I purchased the FP III kit in 2006, and for a variety of reasons I won't get into here, I didn't get around to building it until about a month ago. Originally I only got the FP III to use with the Paramour IIs (which I've just finished but not yet fired up), and I have to say this thing performs well beyond what I was anticipating, I'm very happy with it. It's currently being used in a headphone setup, between a Naim CD player and Pro-Ject Head Box SE headphone amp, with Grado 325i headphones.
These first two pictures are just so you can see the type of finish I chose for the FP base. Nothing special. I plan to paint the bases for the Paramours. The second picture shows the Sylvania OD3 tube I replaced the Ratheon with, since I can't stand that brown plastic case around the tube. I now have Herbie's tube dampers on all three tubes, although you only see them on the 12AU7 tubes in the second picture here.
Before I get into the modifications I'll just note that I use a Weller WD1 soldering station, and love it. I also now refuse to use any kind of solder other than Cardas Quadeutectic.
I changed out parts in three different areas after about four or five days of listening to the stock FP III. First, I replaced the stock blue film resistors across the outputs with Takman carbon film resistors - I know, a mortal sin, and if that sends chills up your spine you might not want to read further
To continue on this path of heresy, I installed two Kiwame carbon film resistors in the following places, from the coupling caps to ground (they're the green ones):
At this point I'll note I did not perceive any increase in noise whatsoever, despite the warnings that carbon film resistors are notoriously noisy. In fact, the FP III surprised me with its silence as well as its excellent performance. I could swear the Kiwame resistors resulted in a distinctly warmer sound, especially in the lower midrange. But it's impossible to know for sure given the time that elapsed between hearing the stock resistors and installing, then listening to, the new Kiwame resistors.
Next I replaced the .1uf cap across the OD3 tube with a modern production Sprague "Orange Drop" .1uf cap I had on hand from an older project. This was a bit of a hassle as the leads on these caps are very large gauge and hard to work with in tight spaces. This picture shows the whole thing at that point, I didn't take any closeup shots of the Sprague cap. Whether or not this new cap made any difference in sound quality, I can't tell you:
Next up: I like to attend to the small things, irrelevant though they may ultimately be - one never knows. Therefore I replaced the four carbon comp. resistors across the 12AU7 sockets with Riken carbon comp. models, which have gold-plated copper leads. If nothing else, they sure look cool!
Now we'll take a break so I can go re-size the newest, and arguably most interesting and significant, pictures of the bunch, which will include upgraded signal path caps.
...
These first two pictures are just so you can see the type of finish I chose for the FP base. Nothing special. I plan to paint the bases for the Paramours. The second picture shows the Sylvania OD3 tube I replaced the Ratheon with, since I can't stand that brown plastic case around the tube. I now have Herbie's tube dampers on all three tubes, although you only see them on the 12AU7 tubes in the second picture here.
Before I get into the modifications I'll just note that I use a Weller WD1 soldering station, and love it. I also now refuse to use any kind of solder other than Cardas Quadeutectic.
I changed out parts in three different areas after about four or five days of listening to the stock FP III. First, I replaced the stock blue film resistors across the outputs with Takman carbon film resistors - I know, a mortal sin, and if that sends chills up your spine you might not want to read further
To continue on this path of heresy, I installed two Kiwame carbon film resistors in the following places, from the coupling caps to ground (they're the green ones):
At this point I'll note I did not perceive any increase in noise whatsoever, despite the warnings that carbon film resistors are notoriously noisy. In fact, the FP III surprised me with its silence as well as its excellent performance. I could swear the Kiwame resistors resulted in a distinctly warmer sound, especially in the lower midrange. But it's impossible to know for sure given the time that elapsed between hearing the stock resistors and installing, then listening to, the new Kiwame resistors.
Next I replaced the .1uf cap across the OD3 tube with a modern production Sprague "Orange Drop" .1uf cap I had on hand from an older project. This was a bit of a hassle as the leads on these caps are very large gauge and hard to work with in tight spaces. This picture shows the whole thing at that point, I didn't take any closeup shots of the Sprague cap. Whether or not this new cap made any difference in sound quality, I can't tell you:
Next up: I like to attend to the small things, irrelevant though they may ultimately be - one never knows. Therefore I replaced the four carbon comp. resistors across the 12AU7 sockets with Riken carbon comp. models, which have gold-plated copper leads. If nothing else, they sure look cool!
Now we'll take a break so I can go re-size the newest, and arguably most interesting and significant, pictures of the bunch, which will include upgraded signal path caps.
...
