[mikaelmark]

  From Panasonic the FRs is their latest top-end line with the best specs. Not all sizes are available but 470uf 35V is well available. The Panasonic FMs come next. Still very good specs but not as good as the FRs for the power path (read practically the same but marginally lesser specs). Slightly higher ESR and slightly lower ripple current. Not a big difference though! And then comes the FC line. Solid capacitors and VERY cheap and available in all types and capacities. Lowest specs of the 3 but still better than most other brands for the power supply in terms of ESR and ripple current. And the best thing about the Panasonic caps is that they are all small. Easy to fit in mostly any circuit. 
 
https://industrial.panasonic.com/cdbs/www-data/pdf/ABA0000/ABA0000C65.pdf (Panasonic FR)
https://industrial.panasonic.com/cdbs/www-data/pdf/ABA0000/ABA0000C63.pdf (Panasonic FM)
https://industrial.panasonic.com/cdbs/www-data/pdf/ABA0000/ABA0000C59.pdf (Panasonic FC)
 
http://www.nichicon.co.jp/english/products/pdfs/e-ukz.pdf (Nichicon KZ Muse)
 
http://www.elna.co.jp/en/capacitor/alumi/catalog/pdf/rfs_e.pdf (Elna SILMIC II)
 
 
It is a funny thing that Nichicon doens't give performance specs for its KZ line.. May indicate that there is something lacking..
 
Of course numbers don't say it all, but it's a good indicator.
 
Oh and BTW what voltage marking do your KZ's have? I found that the higher the voltage specs the higher the performance numbers are with the Panasonic caps at least. The 35V model has better specs than the 25V model. The same with the Mundorf Mlytics, the 63V version has considerably better specs than the 40v version of the 4700uf caps for example.

Ok, I see - thank´s!
Have seen some people prefer the KZ Muse to Panasonic Fx in the power supply and some prefer Panasonic as at least the Silmic II will be too slow and muddy sound.
For my four KZ Muse they are rated at 1000uF 50V.
The bad thing with large Voltage rating are off course they´re bigger and may generate more noise in the application.
So I´m gonna replace them with 25V Panasonic FR: http://www.ebay.com/itm/311517865756?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

 

[Cidious]

Can you maybe explain to me why you chose to use 1000uf caps instead of the standard 470uf capacity? I kept them at the same 470uf size but just at 35V. I am wondering if I should enlarge capacity or not? I think the 4700uf caps are big enough but I am also still wondering if I should swap them out for the premium Mlytics.. They are quite expensive though at like 3 times the price of the Vishays while they are already considered to be quite good and definitely better than most Nichicons and Elna's for this function.. Will the Mundorf investment of at least $50 be worth the upgrade?
 
Can you maybe comment on this and help me think on what I should do?

 

[mikaelmark]

  Can you maybe explain to me why you chose to use 1000uf caps instead of the standard 470uf capacity? I kept them at the same 470uf size but just at 35V. I am wondering if I should enlarge capacity or not? I think the 4700uf caps are big enough but I am also still wondering if I should swap them out for the premium Mlytics.. They are quite expensive though at like 3 times the price of the Vishays while they are already considered to be quite good and definitely better than most Nichicons and Elna's for this function.. Will the Mundorf investment of at least $50 be worth the upgrade?
 
Can you maybe comment on this and help me think on what I should do?

The reason I choosed those four at 1000uF is that I have seen some done it. Also, I the two big ones ony my boards are 10000uF MLytic. Someone told higher this will get more power/"umph"/bass to the sound, but the downside may be worser PRAT (this means the music will not flow so homogenous - Phase, Rhytm And Timing).
But that is what many people also tells about the Sennheiser HD800: it may not be equally musical as HD700 and lower series.
 
Also, bigger parts may generate more noise, but I think this is more true for the two 470uF electrolytics in the signal path.
 
Then, off course, higher capacitance will get bigger and more expancier parts.
 
I have not experienced any noticeable problem, neither at my battery driven amp with the same kind of parts.
 
I have just received my 1000uF 50V Panasonic FR from Germany - they´re so small and bland/insipid looking compared to my KZ´s. Gonna solder them in my LC the upcoming week(´s).

 

[Cidious]

I have decided to populate a new board.
 
 
 

Got myself some PCB's. Chose the right one because of thicker nickel plated holes. The gold one is the same I used before. only good of 1 maybe 2 time soldering, then the plating comes off. Also I liked the positioning of the input bypass caps better. This way I can get better caps for this position. Mostly the same except for the 2 3R 2W resistors in between the big power caps.
 
