Belles 20a Clarity MR upgrade

george daniel

Remember the 20A is slightly different than the 21A,, I replaced the 4 2.2 uF Auricaps(done by me about a year or so ago) and replaced them with the Clarity MR series big blue a$$ caps(thanks for the link Mr Face:))Also,I'm replacing the cap in the "point" position with a Mundorf supreme,as it is not in the signal path as are the 4 Clarity's.Currently burning them in,but last night I just had to get a listen,,and I immediately noticed the the music had a slight "zip" to it,,very musical,,and very detailed.I'll post some pics and impressions as we move along.Just wanted to share this with other users.

TNRabbit

Thanks for sharing, George. I just wish I knew wtf you were talking about~





;):D

Face

They need some time to break in, but not as much as Teflon caps.

VR3

Those capacitors are so ridiculously expensive...

Face

They're worth it though.

VR3

Im sure - but I would have spent like 400 dollars on my current xover mods to use those lol

heiney9

Pics or it didn't happen! . Another great choice George

H9

VR3

Why are these so expensive? What makes them different?

thsmith

George, I know you like the VH OIMPs, why did you not use those ?

george daniel

I wanted to try something different(Clarity MR's) and the VH audio's would have cost me over 400 dollars,, plus,, form what I have read and can comprehend,,I think the Claritys will prove to be very synergistic,, BTW they are about the same size as the Mundorf caps of the same value.

thsmith

Thanks George, may have to give them a try in something. I wish caps were as easy to roll as tubes.

george daniel

here you go

edit--gotta go back and shrink a couple of the red wraps

FTGV

Those Clarity's look real purdy George.



that pre has 4 little toroids eh?

george daniel

the blue thingys? yep,, one difference between the 20a and the 21a is the tube compliment,,wheras the 21a has 2 12au7's,, mine has 4,, cannot discern any other differences,but I'm sure there are.This thing really sounds very musical with the Clarity's and the goldpin JJ's,,lively little jobbie.:)

Poee7R

George that looks great, bet it sounds even better.

Now if you would just get it boxed up and sent out this way, Ill go ahead and get your thank you card ready.


Dave

Ricardo

George, pictures for what we discussed earlier:

My 20A has two additional caps; the ones at the right in this picture (front of the unit).




A close up shows they have their corresponding labels on the board.



I can see your board also has these capacitors printed, and it seems that one of them has a jumper?

Probably variations made during the time they produced them? It would be interesting to know which unit is newer. The serial number on mine is 5348.

EDIT: I can see that your board is also missing the little black capacitor that is first in my last picture, and also the resistor on its side. I would imagine that yours is a later "improved" version