DK Design VS.1 Reference mkII - Optimization


I would like to know what tuning, customizing, hot rodding, tweaking, what ever.. that you owners of DK Design VS-1 MK2 are using to bring out the best in this amp. It seems to be responsive to changes in interconnects, tubes, power & speaker cables, speaker dynamics, etc. most probably to both the positive and negative.

Please share your work. I would like to know what improved it's performance, what caused no real change and what made it sound worse. Thanks in advance!
jomoinc
If you are not in a big hurry, apparently exemplaraudio.com will modify (commissioned project) these to add their "active" tube control circuit design as seen in some other tube preamps as well as other design issues (capacitor / power supply mismatching) and upgrades to parts. They are known for mods to the Denon 2900 & others to kick them up into a higher performance category. They also offer build services on the Bottlehead Valve Kits. Also rumored to be the design source for some of the DK signature version improvements....
This is incorrect information.
John Tucker is Vice President of Operations of LSA Group.
This is not a mod, but a collaboration between John and myself for the improvement of the original design.
I don't know how rumors like this become so convoluted, John has worked for us for about a year now, and brings a remarkable technology with him.
These are stock units, that being the Reference, all QC'd by our Seattle facility, John's facility, then an upgrade to the preamp section only, the Signature Edition, with the final upgrade being to STATEMENT Version, which is a full exchange of parts in all areas, replacing inexpensive op amps, utilizing Active Tube Loads, stabilizing the tubes into the 4/6 MHZ region, generally unheard of.
This is definitely NOT a mod, but a factory recognized, and internal event.
Just so everyone understands the relationship, John IS a part of the LSA Group Team, brining his full expertise to the company. We are fortunate indeed to have him aboard.

Best,
Larry R. Staples
LSA Group
President/Designer
I found a matched pair of RCA 7308 tubes and am thoroughly enjoying them. I would like to explore getting the Four Camille Cascode Constant Current Sources (C4S) to replace the stock plate load resistors ala Bottlehead topography and possibly replacing some of the stock caps with VH audio V-caps or better. Too bad DK does not presently offer past product upgrade support from Exemplar....
Jomoinc,
Please read the correspondence preceeding yours.

Larry R Staples
President/Designer
LSA Group
OK Lrsky, that's two shots

As a manufactor's rep, if you would like to contribute to, as the description of this thread states:

"tuning, customizing, hot rodding, tweaking, what ever.. as an OWNER of DK Design VS-1 MK2 to bring out the best in this amp."

Please do. That is the concept of this thread.

It does not say if you are the owner of the company that no longer sells this product... It would be wise to be proactive & supportive to these ends rather than reactive to the very owners already financially committed to this model.

Redd Foxx Atlantic SD18157 LP You Gotta Wash Your Ass
"It is better to wash your ass than to try to cover it"
mmm....