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MP-3 DIY tweaking - possibility, resources? (long)

Posted by gordan (A) on May 2, 2006 at 03:20:09

Hi, being new to this forum I was wondering if I could get some help from you avid users of Atma-sphere devices.

I have an offer for an early spec MP-3 with phono for around 1.300$. I am seriously considering purchasing it as I can't live anymore with Krell KAV 250p. The speakers are active (studio version) ATC 20A. They are great, extremely neutral, with amazing dynamic possibilites for such a small box (20liters) but can be very dry and lean if not correctly matched. They need a neutral, relaxed but slighly fuller partner. So the most common recommendation is either Ayre models or some better tube preamps.

The problem with MP-3 offerred to me is that it is an early model without any of the later upgrades that helped it gain such a good reputation. On the top I am based in Europe so the whole action with sending the preamp to the factory and back would set me a fortune and in that case I would definitely look for something else.

What I am wondering is if there are known resources on the net related to MP-3 tweaking, as precise as possible. Among local audiophiles here, there are several very good tube tweakers and technicians and I am pretty confident they would be able to implement anything that is not a rocket science. But it would be much easier to follow the known and proved steps.

I am also wondering what are the most essential upgrades that are by any means obligatory to perform immediatelly? I guess it must be power regulations, also hows about teflon caps, do they really work?

Also are there schematics for MP-3 available?

The next issue is tube lufe - as it has 11 of them, it makes it rather expensive to change them so i am wondering how often it is needed. In my home music playes 24/7. I can't remember when did I switched off my current system for the last time.

Last but not least, the common rave about MP-3 is its phono section. On contrary I seldomly use phono and I am wondering if its line sections is of similar quality (as you may hear different thoughts here)...

I know this is long, I apologize, but you can see that these are all pretty serious issues for someone who lives pretty far from the States, without much possibilities of using a good customer support.

Kind regards

Gordan

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