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PV 9a Break in period after recaping with Claricap capacitor

Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 6:51 am
by antaresbluespirit
Post by antaresbluespirit » Wed Jan 31, 2018 11:43 am

Hi everybody,

Having a lot of interest regarding the PV 9a ,I have the opportunity to get this unit I heard recently ...

For compatibilitiy reasons with the Threshold amp ,the current owner intend to sell it since he feels that the listening reveals a lack of matters in the bass area both in phono or line input ...

(the phase is ok as well as inverting in all line input...)

Apart from these individual "subjective approach" my question is : does the expensive "Claricap" caps need a significant" break in period" to provide their best? (as it is the case for CJ Teflon caps)

To date the new caps have been working for 50 hours....
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I look forward to hearing from you soon

Raymond (France)

Re: PV 9a Break in period after recaping with Claricap capacitor

Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2018 7:24 pm
by admin
Beautiful picture btw. Those caps look great.

As for your question about cap burnin times. I think this is one of those things that you ask 5 people and get 5 different answers. Some don't believe in it and I've also heard many say it takes 200 hours. I think at 50 hours it should be "settling in".

Re: PV 9a Break in period after recaping with Claricap capacitor

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2018 7:25 am
by antaresbluespirit
thanks admin for your reply,effectively 200 hours are often mentioned as burn in times for the new caps..
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I would appreciate any feedback upon claritycap capacitors experienced with CJ preamp as well!

Additional pictures enclosed of the PV9 "open",we cannot see the Fairschild diode upgrade, as well as IEC connector at the rear panel
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I intend to achieve a listening session of the PV9a integreted in my system , the report will be published within the forum as well... :)


Raymond (France)

Re: PV 9a Break in period after recaping with Claricap capacitor

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2018 1:15 pm
by roberto
Hola Raymond. I do believe that sometimes you need to break in them at least 400 hours!. These caps are the culprit of the lack in bass. They need the time to "setting in". Claricaps is an English Company, that had dedicated to bring to us, the audio users, a very high quality caps.
My guessing is that, the use of high quality caps, makes to provide to the sound, the right amount of bass energy that it is at the signal. Other caps fatten the signal bass. Do not listen to the bass energy, just listen how the bass player is projected in the room, or the musical instrument that is giving that bass, must has the right size. Many times, because our ears are not too good with the bass energy, we usually exaggerate this energy (please, do not get me wrong here) making to fatten the instrument, and, when we cut that fatten bass, we think that something is wrong. Listen to live music. Listen to a double bass played in front of you, unplugged please. This will reveal the truth to your ears! We are searching for the truth in our own place, right? Please, trust in your ears...they are our final judges.
Happy listening!

Re: PV 9a Break in period after recaping with Claricap capacitor

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2018 4:14 pm
by antaresbluespirit
Thanks Roberto for your point of view since you have probably experienced the situation.

I practise the sing and song within a jazz vocal group every week ...

The live music must be our reference anyway and you noticed the difference between the hifi reproduction and the live

should you be confident with the usefull setting in period, no doubt we will retrieve the "matters and weight of the music "expected from the PV9a as we know it in this area...

Regards

Raymond

Re: PV 9a Break in period after recaping with Claricap capacitor

Posted: Tue Feb 06, 2018 11:16 pm
by roberto
Hola Raymond. Just give to the caps more time. And your ears to accustomed to the new sound. The preamp will gain a lot of transparency, and tons of wide and depth stage, The harmonic texture will arise and also less fatigue. Much better dynamics, and great extension at the highs. Listen the new cymbals, the new percussion in your system. Also, they give a lot of more articulate and organic sound overall.

Because you are a musician, you can easy call how many voices are in a choir. The hoarseness is gone with your new caps. Listen how clear the signal is, using high quality caps. But the most important thing is the behavior of the caps electronically way of speaking. These caps have the ability to maintain the capacitance (as the teflon caps and these teflon caps are better in this respect) at all the working voltage. Other caps, their capacitance varies with the working voltage. This fatten or trim down the signal. Many brands, even high end, don't think that we can hear these changes...but we do! Specially when you have on our ears, stuff like Conrad Johnson. The simple design with high quality parts is the clue. And changing caps on older models is a fantastic idea. Your quality sound will be granted...easy to listen and easy to understand the benefits with high quality caps like the ones that you got.

Happy listening!

Re: PV 9a Break in period after recaping with Claricap capacitor

Posted: Mon Oct 08, 2018 6:01 pm
by Kurt
Hi- great pics and those caps look really cool. I have a few questions: what were the values of the old caps, what are the values of the new caps and why did you only upgrade those four specific caps?

Re: PV 9a Break in period after recaping with Claricap capacitor

Posted: Thu Nov 22, 2018 1:19 pm
by antaresbluespirit
Kurt wrote: Mon Oct 08, 2018 6:01 pm Hi- great pics and those caps look really cool. I have a few questions: what were the values of the old caps, what are the values of the new caps and why did you only upgrade those four specific caps?
Hi kurt!

I am sorry for the time to reply, but my hobby interest has been only focused in working in my home for the last two months..

So,I got this amp many months ago and the previous owner decided to up grade what he considered as sensitive point for "highligting" the signal without changing the sound character of the unit...

For this reason he add just an IEC connector as well as the for caps and i am going to check the scheme where he did the change and report to you their position in the circuit...

Regards

Raymond