Remembering the Magic of Stu Ono: Conrad Johnson PV12 preamplifier
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- Опубликовано: 3 ноя 2024
- This video is in the memory of my mentor, Stu Ono. This preamp has been souped up in a very big way by him. It's time to re-cap it, but I want to capture it before I do that.
It will also give you ideas how you can go on about sprucing up your preamp, be it CJ or non-CJ, or even a DAC, or phono stage.
Thank you for this video. I miss stopping by Stu’s shop on Saturdays and talking story with him. He was a good man . RIP.
It's still hard on me that he's gone. Saturdays seem so empty now..
@@realworldaudio R U talking about Stuart Ono in Hawaii?
@@kawika007 Hi David, yes, it's him.
Hi Janos I am sure Stu would be proud of what you have learned from him over the years.It is
a lovely tribute to your mentor and very useful info and tips for audiophiles wanting to improve
their equipment. I can imagine it is somewhat bittersweet not having Stu around anymore but his legacy lives on through yourself and the others he taught over the years.Through your lovely you tube channel his voice and ideas live on . Regards Lou
Thank you Lou for your support! He was the most amazing mentor anyone could wish for. A treasure-trove of experience coupled with razor-sharp intellect, uncanny hearing and astounding perception and superlative deductive skills. And best yet, a rare personality of a kind human being who supported all who asked him for advice.
Beautiful job, your mentor, Stu did. I hope you or your friend that owns the preamp will hold onto a few of the caps Stu put in there just as a souvenir of his work and memory. I won’t even think of buying a piece of gear I can’t see a gut shot of, and I’m usually thinking of how I can mod and upgrade it anyway. Great vid. Thanks, Janos!
Btw, OCD Mikey just put up an extremely well done video about the “5 levels of music listeners”. I think you’d enjoy and agree with a lot of what he’s gotta say.
Thank you Nick, I'm also thinking just like you about gear - if they can be modded, then it's a green light, if it's not amenable to modifications it's a red light even if the sonics are good. I'm saving him the pulled caps to remember Stu. He was a very close friend of Stu, going back to high school.
@@NickP333 Thank you about the tip! ;) I will check it out ; curious what he will say.
@@realworldaudio Exactly, Janos. Well said. If it’s a no go, even if it sounds good, I won’t even think of buying a piece of gear. I can usually look and see a few things right off the bat that can be upgraded.
Glad you’re keeping the caps in Stu’s memory. 🙂
Yeah, I think you’ll really like Mikes new vid. A lot of sensible wisdom.
@@NickP333 Checked it out, was a fantastic and accurate summary! lol, turns out a I'm an OCD hifi guy as well...
I love conrad Johnson !
Hi Janos, this video is awesome in so many ways. I'm changing the coupling caps on my Art Audio Jota tube amp. The original caps are Hovland MusiCaps the leads are long and insulated. The new replacement caps are Jupiter and have short wire leads. I will need to extend and insulate the Jupiter leads. I see that Stu put tubing on the leads of the caps and has also extended the leads on some of the caps. My question is what type of insulation and what type of wire is used by Stu for this, or what would be recommended?
Also planning on putting the quartz crystals based on this video!
Hello J, Stu used Kimber SF23 for cap hookup. It is teflon insulated, and he placed some polyolefin heat shrink over the solder joint. Have fun with the Jupiters and the quartz! ; ) Janos
@@realworldaudio Thank you this really helps.
agree about Unclestu having more knowledge about the bybee purifiers... he modded my vans evers 85 power conditioner back in 2003, and included two bybee purifiers in my van severs product which I still use in my system). Stu told me he put one of the bybees in an area that even Jack Bybee didn't do. I sent an email back then to Jack to tell him what Stewart did, and he replied back that, "wow... he never thought about that way to do it ! "
Mahalo, thank you for sharing! Indeed, the Bybees really spruced up the Vans Evers! So sad that both Stu and Jack are gone... Indeed, Stu mapped out where the bybees work the best - closest to the transformers, at places where the phase angle of voltage/current is shifted. Also, more impact on the neutral than on the hot.. Aloha, Janos
Around 14min mark; tubecockring?? 😂 Think you may be mixing up rings there Janos. Great vid, thanks!
Excellent tip about Quartz+
wow, great increase in "naturalness"
Just revisiting some older vids, and did I hear you say, “tube cock rings”? 🤣😂 Stu’s work was truly amazing. I do the same with PCB’s, and use them as more of a guide / base, and run high quality occ copper wire if not solder the parts point to point and directly to each other. It looks like Stu beefed up the traces too.
Yes, you heard it right, haha! 😄
He essentially transformed this preamp to PTP :)
See you in a few hours! ;
@@realworldaudio Yup! Can’t wait for today’s livestream. I told Greg I’d be taking a long break today to watch it! lol 👍🔊😊🎶🐱🐱💜
Hello Janos! There is a china clone out, which I'd like to purchase. But inside it looks way different to piece You show. Now I am not so sure anymore to buy one of these. But anyway, it might still sound better than my Thule audio line pre.What You think about that clone?
