Your modifications are fantastic!! They greatly improve the sound quality ! Thank you!

hi , in my a10 , i stuck with 0.22uf when replacing the fake philips orange drop interstage capacitors (which are best used in guitar amps for their tonal distortion) , as that is the correct value for the circuit , i went with high quality paper in oil 600v 0.22uf and opted not to bypass the interstage caps as this creates a high frequency filter which is bad as it robs this amp of one of its talents , honest and sparkling top end . bypassing to remove noise is actually masking noise from elsewhere in your system and may be pushing up the mid range with the impression of reduced bass . the a10 should be silent at idle or between tracks . i replaced the cathode bypass cap of the el34s with a rough foil non polar from visaton connected with outer foil to ground and bypassed it with 0.1uf polycarbonate 400v (this was almost as big an improvement as the interstage cap replacement was ). 12ax7 adapters fitted with golden dragon 12ax7-T (ecc83-T ) cheap and good tubes , el34 replaced with treasure 2 6ca7 (getting a bit pricey now but worth it , mine are 7 years old ! ), replaced the power switch with an input selector switch and new, longer silver screened cable from van damme balanced microphone cable and left the screens floating to the new selector which is a Taiwan alpha 6 position (pegged to 4 position) 2 pole switch with rca sockets added for 4 inputs. fitted a toggle type appropriately rated power switch front and centre on the chassis , replaced the volume pot with an alps blue . using melo david L.cao 6" drivers which are 93db@1w@1m in 45L bass reflex cabinets with ribbon super tweeters crossed in at 12khz . massive sound and goes very loud with solid bass down to below what my speakers can reproduce with amazing clarity . will be trying some 96db drivers in a rear horn loaded cabinet soon. a stunning little amp for the price . worthy of note : do one modification at a time and try the results , the orange drop caps need to go as they are sapping the amps potential , the tube replacement helps but is not essential as even the shuguang el34b sounds great with the interstage caps replaced by better items . there was a newer version of the a10 called the a12 which has 12ax7 pre stage and 5ar4 rectifier and cornell dubilier interstage caps as standard. valve equipment carries large voltages so please , BE CAREFUL and get someone who knows what they are doing if you are not confident . have fun 😘

I have an A10 in my computer desktop system. I'm running Klipsch RB 61 IIs (95db sensitivity) on stands about 1 meter away from my listening position. I also have an Emotiva SE8 subwoofer. The sub has a selectable high-pass filter, which I set to 80 Hz. This strips the low bass out of the signal before passing it on to the A10. I'm delighted with this setup. The A10 rolls off at about 2,000 Hz, which matches rather well with the Klipsch bookshelf speakers, which can be too bright in the treble range. Another speaker worth consideration is the Zu Audio Omen Dirty Weekend. 97db sensitivity, bass response down to the low 30s. They're not always available, but when they are, they run about $1299/pair, depending on finish. Zu says they can be used with amps as low as 2 watts/channel. They won't get loud with 2 watts, but they will work.

Watch Skunkie Design Electronics upgrade, and speaker choice will no longer be a problem. Output increases insanely much, from stock idiotically low 0.05W at 1% THD

Thanks, great video!👍 There are very cheap 6n2p tubes from Voskhod, Foton and Reflektor that sound good in the Reisong a10. I like the one from Reflektor from the 1950s and the Voskhod 6n2p-ev from the 80s best. The rectifier tube 5c4s "Cobra" is also very cheap and looks good.

Great vid. I've already replaced the coupling caps with high quality Milflex ones, and it sounded much better. Would you recommend bypassing them as well?

Wharfedale 11.4 towers are 92DB and often on sale old stock ... very pleasing combo

Great Job ! Its great to see other enthuist modifying their Audio , Thanks for the video

Great Video . I have A12 model as my first real tube amp . I wish I had the skills to upgrade things like you have . I am running Focal Arias 906 which are 89db in small size room from 2 m distance and it plays loud enough for me at 12'o clock position . I have ordered Tung sol 12AX7 after doing some research with the understanding that the pre-amp tubes would affect more on the performance that the power tubes. Is that correct ? Would you also recommend to change the EL34 stock tubes to Tung Sol ? I am happy with the overall sound but just curious and wanting the get best performance without spending a bomb. Thanks !

Thanks for the video! What voltage should the 0.1uf foil cap be?

Is there a difference between bypassing the capacitor rather than just replacing the cap with a 0.22UF/400V good audio capacitor. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Hello, congratulations for the video. Can you tell me what are the two black capacitors I see in the video? I don't see them in the electrical circuit. Thank you.

