What scares me is what other audiophiles considering trying Joseph's preamp are thinking about all these tweaks the current users are doing to the preamp. I would probably be asking, " If Joseph's preamp is a world beater in stock form, why in the world would you do anything to try to improve on it?" Well, the only tweaks I have done to mine and both were approved by Joseph, are to upgrade the two main tubes and now the experimenting with the V-caps in the outputs. My answer to this is that both are reasonable tweaks that any audiophile worth his salt would consider doing if it meant extracting that last nth-degree of subtle nuances from an already amazing preamp. No Trolls wanted on this thread. |
To me the tube changes are to fine-tune the preamp to one's musical preference, room, and equipment. I could be very very happy with the preamp with the stock EH or Siemens provided, but it is fun to see what other sounds can be experienced. |
Hello fellow TP 2.0 preamp owners. Just a word of advise regarding the V-Cap OIMP capacitors. Several people have e-mailed me regarding interest in this cap to put in the outputs of their preamps. If you have never soldered anything or done any of this type of tinkering with electronics, I highly recommend that you either take your preamp to a local and reputable service tech to put these caps in for you or pay the shipping to have Joseph do it for you. There is very high voltage in the preamp and unless you follow detailed instructions provided by Joseph to perform while installing the caps, you could either injure yourself or do damage to the preamp and/or tubes. I was able to successfully remove the Hovland caps and replace them with the V-caps, but I was very careful in how I did the procedure. It took me about 1 1/2 hours to finish the installation, but only because I took my time, rested in between, and was over-cautious. If I had more experience and wasn't so anal about things, I probably could have done it in half the time. At 9:00 P.M. this evening, MST, I will have 216 hours on these V-caps. My last impression on them was at approx. the 150 hr. mark and at this point I am still, if not more than, enthusiastic about these V-caps. I have read the beta-tester's reports, and some claim that up to 300 hours and even beyond, the sound will continue to improve. The total I paid for the pair of caps from VH Audio was $113.44, which included UPS shipping. This seems a lot for two capacitors, but as this cost was less than what any of my interconnects or power cables cost me, I feel that they were a bargain. Also, cap value for your preamp is different depending on what model of the TP 2.0 you have. Joseph is in Taiwan for business/personal reasons and won't be back home until March 25th, at which time Victor told me that he had something like 15 tuners waiting for him to do his modifications on, so he's going to be a busy man for a while. I expect that on Joseph's return, he will order a few of the V-Caps to do some critical listening for himself. Assuming Joseph gives these caps his blessing, you might want to wait until he gives his opinion. In the meantime, the Hovland caps are extremely musical and make the preamp a joy to listen through. To my ears, however, the V-caps just allow more musical information to pass through to give you an even higher level of listening bliss. Stay tuned for more updates.
P.S. As a side note, Rx8man has come up with a neat little tweak of floating the main circuit board which gives the preamp even better isolation and should improve on the sound. The tweak is very inexpensive, involving four special screws and a couple of special washers and voila, you have a "floating" circuit board. Rx8man has already installed this tweak and he says it makes a nice improvement. I am going to acquire the floating kit and try this tweak out next week. But first, I want to give the V-Caps their full burn-in and final evaluation before I make any other changes. I've learned the hard way to not change horses in the middle of the stream. Happy listening to all ! |
Thanks Sherod and Rxman for being pioneers on these units. It will be another week before I get my DAC back (having it modded by Mauimods, then will get system up and running and be ready to explore new things with the AH |
Joe, you might check with Mauimods and see if they have any experience with using the V-caps in your dac. There might be a key location where a V-cap will work wonders. |
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Thanks for the compliment Joe !
By the way, my circuit board isolation works great, it makes the preamp smoother and quieter than before !
I've had it playing for a few days now, and all is well.
It takes a philips screwdriver, being careful and patient, but not impossible to achieve.
I mailed two kits out to Sherod and La45 for evaluation, I'm awaiting their feedback.
Anyone else interested or brave enough (ha!) let me know. |
Folks,
I just received the plexiglass cover from Rx8man. It looks great on the TP 2.0! Nice job on the cutting Pat. I hope to install the kit for the circuit board isolation and report back on the change. Again courtesy of Rx8man.
