Sensation M451 mods- listening impressions

classicjt2 · « **on:** 2 May 2010, 08:58 am »

I’ve come to know the Virtue line of amps quite well- I’ve owned or auditioned the original One (Nov 2008), revised One (2009 model), One.2, Two, Sensation M901 prototype, and now my Sensation M451. I love all the Virtue amps- they share a liveness and that rare breath of life that’s so hard to find among audio products, even expensive ones. The Sensation, however, takes things to a different realm. I decided to "push the envelope" a bit and see what would happen.

For my Sensation, I took advantage of the customizable option for the M451 and ordered with special input caps, instead of the Virtucaps standard on the M451 or Auricaps that come on the M901. My decision for caps was a difficult one: Danny Richie recommends Sonicaps, while Jason Terpstra prefers Claritycaps. I did my research, and came down with a few more choices- Vcaps, Audio Note copper/oils, and Mundorf. But my eventual choice came down to providence- the Claritycap ESA I would have chosen were out of stock, so I had Jason install Mundorf M-cap Supremes (2.2uf), and a friend of mine had a couple of Mundorf Silver-in-Oils (.22uf) that he recommended as bypass. Jason also suggested I upgrade the amp’s speaker hookups, so we decided on Virtue’s larger gauge, Teflon insulated, cryo’d, Tenor wire.

I burned the unit in for 150 hours before doing any serious listening, then installed the already broken-in Mundorf silver/oil bypass caps, and ran them in an additional 50 hours. As much as I enjoyed the other Virtue amps, I felt, from first listening, that this amp performed at a different level.

All Sensation amps, when used with high current power supplies (I’ve tried the stock Antek, Vinnie Rossi’s Red Wine Audio Black Lightning, and a lightly tweaked JT Dynamic) share a foundational, authoritative bass. This gives a feeling of effortless power to the system, as well as giving legs, or roots, to the images- anchors, so to speak. With the Mundorf Silver Oil bypass caps, the bottom end takes on new levels of depth, form, and dimension. Quite frankly, I was surprised that the bass would change with the addition of small bypass caps; I had previously thought the improvements would be confined to the mid and upper frequencies, but I was pleasantly surprised.

My Sensation has a striking midrange bloom and naturalness that surpassed my M901 prototype, with a three-dimensional body and density to individual images. I listened to Cowboy Junkies “Lay it Down” CD, and Margo Timmons voice is emotionally laid bare- strikingly so. The music has an ebb and flow that draws you into the performance. The amp sounds indescribably fast yet so sweet and liquid. Plucked strings have a complexity of the initial transient with the tension of the string, the woody resonance of the instrument’s body, and trailing decay. Recorded acoustics can be dripping wet ambience. And yes, a “world-class soundstage”as one reviewer commented upon listening to the Mundorf Silver Oils- deep, layered, wide, and tall.

The top end is (again) fast, yet so sweet and pure. I’m surprised at this term “fast”. One reviewer said the Auricaps “lacked resolution” compared to the very top rated caps, and a friend of mine called them “slow”. I thought I would never have described them as such, but with the combination of the M-Supremes and Silver Oils, there is so much fine, textural detail revealed, but in a totally smooth and coherent manner.

All told, my Sensation embodies some of the qualities of a single ended triode amp- that unmistakable purity and transparency, but with more bass punch and control than most SETs. It’s cleaner and more musically engaging than any solid state amp I can think of. Does it do everything I want regardless of price? Well, no. As musically and dynamically engaging as is this amp, it ultimately holds back a bit; it doesn’t have the savage, bare-chested grunt of a big, powerful amp. Maybe if it had a Gary Dodd tube buffer stage before it- it would be fun to try. Are the Mundorf caps perfectly neutral? In my system, I have a bit of a suspicion that they sound a bit romantic and sweet. I’ll have to temper my comment by saying the person who supplied the Silver Oils to me tried them in BAT VK-150SEs (approx. $20k tube monoblocks) and found them nice but too hyper- detailed, and he opted for top line Jensen oils instead.

Is the performance what I had hoped it would be? Way beyond my admittedly high expectations. After all, I’ve been a Virtue owner since day one.

James

Cheerwino · « **Reply #1 on:** 2 May 2010, 12:52 pm »

Nice review. Thanks!

classicjt2 · « **Reply #2 on:** 11 May 2010, 03:32 pm »

Seth asked me to post a picture with the Mundorf caps. Until I can find my digital camera, this sucky pic is from my cell phone:

The Mundorfs are much larger than the Auricaps or Virtucaps; it supposedly has to do with the "non-inductive wiring", so a 2uf cap is the size of an 8uf cap. They actually don't fit in the space provided on the circuit board, so Jason elevated them above the board. The larger caps are the 2.2uf M-Cap Supremes, the smaller are the Silver-in-Oil bypasses. Yeah, they kind of interfere with the ribbon cable. I would like to try the smaller Sonicaps in my Two; I think those may fit and sound great too.

