Teflon Cap upgrade or new set of NOS tubes for conrad johnson PV12A Preamp?
Unit sounds good now but was wondering -- of these two choices what will sound better?? For CJ PV12A to have CJ install new Teflon CAPS or replace all stock tubes with NOS high end?
Well, the NOS tubes could be worse than what you have and the teflon caps might be worse than what’s in there already. It would be easier, safer, and less of a drag to try tubes.
There's a wide variety of caps out there though. I might suggest a compromise, try out some Audyn TC bypass caps, in the 0.1 to 1uF range. They're pretty big, so you may have to go small, but less expensive than pure teflon in those sizes (~ 4uF each or higher, right?) .
I believe the OP wants Conrad-Johnson to do it. The Teflon caps are made by CJ or are branded as such and everyone who has bought the unit with the better caps says it is worthwhile. They also take a few hundred hours to break in.
I recently had new Teflon caps installed in my CJ PV 11. It certainly was worth it. It’s like acquiring a new premium preamp. If yours has a phono section, it’s especially worth it. Probably superior to any stand alone phono preamp out there, the CJ phono section is very special. Btw, two Telefunken NOS 12 AU7s are not too expensive and sound wonderful in the line stage.
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