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Hi folks. I thought I'd give you a little capsule update on my cap upgrade experiment. I'm trying to be low-key and subtle on this experiment, because I don't want anyone to think that the preamp as is from Joseph with the Hovland caps is some type of sacrificing of musical enjoyment. It is not. Joseph has made a great preamp that is a genuine bargain, regardless of which version you choose. Joseph is out of the country right now and I don't want him to feel that we few tweakers of his preamp are trying to re-think, so to speak, his design. I just had to try this new V-cap from VH Audio because I had read so many wonderful testimonials about it, both from highly revered modifiers and manufacturers as well as from amateur tweakers like myself. The OIMP V-caps have about 400 hours on them now so they should be fully burned in, if not 90% or better. To my ears the V-caps are still better than the Hovlands. They just pass more information in all regards. But after continuing my evaluations using a wide variety of music that I'm very familiar with as well as different source components, I'm realizing now that the V-cap OIMP's have a very slightly added warmth and roundness, if you will, to the sonic portrait. This is not a bad trait or signature. Even with this signature, I would probably still live with it in my preamp as opposed to the Hovland simply because it lets through more information in a satisfying way for my tastes. So I contacted the designer of the V-cap, Chris, and he suggested that I try bypassing the OIMP with a much smaller V-cap teflon to see if the combination would give me more of a less warm and round texture to the sound. I then had a few e-mail exchanges with a very knowledgeable modifier, Bill Baker of response Audio, and he too recommended that I bypass the OIMP's with a smaller V-cap teflon, recommending a .10 uf value to blend with the 4.0 uf value of the OIMP. I bit the bullet and paid the extra $100.00 for the V-cap teflon bypass caps( I now have a little over $200.00 invested in this cap experiment replacement. A little high probably for the budget conscious, I know) but being a perfectionist, I just had to try this final tweak). I installed the bypass caps last night. It took much less time than the OIMP as I just piggy-backed the bypass to the OIMP and then carefully tied down all caps to fit tightly and securely to prevent microphonics. I have had it now playing overnight and the sound does indeed have better neutrality( read a little less warmth) but doesn't sound as good as the OIMP's by themselves. I'm attributing this to the fact that the teflons need at least 200 hours of burn-in before they really open up and show their capabilities. I have been told and read that the teflons need @ 400+ hours to achieve 95% of their attributes. So I probably have another two weeks before I can make a realistic evaluation to report. In the meantime, fellow TP 2.0 owners. Just let ole Sherod be the guinea pig for the time being and you rest easy enjoying your preamp as is. Joseph will be back in the good old USA next week and Victor told me that Joseph was going to order some V-caps to do his own experimenting, so I suggest you all wait until the Master, Mr. Chow, gives you his opinions. I don't want to create a monster here by thinking that everyone should go out and replace your caps. Please be patient and let the evaluations unfold and then make your decisions. Happy listening everyone and enjoy the music. Stay tuned for some hopefully final comments within the next few weeks to wrap up this cap test. |
~
It occurs to me that I never mentioned the preamp that my TP2.0n replaced. It was a Spectron Model 10. I really liked it overall - it had some great features - but with a Spectron Musician II Class-D amp, a digital-only source, and Magnepan 3.3/R speakers, the Spectron preamp was a bit *too* precise & detailed, with a real edginess at the high end, particularly when the volume was up to a substantial level.
Joseph's preamp was a marked improvement in warmth and musicality, without sacrificing the incredible detail that the Maggies can provide. It really didn't take us long to decide to keep the TP2.0.
/Rob |
Rob Thanks for posting what you had before the AH preamp. I think it helps us all get a sense of what the AH does with different equipment |
Seeing that the door to comparisons has been opened my former pre was an Aesthetix Calypso,which the AH easily bested.Power is a Cary V12,and I'm using Balanced Silver Bullet 6's interconnects.No tube rush,no hiss,the blackest of blacks between musical passages.I continue to be amazed. |
Has anyone compared the TP 2 to the ARC Ref.3? Would like to hear your opinions.
Thanks, Frank |
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I asked that same question to a soon-to-be REF 3 owner ! |
Well I haven't compared the AH to a Ref 3 but I have compared it to a Lamm L2 Ref - the AH was returned. Its a very nice preamp and a great value at its pricepoint but unlike everyone else here it just didn't float my boat. My next audition will be the ARC LS-26. |
Did the soon-to-be Ref 3 owner have a chance to evaluate the TP 2.0 preamp? |
Wow! The first person to say that they've returned the AH preamp. Thanks for your candor. Hopefully the AR preamp will be more to your liking, Rgd. Keep us posted on your impressions after your evaluations. |
Sherod,
No evaluation yet, he's been waiting a long time for the Ref 3, and is quite irritated.
