Refurbished Carver C-1 preamp / wanted to share

[Bobby1970]

Bobby, keep us updated on your progress. I have a C-1 as well and would like to perform the Billd mods on it some day and will be interested to hear your impressions.

Hi Colin86325, thank you, I have a chat with a Mouser Electronics rep yesterday on how I can make my payment and I ask a good friend to do price canvassing here for the parts involving my initial upgrade for the C1, Paul/Tripqzon is very kind to share his knowledge on the unit..have a nice weekend..

 

[Bobby1970]

Thanks Bobby1970. I am still enjoying this C-1 very much. I was hot to get a Pioneer C-21 for a long time but the prices for a clean unit are, imo, ridiculous. I honestly don't think my old, 54 year old ear, would hear enough of a difference to warrant the purchase. Younger ears would probably hear it, especially the phono stage, which is one of the high points of the C-21. I rarely play vinyl anymore.

Hi Paul, I joined Carversite, there are lots of helpful people there too. I started picking parts from Mouser but there is a cap that has MOQ, a tech from Carver gave an alternative but it's 17 weeks backorder. Anyway, can you teach me how to clean the Sonic Hologram button? yesterday when I power it up only the left channel is working, after isolating the cause I found it was the SH switch, I accidentally touched it and the RCH worked, there maybe dust inside. I cleaned the pots last week with a local contact cleaner, now I am looking for a better approach on how to clean those push button contacts. Thanks..

 

[Tripqzon]

Hi Bobby,
Been a while. Ha CD e you started the C-1 refurb yet?

 

[Boba MosFET]

zombie thread alert! (but there's really no point in starting a new thread because this ties directly in to the cap replacement questions)

I'm thinking about picking up one of these preamps and I have a few questions I hope I can clear up before I decide to take the plunge.

I installed Polystyrene capacitors in place of the ceramic discs in the Phono, Line and Tone sections.
All other capacitors were replaced with Nichicon HE, Nichicon Muse and Panasonic FC series capacitors.

What made you choose polystyrene over MPP or similar? Cost? In a similar vein, you chose HE over the PW, PJ, and PM caps that are in the current BillD list that was posted here. I think its a wise choice, but what made you go that direction? (I wish there was a simple guide to what caps to use in what position, instead of a 50 page argument thread on every forum).

I was able to spot your HE, FG and ES caps easily in the photos. Where did you use the FC ? Or was that from your original recap and you swapped them out for HE?

I was reviewing the BillD list and saw a 1uF 50v cap at C32, C33, and C400. I've been told (on this forum) that 1uF and below can nearly always be replaced with a poly cap. Is there a reason those were left as electrolytic?