Lespier,
I have heard about AN caps going bad. Let's hope this newest batch is more reliable! As far as the schematic, once you PM me I can give you my email address and you can shoot me the schematic that way. Thanks so much!

Jet

jetrexpro July 29, 2013 23:15

Lespier,
They are factory speakers, not from a kit. When contemplating AN speakers, I didn't feel like I could match the sound of the factory builds.

When I built the AN phono stage I used the cheapest parts I could find including Solen Caps and A-B resistors in the signal path just to see if I could acutally get the thing up and running without hum, etc. BTW, A-B (Allen Bradley) resistors sound very good to my ears...so I left them in several places. I put in AN Tantalums in serveral critical areas about a month ago. After reading and thinking about the circuit and my already warm system, I decided on V-Cap TFTF for at least part of the circuit. I was temped to use Vcaps for the whole circuit but thought that would be too much teflon. Many builders preach mixing part types for a more balanced sound so I went with the .33uf copper caps for the last cap directly in the signal path.

After putting the .047 V-Caps and the .33uf AN on my cap burner for over a week, I put the V-caps in circuit first and a few days later installed the AN copper caps. With the V-Caps only I noticed a very open sound but with a bit of "tinnyness" which would be expected with only 200 hours on them. I continued to burn in the V Caps in circuit with a heavily attenuated tuner. (The attenuation so it would not overload the phono circuit). I added the AN Caps a few days later. With both V-Caps and AN Coppers in the circuit, I am hearing that openess of the V-caps and I also notice that the sound has become beautiful and large and I would attribute that to the AN copper caps. I figure the V-Caps need at least another 100 hours to start showing their stuff so I'll continue to use my tuner to burn in the caps, in circuit, for a few more days. I won't draw any conclusions for a few weeks at least.

Thanks for trying to dig up your 300b schematic.

jetrexpro July 29, 2013 18:57

Lespier,

Nice system and nice DYI 300b amp. I enjoy DYI as well. A really great way of voicing one's gear for one's audio taste! I just finished recapping and resistoring my home brew Audio Note phono pre with AN Tantalum resistors and V-Cap TFTF and Audio Note copper caps. Would enjoy having a gander of the schematic you used for your DYI 300b. You can PM me if you wish, Thanks!

jetrexpro July 28, 2013 12:19