As usual, this whole preamp scenario boils down to break-in procedure, your electricity supply, your system, your tube selection (if applicable) your ears and preferences.
I'd like to arrange a comparison, or if someone else here can compare or borrow a Ref 3, that's fine too, I'm curious to hear the results. |
Rdg
Thank you for your input. May I ask what your source, amp and speakers are and whether your room is accoustically treated? I am very curious to see what the AH does well with and what perhaps is better served by a different pre.
Joe |
Source is a Sony xa9000es for SACD and a transport into an Audio Note DAC 2.1x for redbook. Amp is a Bryston 14B-SST. Speakers are Talon Audio Ravens. Treatments are minimal with Eighth Nerve response treatments.
The AH was burned in 24/7 over 3 weeks with a tuner signal running through it (when I wasn't listening to it) and I have three 20A dedicated lines one of which is allocated to the preamp.
The following preamps were recently in my system; Lamm LL2 deluxe, Hovland HP-100, Bryston BP-26 and Lamm L2 ref. The AH is a very nice preamp and certainly a huge value as it ran very well agaisnt the Hovland and "baby" Lamm. As for the Lamm L2 ref it just brought more to the party - better dynamics, deeper soundstage and more detail/realism than any other preamp thats been in my rack. |
Rgd Thanks for taking the time to answer thoroughly. Some nice equipment there, plenty of sensitivity for a good evaluation! |
Sherod and La45, have you had a chance to install RX8man's isolation kit and what do you think? My unit is with Joseph at the moment and we are contemplating having him float the board.
Sherod - any further interm update on the V caps progress? Once the bypass caps have broken in, will you be A-B comparing them to the V caps alone?
Thanks Joe |
Hi Joe,
Yes, I have installed the floater kit on only the tube board. Since I put the kit in at the same time that I added the V-cap teflon bypasses, I can't do a fair determination of how the floater kit has improved the sound, but I am going to take an educated guess that it's making an improvement as isolating the tubes and caps from the environment should help the sound improve. At this juncture, I have approx. 175 hours on the bypass caps. Still too early to make an evaluation. I am hoping to hear an improvement by late tomorrow evening when they reach the 200 hour mark. At this point, I'm not too impressed yet with the bypasses. I am missing the sweetness and transparency that the OIMP caps were providing by themselves. Up until about the 120 hour mark, the sound has been dreadful to say the least. These teflons are ugly sounding the first 100+ hours. By the way, Joseph and Victor are tonight, as I am writing this, doing an evaluation of the OIMP caps in Joseph's preamp at his home. Victor is going to give me an early opinion either later tonight or tomorrow. Their OIMP's only have about 80 hours on them, still not fully broken in( takes @ 200 hours) but 80 hours should give them enough to form an early perception of their potential. I hope to give a preliminary impression of the overall sound by the end of the weekend. By the way, what's Joseph doing to your preamp? You must be missing it in your system. |
Yes, I am missing my unit. I have had a month of patience practice. My Northstar DAC was in for repair of two transitors resulting in no right channel. While the DAC was in I had it modded by Mauimods and just got it back yesterday with great results. Took it world class IMO.
Joseph is doing a permanent fix on the grounding issues I had when I got a custom AH (only XLR on the output side at my request). Meanwhile I am using my ss Aragon preamp. This hiatus has given me a chance to go backwards and see how much difference having a great versus good source and preamp has made. Boy, the difference is not subtle. |
Hi Gammajo,
I have not installed the floating kit yet. I hope to do so next week as time allows and you will be the first to know my thoughts on what it does to the sound.
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Since there has been some interest in the V cap, let me give you an update. Joseph and I listened to the V caps after 45 hours and again just the other day after 120 hours burn in time. The V cap is an extremely fast capacitor, which means it has excellent transients and micro-detail retrieval, a fine ability to reproduce harmonic texture, especially the higher overtones, and striking ability to reproduce dynamic contrasts. So far, while the caps have improved in reproducing the various registers, it still preserves its tendency to accentuate the higher frequencies at the expense of the lower ones, with the result that as always in such an instance, it disperses sound very well and seems subjectively to have a wider soundstage than the Hovlands. It is a very demanding capacitor since dynamic musical contrasts appear more extreme than usual, and because it is bright and does not lend itself to background music—at least not at this present stage of break in. At times the combination of brightness and strong dynamic response resulted in a harsh edge, especially, for example, when sopranos hit a high note crescendo. In sum it tended to give all music, whether digital or analog, a more pronounced digital feeling. If one has a speaker system that is on the mellow side—what people sometimes call a “polite” speaker--the V cap may add just enough sparkle and quickness of response to it to create a livelier and better balanced system.