Usually in China clones they shave off on the parts that are not in the limelight: connectors, wire, resistors - they use ones as cheap as they can get. That results in a rough / unrefined character, that may be more explicit or not so, depending on the execution, and may not even be obvious unless you have the clone vs the unit that was cloned side by side. In general though, the cloning tends to take it from a more cohesive sound towards a more clinical sound, but in later years the clones are getting better and better, compared to clones 10+ years ago.
However, if you treat it as a project, and will get into changing the compromising parts to high quality parts, then it's a good idea. Will be a super long project though, as the CJ pres have so many parts, and it's not fun at all to work on PCBs. (At least not for me, but if you do like it, then it's game on!)
Very nice! Thank you very much for this beautiful tribute video and many explanations. regarding the mods. Question from a beginner: are all traces bypassed with wires or just the ground traces? As an unexperienced diyer, I imagine that so many extra wires going around the chassis could cause noise? I wonder what is the correct technique to decide which traces to bypass and which not, which wire to use and how to estimate beforehand if there could be interference or not? I am sure it sounds great and no extra noise is created, otherwise it would not have been done like this ;) but I am guessing an unexperienced like me would create a noisy mess trying to replicate this? 😅
Hi Thiago, SUPERB question about the traces, you found a core issue!!!! Deserves a video response. ; )
@@realworldaudio Hi Janos, thank you :-)
Did Stu and yourself have any techniques or tricks to help us not damage components while silver soldering?
Superb question! I will answer with video... better to show the tricks;
Hey bro just before watching I wanted to tell u something, there is a guy in India he is making superb output transformer, I know which wire brand he uses, I'm having one pair from him (el84) and one pair is being built (6L6) , u told me 6L6 is one of ur fav, I am proposing one thing to you, are u able to reverse engineer it, I'm waiting for my winding machine to arrive, can this be done bro, as we will be able to make them for a lot cheaper and I'll personally make 3-4 pairs for u, as a gift for helping me figure it out, and u can compare his OT to other high end ones as well, make. Some content out of it or whatever u want
BTW he is charging around 300$ for pair of single ended OT for 6L6 amp
BTW he is 3rd generation of his family, they have been making transformers for 50years , he told me I bake my OT on coal and not in an oven like others, there are some videos also of his OT with some decent brands like edcor, lundhall etc, and his OT beats them really easily, he is claiming 15hz to 30khz or something very similar to. This
Is he using Square wire and deally silver ! How much would that cost?
@@IDontExist14 I'm glad you found him! My advice on reverse engineering his OPT: you will be able to do that when you already have 10yrs of OPT building experience. To reverse engineer and OPT you have to take it apart, destroy it. Taking it apart in a way to learn from it already requires a lot of experience, and it needs to be taught hands-on. I recommend that you ask him to teach you, mentor you, or partner up with him so he supplies the OPT and other transformers for your amps which would be the best option. He has generations of experience, and the only way to successfully build transformers at that level is to learn from him, and even then it will be at least a decade before you are ready to roll out same quality on your own. (If people could learn this over internet, everybody would be making them!) I know the mathematics behind OPT building, but I never progressed to build them as it's not possible to buy laminations in small enough quantities. So even for me, if I started making them, would take me AT LEAST 10 years before I am building OPT that are on that level. And, starting it up requires a huge investment. If you are SERIOUS about audio, you HAVE TO pick a priority. (Either build amplifiers OR wind transformers - either of these paths requires full commitment!) If you try to do everything by yourself, you will be a master of none. I suggest partnering with him for transformers, and you work on building and improving the amplifiers. When you have mastered amplifier topology, then you will truly understand how the OPT needs to be done. Before that, you are wasting your time trying to wind transformers without understanding. And I cannot give this understanding to you condensed on two pages. This requires one on one mentoring, and decades of it.
@@johnsweda2999 bro he has used only silver plated copper wire before. But. Never a pure silver one, he said the cost was almost double due to to wire being expensive,. His regular OT i would really suggest u get it, his wait list is about 2months , give me your email, I'll share with you pics etc, I can even arrange and send the OT but. It. Will be a long process.
Are those Obliggato or AN Copper foil caps in your parts bin?
Those are Obliggatos. Trying to keep the cost reasonable :)
@@realworldaudio 👌🏼 they are very good for the money. I have them (gold) as couplers in the GM70 amp.. Some of the least plastic sounding poly caps around..
@@rickg8015 I'm so jealous of the GM70... :) I also use the gold colored "ultra-premium" series 600V or 1kV rated caps for coupling in my Ampex, and I agree with you that they lack the plastic sound, second to Miflex. They take a while to break in, but they give a natural sound at a very good value.
@@realworldaudio Been listening to Miflex Copper foils for over a month in a preamp and you get at least 95% of Jupiter Copper foils’ performance but in more sane prices..
WOW bought 10k$ worth of film capacitors makes me feel a lot less guilty....
More exciting than buying a new truck, LOL ;
What do you think of the gat?
I think it's a fine preamp when you need an active preamp. I prefer a passive preamp when you don't need the extra gain.
What a waste of time, it won't make it sounds any better, just sounds different that's all.
Thank you for your kind comment. Indeed. Any change inside a gear or swapping different gear in a system does not make it better just makes it sound different.... tastes and expectations vary wildly.
There's plenty of other audio channels out there that will resonate better with you. Kind regards, Janos