My First Sound Presence Deluxe III-Si 4.0 preamp with Paramount Special Edition upgrade

Puma Cat

Well-Known Member
Feb 20, 2011
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SF East Bay Area
Let us know how the updated power supply improves the sound. I’ve found that some of these power supply filters can do more damage than good, especially if you already use a power conditioner.
Will do. And that won't be problem in this case. Emmanuel Go of First Sound collaborates carefully with Shunyata (they used to be nearby each other's facilities when Emmanuel lived in WA State) with respect to implementing Shunyata's technolog into his products, so...it's going to be "all good", and from what I've heard both from the folks who have done this upgrade to their FS pres, it's a big step up in performance. My hypothesis is it will be a similar to the step up in performance moving from the v1 gen noise-reducting power cords to the NR v2 gen PCs. Which was a significant step up. I should add that the wiring in the umbilicals that Emmanuel uses to connect the external power supplies to the dual mono main control unit is also Shunyata wire,, as is all the internal wiring, as shown here.

FS Interior 4.jpg
 
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Puma Cat

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Feb 20, 2011
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The power supplies arrived back from Emmanuel at First Sound yesterday. Over the weekend I'll set them up and start burning them in a bit. Emmanuel says it'll take 2-3 days to burn in. He also installed chassis ground terminals on the power supplies, so I can connect a Shunyata chassis ground cable from them to the GP-NR system of my Everest power distributor. :cool:
 

321Bach

Member
Jan 23, 2022
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Dear all,
I am happy to discover all inputs characteristics tonight. This was my first time switching the input from the "CD" to others! As said from Emmanuel, he has made different flavour for different inputs. Yes, I just tried the other input for different preference. Some best for vocals while some works best for classical. Amazing ??
 

Kingrex

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Feb 3, 2019
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I'm waiting on Emmanuel to take my power supplies for an upgrade. I have done 3 upgrades on mine, and every time it was a big step forward. One upgrade was going from 1 power supply to 2.

Puma, try a pair of Telefunkin E88CC. They are way better than tha IFI on the adapter plate. Don't mess with the OA2. I tried the orange ones and sure enough. one blew up. Just stick with what he gave you.
 

321Bach

Member
Jan 23, 2022
21
5
8
I'm waiting on Emmanuel to take my power supplies for an upgrade. I have done 3 upgrades on mine, and every time it was a big step forward. One upgrade was going from 1 power supply to 2.

Puma, try a pair of Telefunkin E88CC. They are way better than tha IFI on the adapter plate. Don't mess with the OA2. I tried the orange ones and sure enough. one blew up. Just stick with what he gave you.
I am also thinking whether to get a pair of Telefunken or Mullard E88CC ?!
 

Kingrex

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Feb 3, 2019
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I am also thinking whether to get a pair of Telefunken or Mullard E88CC ?!
Tele. This pre has great body. It is slightly held back in clarity by the tube. The Tele is very clean and balanced. It brings it all to life.

If you don't like it, sit on the tubes for 10 years and sell them for $500 each.
 
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Bohemian

Member
Mar 16, 2022
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Top view without the covers; there are only two tubes, a 6DJ8 and OA tube per channel. The preamp is a true dual-mono design; two mono preamps mounted in a single chassis.



Just some, but not all of the power supply capacitance...the blue and brown wire is Shunyata Research OFE wire connecting everything. Emmanuel Go and Caelin Gabriel of Shunyata Research collaborated on incorporating several Shunyata technologies into First Sound preamps. The 6DJ8 triodes can also be seen in this photo. These tubes are super-durable, with mean life over 100,000 hours.



The back panel shows input jacks, wiring and huge copper bus bars for making and grounding connections. Note that there is no ground wire for each RCA jack, only a single + connection. There is also no insulation on the wires so as to not have any dielectric effect from various insulation materials; the dielectric in this case is air. The entire copper bus bar serves a ground for all inputs. There is also a switch (little red box) for each channel that lets me float the ground in the advent of any ground hum (there isn't; this preamp is DEAD QUIET).


A close-up of the volume attenuator with individual metal film resistors.


There are also large, heavy, copper bus bars for chassis-grounding.


AudioCap copper capacitors.



A view of the front panel and part of the chassis interior...
That 6dj8 tube looks like the GE 5670 JAN with adapter. I use, it great tube!
 

Bohemian

Member
Mar 16, 2022
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The two external power supply chassis. Each is powered with a Shunyata Research Alpha XC (current specification) power cord. A noise reduction power cord is not required because each power supply "box" has two internal Shunyata CCI-X noise reduction filters. These are plugged into a Shunyata Everest power distributor and the preamp benefits from the Everest's massive internal QR-BB device to provide an abundant supply of charge to the preamp's power supply as required during dynamic passages. To say this preamp can kick some serious ass would be an understatement.
I had Emmanuel do that update two years ago. It was so good that it began my journey of upgrades with Shunyata cables and the Everest. Highly recommended. My question is do you need the really high grade NR cables with this upgrade?
 

Puma Cat

Well-Known Member
Feb 20, 2011
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SF East Bay Area
I had Emmanuel do that update two years ago. It was so good that it began my journey of upgrades with Shunyata cables and the Everest. Highly recommended. My question is do you need the really high grade NR cables with this upgrade?
No, you can and should use the XC power cables instead.
 

Kingrex

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Feb 3, 2019
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I bet Emmanuel would say plug it into the wall. Be we all like to try different stuff and it becomes a personal journey.
 
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Kingrex

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Bohemian

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Mar 16, 2022
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Where did you get the 6dj8?
The 6dj8 I was refering to was the one Pumacat mentioned in his thread on the First sound. The 5670 plus adapter is a direct substitute that works well. Maybe not the flavor some may like, but a good tube.
 
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321Bach

Member
Jan 23, 2022
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Good to know that i use a pair of IFI supernova powercord which fits so well in my two supplies! They are inexpensive cable but noticeably made much improvement too.
 

Kingrex

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Make sure you try different footers and base's under the head unit. You can hear it. The power supplies not as much.
 

Bohemian

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Mar 16, 2022
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No, you can and should use the XC power cables instead.
What are the advantages of the XC over the NR on preamps? That is sort of the opposite of what the Shunyata web site and Richard recommends. The web site (and Richard)says use the NR on preamps and the XC is for power distributors.
 

Puma Cat

Well-Known Member
Feb 20, 2011
243
362
970
SF East Bay Area
What are the advantages of the XC over the NR on preamps? That is sort of the opposite of what the Shunyata web site and Richard recommends. The web site (and Richard)says use the NR on preamps and the XC is for power distributors.
An NR PC is not required on the First Sound preamps because the Shunyata CCI and CCI-X noise reduction technology is already built into the external power supplies, so you don't need it yet again in the power cord; you only need one filter per power connection, not two. The XC provides a bit more current as it does not have the NR filter built into it. I would use NR power cords for components that do not have Shunyata CCI-X built into their power supplies, but as far as I know, the First Sound is the only one that does.
 

gshelley

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Jan 10, 2011
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Hi Puma,
really interesting preamp. What amps are you using? Speakers?
 

321Bach

Member
Jan 23, 2022
21
5
8
It is about the time for tube rolling, so have a view of the great works from Emmanuel! I 'll try Western Electric 396A to substitute the 6922.
 

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Bohemian

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Mar 16, 2022
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It is about the time for tube rolling, so have a view of the great works from Emmanuel! I 'll try Western Electric 396A to substitute the 6922!
If you have the GE5670 JAN and the adapter that is as good and much cheaper and actually available
 
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