Larger gauge speaker hook-ups are Cryo'd Teflon Tenor wire from Virtue, installed by Jason. All unused input and output RCA jacks are capped with Cardas type covers.

James

classicjt2 · « **Reply #3 on:** 12 May 2010, 02:56 am »

I'm packing up my tweaked Sensation M451 and sending it up to the Lone Star Audio Fest. Hope it makes it from Hawaii in one piece!

James

OzarkTom · « **Reply #4 on:** 12 May 2010, 04:12 am »

Quote from: classicjt2 on 12 May 2010, 02:56 am

I'm packing up my tweaked Sensation M451 and sending it up to the Lone Star Audio Fest. Hope it makes it from Hawaii in one piece!

James

James, I hope it gets here in one piece. I would love to hear the difference in that one Vs. the stock one of mine.

wsturner · « **Reply #5 on:** 25 May 2010, 03:52 pm »

I just did a cap upgrade to my M451. Immediate, and substantial, improvement! I used AuriCaps - but other high quality caps should have the same effect.

I would consider the capacitor upgrade a necessary tweak to the M451.

This also made me realize what an incredible amp the ONE.2 is. I think the ONE.2, with stock caps, sounds about as good as the M451 with upgraded caps.

Next up, a hookup wire upgrade

Parkfly · « **Reply #6 on:** 27 May 2010, 12:14 am »

Greetings OzarkTom and James!

I'm really curious how James" Mundorf cap upgrades to his
Sensation 451 compared to OzarkTom's stock 451 and to any of the stock Sensation M901's
at the Lone Star Audio Fest! Let's roll some more cap's... those Mundorf's look good!

I wanna try some in my ONE.2, if they will squeeze in there.

Harold

P.S. "Parkfly" is a nickname I aquired when flying my electric RC airplanes at the city park...heh heh

classicjt2 · « **Reply #7 on:** 31 May 2010, 05:27 pm »

Harold-

When I received back my tweaked M451 from LSAF, the input caps had been mangled (good ol' FedEx), and the Mundorf Silver Oils had broken loose. I resoldered, and listened. The sound was different, not as good as before, and pulling to the right channel. I couldn't figure what the problem was. I called Seth and asked him if any changes (like new fuses) were made, but he said no, except one of the caps needed to be resoldered. I went back and checked my solder connections, and I had a cold solder joint on one of the caps (left channel) I had resoldered- the Silver-Oil cap leads were clipped very short, so they barely reach the M-Supreme leads. I resoldered, and listened. The old sound returned- completely locked in center image and fantasitic depth of stage. I like the Mundorf M-Supremes, but the Silver Oils are definitely a level or two better.

James

Jason T · « **Reply #8 on:** 1 Jun 2010, 01:21 am »

James

I'm glad your liking your amp and the Mods.
I just bypassed my Clarity ESA 2.2uf caps with Clarity ESA .1uf caps and WOW ! you are right the bypass cap makes a difference, a big difference !

Anyone leery of modding yourself can contact me anytime for help or a quote.
as James will tell you my labor is cheap and I charge only my cost for parts.
I'm doing this to share the love of audio not to get rich (although that would be nice)

I work a full time HVAC job in Tucson AZ so I'll be pretty busy for the next few months but always try to answer any emails the same day.

as James said I prefer Clarity Caps and thats because I feel their performance to cost ratio is excellent and I feel they are one of the most neutral caps I have used.

Attached are some better pictures of James amp before the wire upgrade

Jason T · « **Reply #9 on:** 1 Jun 2010, 01:55 am »

for those of you interested in seeing the Clarity Cap version

classicjt2 · « **Reply #10 on:** 1 Jun 2010, 03:14 am »

This is what the twisted insides of the amp looked like at LSAF after shipping to Dallas (check out the black caps on the right)-

All straightened out now and back to normal. I believe due to the simple and short signal path of the Virtue amps, upgrading input caps make a substantial difference, a larger difference than many other amps. I think I've identified the sound of the Auricap: very neutral and clean, with a very wide but not as deep soundstage, and a slight hardness or glare in the upper mids that make it more difficult to listen deeper into the music. Maybe Jason can chime in with his observations. The Mundorfs are sweet, liquid, fast, with a huge, deep soundstage, but, I think, slightly soft on the top end. But maybe it's my speakers. Might be time to upgrade the Multicaps in my Obs.

PS: Jason's right- He got me the Mundorfs for less than I could buy them online, and his labor cost was more than reasonable. I do have to keep in mind the Mundorfs were about 3-4 times the price of the Auricaps- maybe Claritys or Sonicaps would be more cost friendly.