We listened to the V caps with three different ICÂ’s to insure we did not have a cable mismatch. With a balanced Transparency, what I have described above was most pronounced. We tried to slow the capacitors down using a balanced copper IC, and indeed, this reduced the digitalizing effect we were hearing and because slower, created a better balance between low and high frequencies, but it thickened the bass and seemed to eliminate the superior micro-detail retrieval we valued before. We tried a new design developed by Joseph using Cardas wire to come somewhere in between, and we did approach the balance of the Hovlands with this IC, but now we were a little slower and thicker textured than the Hovlands.
In sum, the V cap, if it continues to deepen its registers and if with time the edginess diminishes, may be a very promising cap. We will give another careful listen at 300 hours. At the present time, we are unable to recommend it or to make it available to our customers.
On another front, Joseph has completed the development of a two tube phono stage, which is available in a number of configurations—MM or MC, integrated or separate, stock transformer or premium transformer. I brought over a Stereophile CD and LP of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto so we could compare the phono stage using the stock transformers and the premium transformers to Joseph’s AH DAC. In everything but S/N the phono stage was superior to the DAC, but not embarrassingly so. With the expensive Premium transformers, the disparity between the phono stage and the DAC grew more pronounced, again in all areas but S/N, where it is hard to beat a digital source.
This is a superb phono stage, as we had every hope it would be, given it is JosephÂ’s creation, but frankly the Premium version was even better than we had hoped.
Lastly, a word to those who were surprised that someone auditioned the TP 2.0nB and chose a different preamplifier. Don’t be. When we designed the TP 2.0, we never strove to produce the best preamplifier out there, or even the best preamplifier we could. We deliberately designed to place our products at the bottom of the high end price point—-that is, between $2000 and $3000, believing that a great many music lovers want to listen to music superbly reproduced without feeling they can not without mortgaging the house.
About 10% of the preamplifiers auditioned are returned, usually with comments like this: “nothing under $8000 could touch it. We finally felt the $16,000 . . . delivered just a little . . .” A recent post notes that the Lamm ref beat out the TP 2.0nB. And why shouldn't it? It sells for $13,680. We feel flattered that the TP 2.0nB can be mentioned respectfully in the same breath with a component costing 347% more. Thank you.
And thank you all for all your support. We appreciate it. |
Victor - Thanks for the informative post - are there any adds posted with prices yet for the phono amp? Please do keep us informed at 300 hours on the V caps |
The V-caps OIMP do indeed improve further long after the 120 hour mark. I heard nice improvements after the 150 mark, 200 mark, and 300 hour mark. The last improvement I could make out was at the 316 hour mark. The frequency extremes will also extend and smooth out as well. Whether Joseph and Victor decide that they like it better than the Hovland is subject to system synergy as well as personal preferences. |
"We tried to slow the capacitors down using a balanced copper IC, and indeed, this reduced the digitalizing effect we were hearing and because slower, created a better balance between low and high frequencies, but it thickened the bass and seemed to eliminate the superior micro-detail retrieval we valued before."
I'm not sure why you would want to "slow down" the capacitors. From what I've always read, the best capacitor is no capacitor. Can a capacitor be too fast? I would think that the faster the better as the cap is doing what it is supposed to do while allowing the signal to pass with minimal interference. I'm speaking here from a Layman's point of view. |
I believe that approaching the question of whether to use the V-cap or not falls into how well it works with the existing circuitry. The cap will have to offer further enhancements without sacrifice before its a permanent replacement of the stock cap and I am sure that is what Joseph and company is thinking. The existing formula works fine why mess with it unless....
Besides, this is fun seeing a manufacturer is considering it and reporting it to us.
Victor, most of us are aware that there is no single preamp out there for everyone. But its nice hearing from those who are not AH owners to bring us back to reality check. The AH is in a special group alright.
Glad you guys are working hard at improvements (phono stage).
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Well, my AH has returned from the preamp spa and it is so great to be enjoying it again. All the detail is there that I have had with my ss these weeks, plus the musicality is back.
Joseph floated the board as Rx8man has suggested we do, and Joseph was able to measure a 3-5 dB lowering of the already quiet noise floor with this tweek. What I hear is nothing - dead silence, except the faintest tube rush with my ear pressed directly on the tweeter. I am running my Amperex PQ's while waiting for a quad of early sixties Telefunken E88cc's I've ordered, and searching for some awesome Siemens cca's.
