Audio Horizons TP 2.0 Preamplifier

i have a 2.1 and a 2.2 in at present; the photo sherod posted is of the 2.1, the 2.2 uses a single larger R-core tranny. otherwise, very similar inside.

areas of difference favor the 2.2, which uses hifi tuning fuses & a furutech IEC, along w/ a tube biasing board & some diff resistor brands in the gain stage, but one area that favors the 2.1 is the dual trannys. hard to say which sum of parts is better, but both units are fantastic.

going back & forth at this point is mute, as i upgraded the caps in my 2.1 to V-caps...this is a significant improvement and worth every penny (its a simple DIY task). i'll have a formal writeup of the 2.2 on PFO soon enough.

rhyno

i'm curious, IIRC tubes 1& 3 are signal gain, but 2 & 4 are for bias. did anyone find benefit from rolling 2 & 4?

wanted to update folks on some mods that i did to my unit which changed the character of the player:

1) V-caps for coupling caps (biggest improvement you can make for clarity, dynamics)
2) signal wiring harness upgrade: the silver-plated copper thats stock has a forwardness in the upper midrange / lower treble i found objectionable. replacing it with mundorf silver/gold ($8 / ft. god i'm dumb) helped town that down while making things more liquid and listenable
3) replacing all DC wiring (stock is 24ga, which does limit dynamcis when compared to the 18ga vampire wire i put in)
4) replacing RCA jacks w/ Eichmanss...really one of the best jacks out there, again removing upper midrange glare (slightly). if nothing else, replace the output RCAs (inputs are VERY tough to do)

(of course, unit responds very well to vibration damping & mass loading)

if you're very adept at DIY, you can do these in a day. if you dont feel comfortable removing the volume pot & drilling new holes in chassis (required), best send it to Joseph as i believe he's incorporating these mods as well (i've gone back & forth with him on these things).

minor attention to detail makes a bargain player into something competitive with $14k players (i know, i A/B'd them and it was a "pick what you prefer" outcome rather than "this is clearly better than that").

amazing. just amazing.