Just had to acurus L10
- Thread starter VSAT88
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e30m3mon
Chief Journeyman
I've been debating one of these too ... but ever since I picked up the C1 and then upgraded it with Sniff's parts, the PL 2000-II has been relegated to the "spare parts" corner. I have been using an Acurus A250 in the garage that this L10 would fit nicely with. Hmmm...
If you pick up the Acurus Al, I think it will stay paired with every amp you own...that good.
krellmk
Chief Journeyman
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I'm thinking of getting rid of my Acurus L10 and the 2 WPOL 700 have far too many stuff here gonna hold on to the Mac C 22 , C28 MC 275 MC 240 MC 225 Mc 2105 Acurus 250 and the Acurus small amp keeping all the Conrad Johnson stuff i might be moving to smaller place
VSAT88
Veteran and General Yakker
I have not totally tried it out but I do believe it is as good as the forte 44.
J!m
Veteran and General Yakker
The Aragon and Accurus stuff is really nice. Put them into a fancier box and charge four times as much.
VSAT88
Veteran and General Yakker
I agree. I like both the Accurus and the Aragon pre amps I have very much.
e30m3mon
Chief Journeyman
You guys are a bad influence! I picked up the "ugly child" L10 that was recently listed on ebay. I noticed it had been listed for several days, so I reached out to the seller to see if he would accept a lower offer. He replied with a price much less than I had planned .... he called my bluff. How do I say no?
It would appear this unit spent some time in a somewhat damp, but not musty/basement damp environment as there is no "smell". I thought the gold plated RCA jacks simply had dust, per the ebay pics, but there was also the start of corrosion pitting and worn-off plating on some jacks. The inside looks fairly clean, although some of the solder joints are not bright and shiny as preferred. A small amount of crackle when changing through the input selector positions. Can those rotary switches be taken apart to get some Deoxit inside? Gotta love the volume and balance controls. Seriously good stuff. I am apprehensive about the underside of the PC board, however.
All in all it sounds pretty impressive hooked up to the old ADS 2001 biamp system on the bench. I sent the cover to my favorite sandblaster/powdercoat place. That nastiness will be a thing of the past.
This will be a Fall/Winter project as I have a lot to look up and learn regarding upgrades. The Dual 500 needs to be completed before I lift a finger to tear into this beyond the powdercoating.
If anybody has some pearls of wisdom to offer regarding upgrades (I see there are quite a few posts at the front of this thread), please feel free to share.
Thanks
Al
It would appear this unit spent some time in a somewhat damp, but not musty/basement damp environment as there is no "smell". I thought the gold plated RCA jacks simply had dust, per the ebay pics, but there was also the start of corrosion pitting and worn-off plating on some jacks. The inside looks fairly clean, although some of the solder joints are not bright and shiny as preferred. A small amount of crackle when changing through the input selector positions. Can those rotary switches be taken apart to get some Deoxit inside? Gotta love the volume and balance controls. Seriously good stuff. I am apprehensive about the underside of the PC board, however.
All in all it sounds pretty impressive hooked up to the old ADS 2001 biamp system on the bench. I sent the cover to my favorite sandblaster/powdercoat place. That nastiness will be a thing of the past.
This will be a Fall/Winter project as I have a lot to look up and learn regarding upgrades. The Dual 500 needs to be completed before I lift a finger to tear into this beyond the powdercoating.
If anybody has some pearls of wisdom to offer regarding upgrades (I see there are quite a few posts at the front of this thread), please feel free to share.
Thanks
Al
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Mine is bone stock and there is nothing that I could or would do that would make any difference.
e30m3mon
Chief Journeyman
And you would certainly be a person that I'd trust as making a positive difference here, Joe.
There have been discussions/mods around the power supply - upgrading the transformer, as well as going with a toroidal variety; soft recovery diodes (what does that even mean?); larger capacitors .... lots of things can be tweaked, but if the improvement is nominal, I would have to think twice.
Hi Al
I have a ton of other things around me that need improvement, the Acurus is not on that list for me. The design and build quality is impeccable, not much to improve upon. They designed and built it right, functional looking and maybe not as pretty as some other gear but it just works.
WOPL Sniffer
Veteran and General Yakker
Mine is the same. Why mess with perfection?
WOPL Sniffer
Veteran and General Yakker
Although, if my Pre had been improperly stored/cared for as that one has, I'd dive right in and clean/repair/upgrade/de-funkify/improve it or sell it and buy an unmolested well cared for Non-boat anchor'd unit.
VSAT88
Veteran and General Yakker
I feel the same. If it broke would fix it otherwise nah, I ain't messing around with it. It does sound damn good and what Joe said "not as pretty as some other gear" I do have to agree with that one. I been thinking of ways to improve how it looks. I really don't care for the rounded off knobs so much.
J!m
Veteran and General Yakker
Film-cap it maybe? I've never been inside one.
They were the lower-line of Aragon, which already had it's share of compromises (based on what I've seen inside my stuff), the quality of the Aragon board being top of the shit list. Is the Acurus board at least better quality? (I'd guess not, but who knows...)
I often suggest the 18k and 24k preamps from Aragon, which, I'd almost bet are the exact same circuit constructed of more boutique and Mil-spec parts. Aurum (or something like that) is the Aragon flagship preamp and very rarely comes up for sale. I wonder if those use the same crap boards?
Joe can/could offer a QUALITY replacement board, which can be populated with the most exotic parts you can afford and pop back into the old case (unless your "fancy" caps are the size of beer cans).
They were the lower-line of Aragon, which already had it's share of compromises (based on what I've seen inside my stuff), the quality of the Aragon board being top of the shit list. Is the Acurus board at least better quality? (I'd guess not, but who knows...)
I often suggest the 18k and 24k preamps from Aragon, which, I'd almost bet are the exact same circuit constructed of more boutique and Mil-spec parts. Aurum (or something like that) is the Aragon flagship preamp and very rarely comes up for sale. I wonder if those use the same crap boards?
Joe can/could offer a QUALITY replacement board, which can be populated with the most exotic parts you can afford and pop back into the old case (unless your "fancy" caps are the size of beer cans).
J!m
Veteran and General Yakker
I can make knobs. eBay sells about sixteen trillion China aluminum knobs to choose from too... (and those will be cheaper than my American-Made ones).
Full disclosure: I use both cheap China, and expensive home-made knobs, as well as cheap china modified by me knobs.
Full disclosure: I use both cheap China, and expensive home-made knobs, as well as cheap china modified by me knobs.
Mine does not have those rounded off knobs, mine has sharp corners. I think mine is earlier before the bean counters showed up. Perhaps they got replaced by the previous owner. The knobs on mine fill the entire cutout in the faceplate leaving no gap around the knobs.
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WOPL Sniffer
Veteran and General Yakker
Hi Perry
I told you a while back that I love my PL4000.
I use it for the relay inside it as my power control unit in my lab setup, that's it. It is very (extremely) pretty doing that job and the power relay hasn't failed me yet.