The board even says Lehman 

. That is just bad behavior! But ah well, I like it. Also got a new case with it because my old case saying 'Jay's audio' was made for the wider holes of the left PCB. Don't worry the new case only costs $20 and also says Lehmannaudio even with the BCL logo on it! 

.. Well this is China!
 

Gathering some parts.
 

Started soldering some basic components.
Mundorf MCap MKP 2.2uf caps
Wima MKP10 0.1uf caps
Vishay Dale ERC55/RNC55 metal film resistors
Vishay MSR125 metal film resistors
Yageo 2W 1% resistors
Amtrans AMCH 100pf caps
ETC
 

 
Expanded my opamp collection.
 
2x mono discrete OPA111AM
2x mono discrete OPA111VM
2x mono discrete OPA627BP
1x dual AD8620AR
1x dual OPA2604AP
 
Still waiting for more parts to come and I am still deciding on a lot of parts so I soldered in a lot of sockets so I can swap components quickly without soldering every time and risking to destroy the board.
 
Will update my findings of parts selecting here.

 

[Cidious]

 
Soldered myself some sockets in for a hassle free A/B comparison of different capacitors.
Will roll most of these capacitors:
 

 

 
Prices are in chinese RMB (Yuan). So it's not very expensive here. But it's always the question if the parts are real or not. So lets just trust my ears and try all of them hehe.
 
Even got some bipolar caps with em.. not sure what I will do with them yet..

 

[francisdemarte]

  I have decided to populate a new board.
 
 
 

Got myself some PCB's. Chose the right one because of thicker nickel plated holes. The gold one is the same I used before. only good of 1 maybe 2 time soldering, then the plating comes off. Also I liked the positioning of the input bypass caps better. This way I can get better caps for this position. Mostly the same except for the 2 3R 2W resistors in between the big power caps.
 
The board even says Lehman 

. That is just bad behavior! But ah well, I like it. Also got a new case with it because my old case saying 'Jay's audio' was made for the wider holes of the left PCB. Don't worry the new case only costs $20 and also says Lehmannaudio even with the BCL logo on it! 

.. Well this is China!
 

Gathering some parts.
 

Started soldering some basic components.
Mundorf MCap MKP 2.2uf caps
Wima MKP10 0.1uf caps
Vishay Dale ERC55/RNC55 metal film resistors
Vishay MSR125 metal film resistors
Yageo 2W 1% resistors
Amtrans AMCH 100pf caps
ETC
 

 
Expanded my opamp collection.
 
2x mono discrete OPA111AM
2x mono discrete OPA111VM
2x mono discrete OPA627BP
1x dual AD8620AR
1x dual OPA2604AP
 
Still waiting for more parts to come and I am still deciding on a lot of parts so I soldered in a lot of sockets so I can swap components quickly without soldering every time and risking to destroy the board.
 
Will update my findings of parts selecting here.

 
Which vendor did you get the nickel plated board from? It looks to be of very nice quality.
Thanks for sharing your builds!

 

[Cidious]

I got the board from a Chinese Taobao shop. The owner is quite rude but he sells unique high quality products. If people would be interested in could buy some for sending abroad since he doesn't ship internationally. I can also get the cases with lehmann logos in good quality very cheap. I am not looking for heaps of profit. Just hope that people people start building and sharing again in this topic.

 

[Danielsc]

Hello Cidious..

I can be interested in these.
Can you tell the prices of those items, and maybe also say what you should ask to ship it to Belgium?

Thanks and regards.
Daniel

 

[Cidious]

I am from the Netherlands but I am currently working and living in China. I will look what airmail will cost. since it's a really flat thing. I think you should order 2 at least for safety if something happens. I could put them in an bubble envolope with cardboard folder around them. (My family from the Netherlands is also coming over at the end of Februari. This could also be an option.)
 
I don't know what shipping will cost but I will find that out for you.
 
The boards itself costs me about 60 yuan including national shipping cost . That's about 10 euro to play it safe. Not very expensive. But the international shipping will be the main cost. 
 
Maybe You could also order a case (original Lehmann design including logo's. I could mount the bare PCB in it and I could send the whole thing your way. I don't think they will be very difficult about import costs or counterfeit if its an empty case and board. A case will cost about 25 euro. 
 
You can then fill it up with European parts from RS Components for example. They have some nice transformers that I also used. 
 
 
I will look into the shipping costs from here to Europe.

 

[Cidious]

 
It's starting to look like something again. 
 
