Bottlehead Forum
General Category => Technical topics => Topic started by: balancedtriode on July 10, 2012, 07:56:03 AM
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Hi, I am looking into high end resistors for my stereomour (Tantalum, Amtrans, Riken, Ect.) specifically to upgrade the 220 ohm resistors, any suggestions? I am slowly making upgrades and I have decided to attack those next. Any Info on the sonic differences/technical differences would be appriciated.
thanks,
-Coltrane
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Coltrane,
Which 220 ohm? If the grid stopper/plate stoppers, depending on the Bottlehead piece you are thinking about, the grid shouldn't draw any current when playing music, so it is not in the signal path. Although, Jom R. said he was going to replace them in his Eros (I think) with Rikens. I have the stock CC 220 in everything I have built.
The plate stopper sees the full plate current and could be better. I'm thinking that a thick film is better than a thin film which is trimmed spirally. That spiral makes them inductive.
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The main technical requirement for a grid stopper is that it have no inductance. Traditionally carbon composition resistors were preferred because they are a bulk material (similar to pencil lead). VoltSecond says metal film resistors in low values do a good job even though they do have a spiral of metal film. Wirewound would probably be a big fail though!
I know of no technical reason different resistors should sound different in this application, but they do.
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Hi, I am looking into high end resistors for my stereomour (Tantalum, Amtrans, Riken, Ect.) specifically to upgrade the 220 ohm resistors, any suggestions? I am slowly making upgrades and I have decided to attack those next. Any Info on the sonic differences/technical differences would be appriciated.
thanks,
-Coltrane
I built my Quickie around Tantalums. I think it sound frickin great! Of course other somewhat expensive caps and pot etc added to the end result. Its one less thing for me to think about. I bought them from DIY Hifi.
http://www.diyhifisupply.com/node/152
Cheers - Eric
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I prefer PRP for signal path resistors. Very open and detailed sounding. They are thin metal film types and have very close tolerance specs, even better than stated.
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+2 for the PRPs, if you want a resistor that does not color the sound in any way. If the resistors in question are gridstoppers stick with the CCs. I tried replacing the 220 ohm gridstoppers in my Eros with PRPs, I ended up with some white noise and hum in an amp that was almost silent with the CC resitors. I promptly switched back.
Cheers,
Shawn
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For grid stoppers, other than carbon comps, I do like rikens and that's about it -- and the only reason is that theoretically they have lower noise specs than carbon comp, and are somewhat more tolerant of a bit of excess soldering heat. I have a small stash of NOS rikens in 120, 150, and 220 ohms that I keep just for grid stoppers, though I'll probably use them all up as I complete my new system.
Just as a general note, you can go wild with expensive resistors and easily overdo it and end up with something very harsh or very sluggish sounding in the end. Really best to just try one thing at a time, get used to it/let it break in, add another, do the same, go back and replace the first part, listen again, decide if the first, second alone of the combination is best, make the change, then go on to the next. As you'll see, it can quickly become very time consuming and you may or may not hit on something magical and you'll probably hit on something that just makes your ears bleed :-). Of course, as we've been discussing here, there are just some places where certain types should and should not be considered at all.
I've actually gotten more sonic mileage out of having carefully matched pieces in the same positions on both channels. One reason why I like the .1% vishay CMF-55s -- no need to hand match them or buy large quantities.
HTH,
Jim