dogwan
Dogwan
Recently picked up a C2 with a dead left channel for next to nothing. Turns out it was the balance pot.
Rebuilt the balance pot last night. Took lots of pics and measurements. If there is interest I can put together a dedicated thread.
Put it back together this morning and tested out and everything seems to be working well. No scratchiness on any of the switches or intermittent functions (*except there is some residual scratchiness on the balance pot, which I am going to ignore after all that man-handling of the fiddly little parts).
SO, after plugging it into my main system in place of my SPICED PAS3 preamp I was underwhelmed. I mean it sounded good and was quiet. But, I felt like the soundstage had become 2 dimensional and the thunderous bass was gone. I've still to find a SS pre in my price range that can compete with my tubes.
What I want to explore is how much better can I make this pre? I see 2 opamps and a handful of electrolytic caps that seem like an easy target. What about mods to the power supply? Has anyone looked at upgrading the RCA's? Looks like it wouldn't be too hard except would have to figure out a way to support the back end of the PCB.
I've looked for comprehensive C2 mod threads but haven't found any that were really detailed.
If I can get this unit to open up and sound more musical I would be happy even if it still doesn't quite compare to a tubed pre. Basically it has everything I want in a pre without the tube noise on the phono stage.
Rebuilt the balance pot last night. Took lots of pics and measurements. If there is interest I can put together a dedicated thread.
Put it back together this morning and tested out and everything seems to be working well. No scratchiness on any of the switches or intermittent functions (*except there is some residual scratchiness on the balance pot, which I am going to ignore after all that man-handling of the fiddly little parts).
SO, after plugging it into my main system in place of my SPICED PAS3 preamp I was underwhelmed. I mean it sounded good and was quiet. But, I felt like the soundstage had become 2 dimensional and the thunderous bass was gone. I've still to find a SS pre in my price range that can compete with my tubes.
What I want to explore is how much better can I make this pre? I see 2 opamps and a handful of electrolytic caps that seem like an easy target. What about mods to the power supply? Has anyone looked at upgrading the RCA's? Looks like it wouldn't be too hard except would have to figure out a way to support the back end of the PCB.
I've looked for comprehensive C2 mod threads but haven't found any that were really detailed.
If I can get this unit to open up and sound more musical I would be happy even if it still doesn't quite compare to a tubed pre. Basically it has everything I want in a pre without the tube noise on the phono stage.