[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by goorackerelite /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm about 50 hours into the frankie experience with the moon Hdam, and I'm just astonished at the level of refinement that this modification is bringing to my listening experience. Supposedly, the sound is going to fully mature at 350 hours but right now the enjoyment I'm getting from the mod is absolutely mind blowing!!! I often find my self holding my breath because the depth and the nuance of the sound just seems to be infinite that demands all of your attention. I'm sure the compass is getting just as good sound out of a factory box, but the frankie is personal, I've spent time fostering, and raising an average DAC into a monster of a performer. Thanks again goes out to Peete, I'm so grateful to his dedication to this project.

I really need to get off my Azz and do mine.

.

 

[goorackerelite]

yeah man, dollar for dollar and hour for hour the best money and time I've ever spent on audio. Now it's paying back in spades.

 

[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by goorackerelite /img/forum/go_quote.gif yeah man, dollar for dollar and hour for hour the best money and time I've ever spent on audio. Now it's paying back in spades.

Yeah that's what everybody says!!

.

 

[goorackerelite]

Okay in the 70-80 hour range of burn in. The bass has disappeared, and the sound-stage has become comically wide. man what a ride!!!! expecting more changes with in the next few hundred hours.

 

[sennsay]

Hi all, has anyone got a stock Zero they want to sell? It must be in fine working order! Please PM me if anyone has one, cheers, S-Man

 

[goorackerelite]

nearing the 120 hour mark. The bass came back!!! whoo hooo!!! mids are becoming more prominent and more grippy and textured. The highs are becoming more and more delicate, almost disappearing..... sound stage is becoming smaller but deeper. Hmmm need more burn in time, I hope the highs come back. Just to comment, I remember the Stock Zero unit with the Hdam installed used to grate on my ear drums like a cheese grater, now with the frankenzero, my eardrums feel like they're getting caressed by a gentle breeze, any signs of listening fatigue has disappeared!!!! The best part is that the sound is more engaging than ever. Brilliant!!

 

[goorackerelite]

Sennsay I think currawong is selling his zero with the Earth installed

 

[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sennsay /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi all, has anyone got a stock Zero they want to sell? It must be in fine working order! Please PM me if anyone has one, cheers, S-Man

Is the one in the FS forums too expensive?

.

 

[goorackerelite]

yeah, the zero should go for no more than $120.00 used, in stock config

 

[Pricklely Peete]

Thanks goo and yes Les...you should get around to doing the mod. You've had a kit now for over a month or more......get that soldering iron fired up

You'll be amazed by the changes Les, I guarantee you'll enjoy the results.

Frankie burn in note (generalized):

The machinations Frankie goes through during burn in is a combination of Russian PIO + HDAM burn in with a little bit of forming happening with the better grade Nichicon caps/Fairchild diodes. Trust me goo the mids,bass and treble all come back during the last 50 hours...the sound staging and 3 dimensionality are mind blowing considering what the stock unit sounds like. You are absolutely correct about listening fatigue...it simply disappears as a consideration, many a night I've listened till the sun came up and still didn't want to go to bed

. You simply forget about digital vs analog and totally get lost in the music. Frankie is fairly forgiving of recording quality which is rather unusual but Frank also rewards top notch recordings in such a manner it's tough to stop listening at times......(see the note about many all night listening sessions

I should have parts again for another 10 kits by mid March so anyone interested PM me (if you don't want to source your own parts).

Cheers for the support and kind words !!!!


Peete.

 

[Pricklely Peete]

Quote:

Originally Posted by L4T3NCY /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've decided to upgrade my zero with this mod but I have one question. When the instructions state to replace a capacitor and bypass it with an additional capacitor does that basically mean to place the two in parallel?

Basically speaking yes. If the cap in question has to be swapped for one in the kit the procedure is straight forward. Remove the old part, observe polarity indicated on the pcb (shaded area is negative pole) make sure the electrolytic cap is installed with it's negative lead going to the shaded area hole/pad and get it as close to the pcb as possible. The "bypass" NOS PIO caps are high quality non polarized (no neg or pos leads to worry about) film and foil caps that are soldered into place onto the leads of the cap you just installed. One of the PIO leads goes to the positive pole and the other lead goes to the negative pole, in electrical terms that is parallel connection. In Phase 2 there are 4 caps that are not swapped but kept (47uf 10V Silmic II's or 16V it depends) but simply have PIO bypass caps soldered onto the leads of each in parallel (underneath and shown in the pics as the 4 PIO's in a neat row on the lower right side with the pcb flipped over).


I hope this helps a little.

Peete.

 

[goorackerelite]

Peete,

I found great pleasure in doing the mod. Good to hear that the frequency will balance out in a few more hundred hours haha. Right now it's a little cloudy and distant sounding, but I'm sure it's a passing phase. The hardest part for anyone considering the install is getting the old parts out, what a pain in my butt that was, but the rest of the job was a pure joy, all the way through.

 

[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pricklely Peete /img/forum/go_quote.gif Thanks goo and yes Les...you should get around to doing the mod. You've had a kit now for over a month or more......get that soldering iron fired up You'll be amazed by the changes Les, I guarantee you'll enjoy the results. Frankie burn in note (generalized): The machinations Frankie goes through during burn in is a combination of Russian PIO + HDAM burn in with a little bit of forming happening with the better grade Nichicon caps/Fairchild diodes. Trust me goo the mids,bass and treble all come back during the last 50 hours...the sound staging and 3 dimensionality are mind blowing considering what the stock unit sounds like. You are absolutely correct about listening fatigue...it simply disappears as a consideration, many a night I've listened till the sun came up and still didn't want to go to bed . You simply forget about digital vs analog and totally get lost in the music. Frankie is fairly forgiving of recording quality which is rather unusual but Frank also rewards top notch recordings in such a manner it's tough to stop listening at times......(see the note about many all night listening sessions I should have parts again for another 10 kits by mid March so anyone interested PM me (if you don't want to source your own parts). Cheers for the support and kind words !!!! Peete.

I got the iron all Laid out, my tips laid out. Flux Pen, wick, solderpulit, the whole nine Yardz. I'm Skeered!!

.

 

[les_garten]

Quote:

Originally Posted by goorackerelite /img/forum/go_quote.gif Peete, I found great pleasure in doing the mod. Good to hear that the frequency will balance out in a few more hundred hours haha. Right now it's a little cloudy and distant sounding, but I'm sure it's a passing phase. The hardest part for anyone considering the install is getting the old parts out, what a pain in my butt that was, but the rest of the job was a pure joy, all the way through.

Yeah, that's the part that Skeers me! Getting em desoldered without lifting the traces. I got a trace kinda goofed doing the LED Mod.

.

 

[goldfinger1111]

Hi,

I've just finished my FrankenZERO.

Got the parts today and put them in directly.

Getting out the old parts is a PITA sometimes, especially with those small electrolytic caps. Hat to solder a piece of cap-lead in and out to get rid of the solder from that tiny holes.
Lost 2-3 soldering lugs/eyes(dunno) on the pcb, that had no connection to a trace on the bottom side. Those came off pretty quickly, the others were fine, though.
Soldered on the top of the board underneath the caps sometimes, just to be sure the trace on top is connected properly.

Learned that small desolder braid works better than a pump on the small holes.
Been working with an 25W soldering iron with pointed tip, which did a good job.


Thanks to Peete for putting all this together!
It's a great mod and I really enjoyed it.