Preamp Deal of the Century

Arkio,

You can simply replace the coupling caps with V-Caps and replace the stock pot with a DACT and you will be amazed at the improvement in your Chard. It ain't subtle!

I would love to compare my stock Chard to a stock Sauv or a Cab. I suspect it may be closer than you would expect for the price difference.

Now if the Sauv or Cab had V-Caps and a DACT as well, I'm sure it would be no contest.

Oops, I mistakenly said my "stock Chard."

I should have said, my Chard with V-Caps, Dact and wired from the RCA input, by-passing the selector switch, straight to the DACT using gold alloy wire.

Fiddler, I am thinking of doing the mod too. Can you provide more information about the V-cap and DACT mod?
For the DACT, did you use CT1 or CT2? 2 decks? Which resistance value to use? Is it difficult to change?

Ethifi,

I used the CT2 (stereo) - 100K Ohm

http://www.dact.com/html/attenuators.html

It is not really hard to install. You will have to use a file to make a small slot in the attenuator hole of the Supratek chassis. The DACT has a small ear on the side of it to lock it in place in the chassis. As I recall, I think all I had to do to get the DACT to fit was to file a notch in the side of the hole for the DACT ear to fit through. I don't think I had to enlarge the hole, but I can't remember for sure. Either way, it wasn't really hard.

The soldering was rather straight forward. You simply need to make sure you solder the right leads to the right pins. Very little soldering to do, just take your time and be careful. The DACT pins seem somewhat fragile.

The only downside to the 100K Ohm attenuator is I can only turn the DACT up 2 or 3 clicks before things get too loud for my 98db speakers. However, I am changing speakers to a much less efficient speaker so the problem will be a non-issue soon.

Fiddler, thanks for sharing. In your opinion, which of the two upgrades (V-CAP or DACT) make a greater sonic improvement?
Thanks