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Thinking of modding my 834p, or should I move on?

I have an 834p deluxe and it needs a small repair. The cost of the repair isn't that much off of having some additional modifications performed, and once the board is desoldered, I was thinking...I may as well go whole hog! However, I am wondering if investing nearly 1k in modifications is really cost effective. I use a Koetsu Black and am thinking of moving up the Koetsu line and/or buying a Grado Statement Statement. I've read quite a few times that the 834p transformers are not that great. The Deluxe sells for around 900-1000 used, so for 2k I could perhaps buy the EAR 324 used or look at something else, unless at even 2k, the moddified 834p would be a solid investment. I like the sound, but I admit I don't have much experience with phono stages at all, and this is the only tubed one I have experience with.

Any input would be welcomed.
zanth

Showing 4 responses by pauly

pauly
1,012 posts
 
Hi Zanth

Lundhal’s are very good and the DIY is very simple. Unless you really have ten thumbs, I would think even somebody with zero soldering experience should cope quite easily.

BTW, am I reading right that an upgrade to the 834P will run you $800, including both labor and parts?

Regards
Paul
pauly
1,012 posts
 
Hi Zanth

I guess labor needs to be paid for, but it does seem steep. I have never modded an EAR, but in my experience biggest improvement (by far) come when changing the coupling caps to better units. Looking at Skushino’s post, those are C1 and C7.

You may want to crack open the ear and have a look and see if you can replace them yourself. Practice soldering for a little on a wires/clips before to get yourself comfortable with the soldering iron, and then make the mod. Do one mod at a time (on both channels) and test after each mod. That way if anything goes awry, you know where.

The nice thing about going it yourself is that you can do it step by step and hear the effect of each mod. This will allow you to choose components that really suit your tastes. And the satisfaction of modding the gear yourself is almost as good as listening.

I like Mudorfs, but prefer V-Caps for coupling caps (when finances allow). Less expensive caps which also sound fantastic are Dynamicaps.

Resistors in the signal path I generally go for AN Tantulums.

Anyway, best of luck with the EAR. I believe they are very good once modded.

Regards
Paul
pauly
1,012 posts
 
Zanth

Bumping this forward as I ran across an interesting capacitor shootout at http://www.vhaudio.com/21capacitorshootout.pdf . It is on Chris's website, but is an english translation of a Chinese hifi mag article i.e. non biased.

Regard
Paul
pauly
1,012 posts
 
Disagree with Greg and Audiopheil.

There is nothing wrong with the Ear except that it has parts that one would expect with Best Buy gear.

Agree with Greg and Audiopheil.

Grab the soldering iron and do it yourself. A set of v-caps (the very best caps out there period - IMHO) will cost you $250-$300 maybe. Another $50 for bypass caps and some good resistors and you have a serious high end kit. No shipping cost or weeks of waiting ...

Regards
Paul
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