I hope everyone has been enbjoying the music through thier AH preamps while I have been without mine. Anyone going for the phono stage? If so, are you getting the internal or external one?
Joe |
Thanks Joe !
I'm gratified for the folks who accepted my floating board experiment and the sucess story.
Now for the acrylic lid ..................... !! |
Congratulations, Rx8man, on the "floating board" tweak. Now why didn't I think of that? |
Hello Folks! I just wanted to thank everyone here who have
posted their positive reviews and comments on the AH TP2.0
I stumble upon this tread several weeks ago and read all the
posts and became very curious. I guess this makes me the newest TP2.0 member. I picked up my preamp at Joseph's
house on 4/7 my unit is the TP2.0nB with the upgraded siemens 6922 on the number 1 and 3 (2 and 4 stock tube). I
was not able to listen to the preamp until around 9:30ish
that night, right out of the box this thing sounded good. I
had this big fat grin on my face knowing that I had stumble
upon something special. I was tempted to call Joseph that
night around 11:30ish to let him know how much I was enjoying his preamp but I did not call fearing I might wake
up his family. On the third day I called Joseph to inform
him to cash my check! It was too obvious not to pass on this
great preamp. As far the sound I am currently experiencing it has been said and noted before and I truly have to agree
with everyone's posts so therefore I won't need to say what
has been said before except this baby is mine and it's special.
my humble system consists of:
resolution audio cd55
ah tp2.0nB (replaced the krell krc3)
dynaudio c1
krell fpb200
rega p3 with aurum beta-s cart.
musical surrounding phonomena phono preamp
cables are tara labs: xlr decade and air 1 speaker cables
I am currently auditioning the Transparency interconnect
so far it is winning me over.
Thank You Victor and Joseph you guys are
awesome and true gentlemen..
JoJo |
Congratulations Jojo. Welcome to the club. Here's hoping that you have many enjoyable hours of musical bliss with your new preamp. |
Hey I'm going to second that,welcome, and let us know how it blossoms after 200 hours of play time. |
I'll third it, nice choice JoJo, welcome abroad !
Do you know of JoJo Gunne from the early 70's ? |
Welcome "abroad", Rx8man? Do you live overseas? Just kidding. Yeah, I remember JoJo Gunne. It was about 1971. I was just graduating from high school and I heard this song on the radio with the lyrics, "Ride, ride, ride...". I said to my friend, "Hey, I like that group!" I wonder what happened to them? |
Thanks Guys, I feel like I'm in a private club with
the classiest people around.
Rx8man ~ I've heard or seen that name before but I'm not familiar with
JoJo Gunne's music. |
Welcome JOJO from just one Joe |
Sherod,
The group recently got together, the tune is Run, Run, Run.
Thinking about this, we're showing our age >>> |
It's scary to get old so quickly. Time just flies by anymore. |
I obtained some tubes to play with in the AH preamp and will report: They include a quad Siemens E188cc from the year 1960, a quad of Siemens early sixty cca, and a quad of Telefunken early sixty E88cc.
From my want ad on a-gon, offers are still coming in. If you have interest email me and I will pass you the person's selling information. For example a pair of cca under RCA label for $150 ANOS. I have not researched these offers so do your own diligence.
Peace
Joe |
Hi Joe,
I look forward to hearing your impressions on all these different tubes. |
This thread has been fairly quiet. Interested now that you have your AH preamps, are you sitting back and enjoying the music with big smiles of satisfaction and or moving on to other equipment changes and tweaks? |
I've purchased a quad of KR tubes.Outrageously expensive but I'm worth it.I'm informed they were extremely difficult to acquire and are the ultimate match for the AH.So,stay tuned and I will share my opinion with you guys sometime in the next couple of weeks. |
Mark,
Why wait two weeks? Do they take that long to break in? Also, is this the same Czech Republic company KR Audio? I just looked at their website and I only see triode-type power tubes. I'm curious what your source is for these E88cc tubes you found. What did they cost you? More than a NOS quad of Siemens CCa? |
Joe, I'm just trying to enjoy the preamp, but am still experimenting with the output caps. I'm keeping a low profile on this tweak until I get the full measure of things. By the way, how are those new tubes working out in your preamp? |
Just got my first quad of cca's in today and will listen for the first time to them tonight. |