Still waiting for some parts to come in:

1. Mundorf Mlytic 4700uf 40V caps
2. RA resistors for the out put positions. (Will test them against Vishay MBE0414 metal film resistors that originally belong in BCL.)
3. Some more ITT diodes. Ordered 4 of them but couldn't find to identical pieces to match.

 
That's about it. I've got a nice collection of electrolytes ready to test in the PSU output and also a couple of high quality electrolytes 'for Audio' (85C) to test in the signal path. Next to that I have a lot smaller bypass caps to test near the opamp and with the input caps. I hope to find the sound I'm looking for. I have two DACs to test with. The Sanskrit 6 and an Aune T1 with different tubes. Everything is upgraded and maxed out. 
 
Headphones will be: 
Mr Speakers Mad Dog
Beyerdynamic DT770
Audio Technica ATH-M50X
And possibly on short notice a set of Beyerdynamic DT1770
 
 
Any questions about my reasoning to choose a particular type of part? Just ask! Advise is welcome too!

 

[Laybar]

I thought I'd use the Mundorf Mlytic 4700uF 63V.

 

[Cidious]

  I thought I'd use the Mundorf Mlytic 4700uF 63V.

I tried! They are to high for the case by about 3mm.. I thought of lowering the mounting points of the PCB but then I would risk the soldering points contacting the case.. They just didn't fit. The original Lehmann BCL SE uses 40V too. Even though the 63V has a bit better specs than the 40V version. I think the 40V will do just fine. It's a low power device. The specs of the 40V mundorf are already a bit better than those of the Vishay BC caps that I already find really good and better than Nichicon. 
 
I rest my case.

 

[Cidious]

I've finished the base build! I use most original Lehmann parts and from there on I will test different parts and combinations in the sockets I've installed. I also still got some RA resistors incoming for the signal outputs.
 

 
First smoke test went fine. Turned it on with the standard OPA2134AP. good DC offset and parts didn't get hot.
Then I dropped in my dual discrete OPA111VMs. DC offset = PERFECT! 
 

 

 
Tried all other opamps and got no big excesses in DC offset. 
Next step is to give the device some burn in time. Then solder the signal cables in and do some testing with some inexpensive IEMs and rechecking DC offset after a while. 
Then the fun can begin! The parts testing. I've got a good collection of caps to test for the device. 
 
PSU output: 
Nippon LXZ 470uf 25V (standard, they seem legit)
Nippon LXZ 470uf 35V (different colors and different batches)
Nippon LXZ 560uf 35V (same series as the 470uf 25V)
Nippon KZM 470uf 35V (same specs as Panasonic FR)
Panasonic FC 470uf 25V (good old trusted FC)
Panasonic FM 470uf 35V (near same specs as Nippon LXZ)
Panasonic FR 470uf 35V (some like em some don't, i've had good experiences with them)

For opamp:
Elna Silmic II 470uf 25V (black/gold)
Elna Silmic II 100uf 35V (black/gold)
Panasonic Pureism 470uf 25V (audio grade)
Panasonic Pureism 220uf 25V (audio grade)
Nippon ASF 470uf 50V (audio grade capacitor used in high-end brands)
Nippon ASF 470uf 25V (audio grade capacitor used in high-end brands)
Nippon AWJ 220uf  25V (REALLY big for their capacity and power rating. Like Silmic. Considered High-end audio capacitor by Nippon. From their catalog the best I could find.)
 
For the input bypass and opamp coupling positions:
Wima FKP4 0.022uf MKP
Shin Shin 0.027uf 50V Polystyrene
Shin Shin 0.033uf 50V Polystyrene
NIS 0.1uF 100nK 125vac MKP
NIS  0.022uF (22nJ) 250v MKP
AV R84 0.1uF 100v MKP
SOSHIN LCR825 0.1uf(100n) 63v MKP
ECQ-P 0.027uF (273J) 50v MKP
ECQ-P 0.1uF (104J) 100v MKP
 
Will be interesting to see how these influence the sound. I will change them at after all other capacitors.
 
And after that I will have some RA 1W resistors to swap the Vishay MBEM0414s out. To see if this improves anything.

 

[Cidious]

End result:
 

 
After some testing swapping and resoldering I have found a very sweet sounding and also looking combination of parts. 
 
