have a manufacturer's claim that they they do!! 2. When soldering heatsinks, I initially failed. I then learned of the technique called a "solder bridge" which worked like a charm. A simple sentence in the instructions might help beginners to use this to get the necessary heat transfer to overcome the loss of the heatsink. 3. I did install the LED backwards because it was not clear what "tab on LED side" meant in the instructions. This I will soon fix. When I look back on these 3 simple points, it makes me feel like a nit-picker. Apologies to the highly skilled designer if that is taken!! Now, the sound. Upon start-up, I noticed some "chuffling" in the speakers. This was like a scratchy-type sound and was noticable during the first LP or two, but then, WOWEE, it pretty quickyly went nearly away and the sound of this device just kept getting better and better. I now have been presented with the strongest evidence in my experience of "truth" for break-in. My bottom line about sound, after about 25 hours, is simply flat-out awesome. If there is something better out there, I would love to hear it. The improvement over my modest phono pre, a SS Class-C Stereophile recommended unit, is unmistakeable. Every one of those audiophile "sound words" applies. What I am now most curious about is the concept of "noise". My previous vinyl set-up was noisy. I am using a Rega P3/2000, Denon 103 MC (0.3mv), Denon step-up, Sonic Frontiers amp and Polk SDA 1.2 TL's. Before, I always heard what I thought was "AC noise", like a "BBBZZZZZZZ" sound that was pretty bothersome and that was what I desperately wanted to eliminate with the Cornet2. Yep, GONE!! Supposedly, opamps are quiet and the specs on the noisy pre-amp were BETTER than those posted for the Cornet2!! Well, the difference was so clear in terms of favoring the Cornet2, this "spec battle" is absolutely without meaning. Now, having said all that and proclaiming the Cornet2 victorious by wide margin, what remains is a simple question. There remains a little sound from the speakers that only is present during phono play-back. It's that "chuffling" I mentioned. It is never audible during playback and therefore not a big problem, but does anyone know what this is? I have heard of "tube rush" as a sound, but this is my first experience with a tubed unit and I really don't know what it sounds like. My simple goal has been to maximize vinyl playback. This is my favorite and anything I can do to get rid of those "little" things" is a big help. Thanks for your experience if there are any thoughts on this. I am really thrilled with this device and wish to thank the engineer for making such an outstanding product and representing it fairly (perhaps too conservatively, as I have made a HUGE leap in sonics and have learned a lot in the process. This really was a lovely experience!!
