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Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler
Since the era of those Leak amplifiers, mankind has learned how to make much better resistors and capacitors.
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Agreed David
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Much better means better reliability, longer life expectancy, with lower noise and tighter tolerance in the resistors. Lower series resistance, lower inductance and tighter tolerance in electrolytic capacitors.
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Again agreed, just getting caught up I guess in all the hype and marketing
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Would Harold Leak have used these things if they's been available in his era? No-one can know for certainty, but I'd expect so. He used the best he could lay his hands on from the consumer equipment market.
Should you use them? Why not, they're your amps, it's your choice. Grim Joseph did a Leak restoration using only original type components... duds replaced with ones still in spec. It was an object lesson to see what the original untouched design was like.
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What were the results? I'll do a search for that.
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Me? I'd probably swap the Rs and Cs for something more reliable if for no other reason. Metal film resistors are lower noise than the carbon composition originals. This is measurable, proven and documented. Some people claim carbon sounds better. This isn't measurable but the claims are documented in various high-end magazines. On these amps, you could expect a reduction in noise.
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Again need to research these articles, be a good read for me
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As A. says above, the Leak amps are too high in gain for modern sources. Attenuating signals works, but it has a noise disadvantage. Reducing the gain of any of these amplifiers is non-trivial. It amounts to having to change the feedback stabilisation time-constants and stage gains - a redesign of maybe the most interesting aspect of these amps.
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Will see how it goes David, but I would like to try the gain reduction at some point. Going to rebuild the ST20 first!