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Top resistors

Many threads with opinions on boutique coupling capacitors, but very little consolidated information on the sonics of resistors. Anyone care to share their thoughts on the attributes of their favorite brands & types for specific tube and SS applications? How much of a difference does a good resistor make?

My interest in the topic increased after recently installing the latest Texas Components nude Vishay TX2575 in several SS and tube phono & LS components. This was a proverbial "Ah-ha" moment-- a stray resistor dropped into signal path here or there, surprising with an improvement that equalled or surpassed the impact of a switch to a top coupling cap like V-Cap or Mundorf.
dgarretson
mingles
796 posts
 
Rodman, thanks for the link to Aiken Amps. That was an excellent tech note! There's a slew of other fine reading where that came from:

http://www.aikenamps.com/TI_Aiken_adv.htm

I'm placing an order for some TX2575 today.
rodman99999
6,159 posts
 
Mr M- A wealth of info!
dgarretson OP
2,599 posts
 
To obtain more power handling, TC offers the nude(unencased) TX2352 or TX2575 in duo- and triple-pack configurations. These are multiple resistors factory-soldered in series on a short foundation with one lead at each end. This is an expensive proposition, but it might be interesting to try some as an alternative to a good wire-wound resistor in a 1W or higher application.

One is curious who the hell it is who is deploying triple-pack naked Vishay resistors @$30??
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,428 posts
 
Carbon Comp is pretty bad - in addition to noise is nonlinear vs. voltage. Carbon Film is a little better.
vett93
205 posts
 
Another vote for "naked" Vishay resistors. It is amazing how they transformed my Counterpoint NP100 power amp.

I first got a Counterpoint SA100 as my 2nd system. It was quite musical. But it ran too warm, and it sounded better the warmer it got, by adjusting the biases. Then I upgraded it to NP100 Basic. It ran much cooler and sounded a bit better.

Then I upgraded it to NP100 Basic Gold. It sounded real nice then. So I moved it to my main system and moved my KT88 monoblocks to the 2nd system. I thought it was good enough until a friend brought his NP100 Premium Gold to my house. The NP100 Premium Gold has "naked" Vishay resistors in the critical signal path. Within 30 seconds after switching to his NP100 Premium Gold, I knew that I had to upgrade my amp.

Instead of upgrading to the same level, I chose to upgrade my amp to the top level, NP100 Platinum, which uses "naked" Vishay everywhere. It was a very expensive upgrade. But the results are amazing!!

I think I am set with my power amp, after the "naked" Vishay upgrade. Now my NP100 Platinum drives my JMlab Alto Utopia with authority and yet is so refined like a SET amp.
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