Has anyone used the V-cap for mods?


I have an old tube preamp the Conrad Johnson PV-5 I was
thinking of updating by soldering new caps in.I have done this over the years and am good with the old iron,but I have some hesitation spending between $30.00 to $200.00 per capacitors.The preamp has at least (13) .15 caps at 400V.
Should I take the plunge or would I be better off with some standard Rel caps.?
128x12876doublebass
Well...probably you'll get as many different cap recommendations as you'll get posts, I think. I've recapped a PV5, several years ago. I used Reliable's MultiCaps, the PPMFXs for the 4 large couplers and the RTX 'styrenes for bypassing the big'ns and for all the smaller couplers. It sounded quite good but then I soon stopped using it and sold all my record-playing stuff.

Now I'd use TRT DynamiCaps for all couplers. (See http://www.altavistaaudio.com/caps.html for someone else's opinion on these caps.) The D-Caps are what I call 5-star-quality caps, and the V-Cap TFTFs MAY sound a little better, but they're HUGELY more expensive and not worth it IMO.

All the '2.35'uF couplers drive a 1M resistor, which creates a 0.07Hz filter, FAR, FAR lower than necessary. (Why manufacturers do that is beyond me; maybe one of you can tell me.) I'd use a 1uF cap in those 4 positions.

REPLACE the 'lytic PS caps with 630V. Solen 'propylenes, as large as will fit in the case. Leave the 2uf and 0.15 bypasses (Cs4 and 5) in that initial B+ rail but toss the regulator's 'propylene bypasses Cs7, 8, and 9) and add all the 0.15 CJD 'styrenes you removed from the coupling positions to that regulated B+ rail. I put some of them close to the tubes on the bottom of the board. This PS improvement may do more to improve the sound than replacing all the couplers. The PV5 and PV6 were among the last products in which c-j used 'lytics caps in the PSs; all of their later and current equipment use 'propylenes as main-PS storage/filter caps.

I have some pics; e-mail me if you're interested. Good luck.
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I should have added that you'll find more info in Audio Asylum's Tweakers' Asylum, http://www.audioasylum.com/scripts/tv.pl?forum=tweaks .
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