Thanks for the video. I’ve been wanting for someone to show how to mod this amp. I have done a lot of tube rolling in the amp. I got the 12ax7 adaptor, an the Mullard 12ax7 tubes. They were very noise. Could be my tubes that I bought on eBay? I’m running a new old stock Mullard 5z4g rectifying tube.I really don’t know if that was a good idea or not?? I’m running Mullard EL 38 output tubes with the adapters. For speakers, I built a pair Voigt Pipes, with a pair of Tang Bang w8 1772 speakers. Overall this is great sounding Tube amp. My friends are amazed at this setup. I can’t wait to change the caps an see what I get !

I’ve got some Cary .22 if 630v coupling caps I was going to install replace stock ones. Is it worth it?

Gr8 video, and hoping you can advise a tube newb here. Just bought a pair of Mullard 12AX7 / ECC83 and 2 converters for my A10-any known issues with this mod?

Hey, great video! I was wondering if I could use a 0.01uf bypass cap for the coupling cap. Would the difference be noticeable? These Duelund's seems like a perfect choice, but they go up quickly in price as you go up in capacitance... Looking at some silver foils which have excellent reviews. And one more question (I'm a modding enthusiast and have 0 knowledge whatsoever) does it have more impact to directly replace the orange cap or bypassing it? Thanks again!!

Hi, thanks for your share, the version I have has the circuit board, yet my question relates to rhe push button input selector, I have noticed it to impact sound quality, with some rustle and contact noise, ..anyone else found this, ...I only use one input, ..so was thinking might be better to just remove that little board and wire direct to RCAs. Thank you .. I love this little amplifier tho ...it is a wonder..and drives most all spkrs I have tried well.

I want to do these mods on mine. I've changed the tubes out and used adapters to run 12ax7s as well as a solid state rectifier, gives more speed and better bass. I also run all my digital sources through and old tube dacmagic before going to the amp, I think without the dac's preamp it would be a pretty dull and weak amp and the right speakers. But with the way I've got it I'm getting some pretty nice tube sounds..

4:50 why just bypass the coupling caps? why not replace them with better caps entirely? wont cost at all that much more. same for the other mod.

Hi, Thanks for the video, changed the 0,1 myf with good results,waiting for the next mods to improve this little guy. Have a small 50 Hz hum in the amplifier , any idea to improve . When can we expect next steps.

Thank you for the video. Question : did you replace both caps with copper capacitor from what I can see?

Question? Did you wire the copper foil cap in parallel with the orange cap, or did you disconnect the orange copping cap?

"Please don't share at web site, thanks" LOL

I swapped out the coupling caps for Russian paper in oil. My ears are far too old to hear any difference. I strapped it into triode from ultra linear, and changed the preamp tubes to 12AX7. I changed the voltage regulator tube to a Russian straight sided tube for no ther reason than I didn't like the bottle shape of the standard tube. I binned the PVanes and fitted a couple EL34's advertised as guitar amp tubes.I had to google and youtube how to accommodate the voltage change for the 12AX7, but it was fairly easy. I did all these mods, not to expect any real sonic benefit, but to prat around and try and get more out of this cheap little amp by my own hands. It's a bit low powered for any speakers I currently own, so it doesn't get connected up very often...

Do tbe Skunke mods. It will take this to another level. I plan to do the triode switch too.

Can you show in detail how to turn the amp into tiro? Thanks

How do you feel about Telefunken el34 tubes?

What is regime of work of El34? Triode or Pentode? What tubes are able to replace 6N2 without any other scheme changes?

The butt-ugly cylinder shapes in the corners. Are they easily removed?

Can you place a link for the adapters please! Great vid very helpful

You keep the orange cap and add the copper one ??

I have that crooked logo badge too!

Will the circuitry handle KT88s?KT120s?

Skunkie design electronics (YT Channel) says the amp is flawed with 10% distortion at 2 watts!.. The biggest upgrade was a 5AR4 Rectifier to provide some B+ Juice to the Tubes... They were only running at 52% from factory..(very lazy!) and as such, highly distorted... They need to run at 90% minimum....It's all well and good, fine tuning the engine, but ya got to put some petrol in the tank first!

You might want to try this easy quantum leap mod! Pls upgrade to a TKD volume potentiometer and you will be delighted.

You should check out the relic el34b better tube then the tung sol can be driven hard £16 each

You should try the EH 6Ca7's!

I appreciate your video but you need to objectively listen, im not any better or as good, but kinda boring