Conrad Johnson PV-10A mod experiences?

I actually talked to a very helpful gentlemen at a shop in Springfield that does repairs on audiophile gear. He advised strongly against replacing any resistors in the phono section as they were all there for precisely calibrated RIAA equalization. And since the noise went away after I did some circuit cleanup, all is well

Hi Davide,
I noticed this part of your journey: "also replaced the stock electrolytics on power supply section with Nichicon fine gold caps but that didn't seem to cause a noticeable change"

Since the PV10A uses polypropylene, not electrolytics, for the power supply, I am wondering what is going on? The only 'lytic in the power supply is a single cap for the filament circuit, or the "heater" as they say.

Cheers,
Hukk

there's a few small value electrolytics in the power supply part of the circuit board. Entirely possible that they have no role in signal path

I've accidently stumbled onto a need to update this thread. Bought some Clarity CAP MR's 0.22 630V with the intent of upgrading the Rel Thetas on the Prima Luna amp board... that didn't work out well when you had 1/2" to play with for cap width and the new caps are 1" in width. So I decided to use the 4 caps as bypass cap's for the 2uf Theta's in the CJ PV10A and so far its a resounding success. One of the reasons I kept flip-flopping between the PL pre section and the CJ was because while the CJ sounded "just right" in the mid range it was too polite in the treble, even had some signs of distortion. Whereas the PL sounds airy, clean in the highs but in the mid range details just don't pop out the way they do with the CJ. After add of the Clarity CAP MR's, that experience of details popping has extended into the treble, and top hat cymbal resolves sharply, no splat or polite clap. I'm really enjoying listening to small group jazz now, amazing the amount of subtle percussion details.

I've grown suspicious that the Rel Thetas are behind why female vocalists in the same octave range sound sibilant, a kind of "glare" that was there before but muted... now with the MR bypass caps that glare can't hide. One of the pains of doing CAP upgrades is that you are limited by space for what you can substitute and at 1.8/2uf there aren't a lot of good options at 1" diameter or less. I have some Auricap XO's on order as a first stab, workable alternate suggestions welcome(staying away from Obliggato as they mechanically ring). Will update in about 3 weeks after the XO's are in and have had some playing time.