The MKII has a capacitor forming function that I believe is the first in the industry. The vexing problem of warming up an amplifier for some time that may approach hours (or days for some) in order to get the best sound caused me to do some research into why. Tubes themselves do not take hours to stabilize but capacitors take hours or days to fully charge. One could argue they never quite get there, its one of those pesky asymptotic situations. To remedy this I found a way to keep the caps charged, actually 10 % above operating charge, while the amp is off. The amp then turned fully on sounds great in just a few minutes rather than hours.
This idea was propted by a conversation with Richard Vandersteen who has discovered the benefit of keeping the capacitors in his speakers charged with a battery.
We can install this on the MKI and do a complete spec check for $150. The MKII has a second power switch to turn the amp off completely that we cannot easily add due to mechanical considerations of cutting a rectangular hole in finished plate. The user of a modified amp can realize the main switch by means of an outlet strip, unplugging the amp or any box that has a switched outlet.
The other improvement in the MK-II is an improved high end through a new transformer design. For those who want the very best I am offering special transformers that I wind and match myself. The regular transformers are made under my supervision. Even a well designed output transformer comes out better under my hands for reasons that only a craftsperson can fully understand. The standard transformers (being of new design and made in-house) have wider bandwidth and less high-frequency distortion than the MK-I outputs. Standard MKII outputs cost $650 for the pair installed. The ones I wind are $1200 for the pair. In either case we will add the capacitor forming function at no charge with the transformer upgrade.
