Hi guys, I am an old goat from Toronto. Purchasing a MV-52 later today so thought I would get ahead and see what's god or not so good, or how to make it better.
Glad to be aboard.
alnick
MV-52
Re: MV-52
Hola Alnick55,
Your MV-52 is an outstanding power amp. If I were you, I will retube the amplifier complete. More over, the output power tubes are more necessary to be changed than the signal tubes. The EL-34/6CA7 tubes are very sweet and full of harmonic texture. You are going to be in heaven soon. When you install new tubes, you must adjust the bias. With C-J, you do not need to have them paired. Each tube has its own bias adjustment. Move each of the four bias adjustment pots counterclockwise, these are located near each power tube and all four have a LED, These LEDs should be not on.
Turn on the amp and wait three minutes or so, then move each bias potentiometer clockwise with no music to a point where the LED comes on, then go back 3mm. After 30 minutes of playing music, turn the music off, and recheck or look if there is a LED on. If all four are off, then you are set. If you have a LED on, go counterclockwise again until the LED goes off and go back 2mm. If you see a steady LED on, then move counterclockwise the pot until it goes off. The LEDs can blink while playing the music.
One of the mods that I did to mines, was the speaker connectors. I replaced them with a better ones. I got them at Part Connections. Its a few days working time, but really worth the time. You could find someone who could do the job for you too.
Happy listening and welcome!
Your MV-52 is an outstanding power amp. If I were you, I will retube the amplifier complete. More over, the output power tubes are more necessary to be changed than the signal tubes. The EL-34/6CA7 tubes are very sweet and full of harmonic texture. You are going to be in heaven soon. When you install new tubes, you must adjust the bias. With C-J, you do not need to have them paired. Each tube has its own bias adjustment. Move each of the four bias adjustment pots counterclockwise, these are located near each power tube and all four have a LED, These LEDs should be not on.
Turn on the amp and wait three minutes or so, then move each bias potentiometer clockwise with no music to a point where the LED comes on, then go back 3mm. After 30 minutes of playing music, turn the music off, and recheck or look if there is a LED on. If all four are off, then you are set. If you have a LED on, go counterclockwise again until the LED goes off and go back 2mm. If you see a steady LED on, then move counterclockwise the pot until it goes off. The LEDs can blink while playing the music.
One of the mods that I did to mines, was the speaker connectors. I replaced them with a better ones. I got them at Part Connections. Its a few days working time, but really worth the time. You could find someone who could do the job for you too.
Happy listening and welcome!
ML CLX BF-210 Stage X Motion 4. CJ 120SE amp ET7V2 pre, Holo May Kte Dac. Mac Pro. Power Cond. BPT Signature+ 3.5, Gaia II Feet. USB Lush^V3. Nordost SPM IC and Spk. Shun Mook, BCanto CD2 CD3. Linn LP-12/Unitrack tonearm/Denon DL103R MC.
Re: MV-52
Hi alnick,
Welcome to CJO. It's great to have you with us. Congrats on the new purchase. Let us know what you think after you have put some hours on the unit.
What are the other components in your system?
Welcome to CJO. It's great to have you with us. Congrats on the new purchase. Let us know what you think after you have put some hours on the unit.
What are the other components in your system?
-admin
Home Theater in Member Gallery
Main stereo: ART Amplifier and ET7s2. 2nd stereo: PV-14L and MV-55. Previously Owned: PF2 preamp, Evolution 2000 Amp, PV-12AL preamp, D/A-2b Vacuum-Tube Digital Processor.
Home Theater in Member Gallery
Main stereo: ART Amplifier and ET7s2. 2nd stereo: PV-14L and MV-55. Previously Owned: PF2 preamp, Evolution 2000 Amp, PV-12AL preamp, D/A-2b Vacuum-Tube Digital Processor.
Re: MV-52
Welcome Alnick, congrats and great find. I'll never part with my MV-55 (similar and also with EL34's) and I put it back in my system whenever I need reminded of what dragged me down this rabbit hole (audiophile hobby) in the first place - that being the qualities that Roberto mentioned above.
If you don't find that you are getting this kind of experience from your MV-52, then you need to keep working on it (or rest of system) till you get to this place! Unless you already have a well sorted system you are dropping this amp into, it will take real time, effort, and research before you hear magic, but at some point along the progress you'll get a little glimpse with a good recording. Then the further tuning/tweaking from there has no end.
I'll mention that I did 'upgrade' my speaker terminals to much fancier than OEM on my MV-55, but the resulting sound was worse for me and I then ended up going thru a few different sets before finding a net improvement over stock. Different terminal arrangement than the MV-52 I believe, but point being that progress is rarely a straight line in this hobby. Forums like this are invaluable for such guidance, so if you decide to take Roberto's advice on the terminal mod, I would suggest you find out from him what it did to the sound (in his system - which is no assurance you'll get same experience). Then if you choose to proceed, take a leap of faith and use exactly the parts he used because different metals, platings, metal mass will all have audible differences in a finely tuned /highly resolving system.
best of luck,
If you don't find that you are getting this kind of experience from your MV-52, then you need to keep working on it (or rest of system) till you get to this place! Unless you already have a well sorted system you are dropping this amp into, it will take real time, effort, and research before you hear magic, but at some point along the progress you'll get a little glimpse with a good recording. Then the further tuning/tweaking from there has no end.
I'll mention that I did 'upgrade' my speaker terminals to much fancier than OEM on my MV-55, but the resulting sound was worse for me and I then ended up going thru a few different sets before finding a net improvement over stock. Different terminal arrangement than the MV-52 I believe, but point being that progress is rarely a straight line in this hobby. Forums like this are invaluable for such guidance, so if you decide to take Roberto's advice on the terminal mod, I would suggest you find out from him what it did to the sound (in his system - which is no assurance you'll get same experience). Then if you choose to proceed, take a leap of faith and use exactly the parts he used because different metals, platings, metal mass will all have audible differences in a finely tuned /highly resolving system.
best of luck,
AJ________________
CT5 Pre
ARTsa Amplifier
P11A Amplifier
MV-55 Amplifier
CT5 Pre
ARTsa Amplifier
P11A Amplifier
MV-55 Amplifier
Re: MV-52
"...so if you decide to take Roberto's advice on the terminal mod, I would suggest you find out from him what it did to the sound (in his system..." I do remember that to hook up the speaker cables was easy using bananas and spade connectors. That was long time ago, and I can not report with a statement, that I got an improved sound. I remember that I did like the convenience of the connectors...but can not recall if it was a bad sound. I do not believe that it was, because when you do things wrong, you recall them easy. I remember that I did use the 8 ohm cables from the transformer and common, the 16 ohm cable never used it, and the 4 ohm, I left it aside, with some thermal isolator. Never used the 4 ohm also.
Happy listening!
Happy listening!
ML CLX BF-210 Stage X Motion 4. CJ 120SE amp ET7V2 pre, Holo May Kte Dac. Mac Pro. Power Cond. BPT Signature+ 3.5, Gaia II Feet. USB Lush^V3. Nordost SPM IC and Spk. Shun Mook, BCanto CD2 CD3. Linn LP-12/Unitrack tonearm/Denon DL103R MC.