James

virtue · « **Reply #11 on:** 1 Jun 2010, 05:14 am »

Only 630v JT? Seriously, 100v is plenty for these caps which would bring down the size. James, sorry for allowing your beauties to be mis-handled on the way back from Dallas!

classicjt2 · « **Reply #12 on:** 2 Jun 2010, 03:39 am »

Hey Seth-

Mundorfs are 800vdc and Claritys are 630vdc, no options for lower voltage as far as I know. Has anyone tried bypassing the Auricaps with Aura-T teflon caps? That might just be the ticket.

Edit: Wow, I just checked Parts Connexion: Aura-T's are $190/pr for 0.22uf bypasses. I guess I'll stick with the Mundorfs.

James

marvda1 · « **Reply #13 on:** 5 Jun 2010, 02:15 pm »

jason, how does the cost of the clarity caps and bypass caps compare to the cost of auricaps?

eclein · « **Reply #14 on:** 5 Jun 2010, 02:17 pm »

Can you guys describe what these units sound like with the mods? before the mods??
Thanks
Ed L.

Jason T · « **Reply #15 on:** 5 Jun 2010, 07:56 pm »

guy's

here are links to the caps I recommend, check out the prices.
http://www.madisound.com/manufacturers/claritycap/index.php
http://www.madisound.com/manufacturers/mundorf/capacitors.php

I would recommend the Clarity SA, ESA or MR range for inside your amps
Any of the Mundorf caps will work and do sound good I must admit.

in my personal experience I found that the Clarity cap (ESA range I used) gave the amp More body all around and just made it sound like a veil was lifted, even the Auri caps sounded wonderful and I was very Leary of even upgrading from them because I liked the 901 so much already.

when I finished with Jame's amp I had to play a little (this was before I upgraded mine) and his amp is what made me decide to upgrade, it sounded so detailed and crisp I thought it was amazing.
I have to agree with James that the Mudorfs seem to be a little smooth or even maybe a bit rolled off on them top but were smooth and detailed none the less, maybe tamed would be the right word to use ?

none the less if you guys want to upgrade your 451 or 901 the price for
Clarity ESA 2.2, and .1 bypass caps installed is $90 you pay shipping both ways.
for the Clarity MR range 2.2uf caps (no bypass available) your looking at $160

you get the idea figure $40 labor and the price of the caps.

if your confident in soldering you've gotta try different caps in my opinion its well worth the $

feel free to email me anytime with questions @ [email protected]

wsturner · « **Reply #16 on:** 6 Jun 2010, 05:15 am »

Has anyone experimented with the AmpOhm line of capacitors?

http://thetubestore.com/ampohm.html

I have also been told the the Jupiter HT cap is good - if you like a warm, liquid sound:

http://www.jupitercondenser.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46&Itemid=66

Polarbear · « **Reply #17 on:** 11 Jun 2010, 11:21 am »

Got inspired by this thread to upgrade the caps in my M451.
Checked my supplier here in Norway, and fortunately they had the 2,2uF Mundorf Supreme Silver/Gold on sale (40% off)

Also I got the 0.1uF Silver Supreme for the highpass. Not much space to install both pairs. Had to cut and replace the leads on the 2.2 for some thinner wire to fit the hole in PCB.
Sound is good, but have to run in the caps before making any judgment

Killer amp anyway

Cheers
Bjørn

brother love · « **Reply #18 on:** 21 Jun 2010, 10:23 pm »

emac on Tweak City Audio forum evaluated a lot of different capacitors for speakers that is a really good read for those interested:

http://www.tweakcityaudio.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1895

I have Sonicaps & Sonicap Platinum bypass capacitors in my Ninjafied ELT525 towers & center. They added hugely to smoothness & detail. Very impressive before/ after.

I'm auditioning a One.2 right now & when switching the 80 Hz jumper, I looked closely at the Virtucaps. It looks like to me that for those inclined w/ sub & bookshelf set-ups that the 2.2 Virtucaps could be replaced w/ the 0.1 uF Sonicap Platinums for $29 x 2. They are 11/16" dia. x 1-3/16" lg. which might be a little crowded.

http://www.soniccraft.com/sonicap_platinum.htm

Danny- GR Research is having some Sonicap Gen I's in a 45 unit order of One.2s, but not sure if it's both the 2.2 uF & .1 uF (probably so).

And I'm not sure which Sonicaps are offered on the $110 upgrade to the M-451 by Gary Dodd, but Gary told Seth that incl. the tube buffer they are "f-ing spectacular ".

A lot of nice options out there to consider improving already excellent Virtue Audio products.

dvenardos · « **Reply #19 on:** 22 Jun 2010, 07:20 pm »

A huge capacitor comparison thread here at audiocircle:
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=54218.0