The PSU caps all sounded a bit similar but the LXZs did very well in general. That's why I settled for the 470uf 25V in the first place. I did have to put the gain on maximum to give my headphones the proper breathing space with the Sanskrit 6 DAC. After a while I found out that the 470uf 25V had to work really hard and got really hot. So I swapped them for the 560uf 35V caps which rounded the sound a bit. They are a tad less transparent, but in return I get a really smooth and powerfull sound versus the 470uf caps. Also I could turn the gain down after this mod together with switching the input bypass caps to the orignal Wima FKP4 again (You will read later about them)
 
I tried different caps at the opamp but eventuall settled for the Elna Silmic II 100uf 25V. The Panasonic Pureisms where more detaild but also more harsh and this was something I want to evade at all cost because it tires me and hurts my ears. The Pureisms also tend to degrade a bit after burn in, while the Silmics get better and more detailed. 
 
In between the Silmics I tried all caps I had ranging from 0.022uf to 0.1uf. I found the AV100 0.1uf caps sounding best and the Wima FKP4 0.022uf second best! Disregarding what was mentioned by bla bla in this topic that they would be notoriously bad for audio. I compared them A/B against audio grade mkp capacitors of the same size and bigger and except for the AV100 none of them were as clear and open as the Wima FKP4. The only negative effect of them I could notice was that they flattened out the sound just a bit more than the AV100. Well I installed the AV100 but I did it wrong.. bend the leads to close to the housing to make them fit nicely.. after 1 hour running the Elna Silmic next to it was on the edge of bursting and burning hot. Oops! Seems like the Elna didn't like doing all the work alone. Swapped the Elna's and the AV out and put the Wima FKP4 back.
 
Decided to go crazy and just solder in the (very nice looking) Nippon ASF 470uf 50V caps. A bit overkill. I couldn't properly test them before because the leads were thicker than the mounting sockets. Just did a wild guess and followed my designer eye a bit because They really are sexy lookin'! And well, this worked out very well! The sound is a bit warmer than the Elna's which I personally like because it just took out a bit of the last harshness that was still in the tracks on the high end. Everything became smooth and in harmony. I am burning them in now for at least 100 hours to see what they will do without changing anything else.
 
I tried the Shin Shin polystyrene caps as a bypass for the input caps. They worked quite nice but they also didn't work properly.. I had an channel imbalance in volume.. Popped them out. Tried several other caps but the Wima FKP4 were on par with the better caps I had.. So I said.. What.. I will go again with a design choice and keep the device nice looking and pop them back in. The sound opened up again on the right channel. Also tried ERO 1830 for this position.. they were a bit more neutral but less transparent. Another point for the Wima FKP4 caps. 
 
I respect Bla Bla for all his input here which I also gratefully made use of. But on this particular thing of the Wima FKP caps he is just not right. There is no reason to avoid Wima FKP4 caps at all for audio circuitry. Lehmann chose them well.
 
Did a REALLY proper cleaning after everything. With a somewhat rough brush and some (Chinese chemical) PCB cleaner. Then with a cotton swap and the same chemical poison that eats the skin of my hands and the printed letters of Wima caps. Then with a toothpick with the PCB cleaner and finally a cotton swab again to remove the loose bits of paste after the tooth picking. Guess what.. DC Offset lowered even more.. Only the OPA111AM has a low offset now. the rest is practically DC offset free. OPA111AM went from -1mv/6mv to 0mv/2mv. Really good!
 
 
 
And that's where we are now. 5 hours burn in time.. REALLY enjoying my amp! Strong, natural, warm, dynamic, deep, wide etc. 
 
I've tested the amp with several albums which are well recorded and have wide dynamic range:

Nirvana - MTV Unplugged in New York (very nice for soundstaging, imaging and details. Very natural representation)
Muse - Absolution (very dynamic album and really fun to listen to)
R.E.M. - Automatic for the People (Really great vocals and intrument placing)
Dr Dre - 2001 (clean male vocals and tight beats. cleanest hiphop album I know)
Plastikman - EX (Guggenheim) (VERY LOW BASS! If you want to find out if your gear goes low enough.. if there is enough power available.. This will pull it out)
Katie Melua - Piece by Piece (Very nice female vocals and nice dynamics in the instruments with great imaging)
 
 
My next step will be building a matching DAC with the ESS Sabre ES9018 32-bit chip and a good power supply:
https://item.taobao.com/item.htm?spm...id=25873632122
 
I made a deal with the shop to just buy most of the parts for a big discount (Y1800, thats about $275). I will replace some parts myself (reserve a budget of $50-75 for that) but in general the design and the parts choice looks already really good to me. And the case design will exactly fit the Lehmann. They are exactly the same length.

 

[Cidious]

 
Replaced out put resistors with RA resistors.. I know.. it all looks sexy now.. That's about everything that changed. The MBEM0414 resistors did a fine job before them. No noticeable difference.. But boy,  this is one sexy machine. Only looking for some black heatsinks for my opamps and I'm done.