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Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Musical Fidelity X-10D

With the help of a friend, I finally managed to purchase a X10D.

Front
Rear

Since completing and tweaking the Lite LS-29 (clone of the X10), though it would be interesting to compare the stock X10D vs the tweaked LS-29 @ http://myoldvintagehifi.blogspot.com/2010/11/diy-tube-buffer.html

Stock PCB

The stock X10D uses Philips 6922 valves and produces a rich mid, nice high with a lean low after power-on. About 15-30min later, the bass becames fuller but I find the high can be just a tad brighter than an actual presentation should be. The X10D seem to have a slight roughness around the edge as well, particularly on voices. I was using a gold CD recording of a singer whom I heard during a live performance for comparison.

The LS-29 produces a more authoritative low and  "richer" high while retaining the rich mid of the X10D. The reproduction of the LS-29 was more natural.

Finally decided to recap using lessons learnt from the LS-29.

Recapped PCB

Upon power on there was a immediate bandwidth improvement, compared to the stock X10D which was more reserve in presentation. Voices were now more natural and realistic.

After a week or so, decided to change the 0.22uF Wima(s) to the older MKS-C 0.33uF in the audio section. Initially sounded overly bassey. After a couple of weeks, it's sounding very close to my Tubelog when performing A-B comparisons - with a bit more HF extension, maybe due to the use of silver mica's in th output stage.

Update - 18Aug2011
Finally swapped the Philips 6922 with the Russian 6N23P-EV. Reproduction clarity improved.

9 comments:

  1. friend, sorry for not reading your blog in ascending order... anyway i bought (another) x-10d from a friend too together with his Thorens TD150m2. anyway his has someone mod-ed and much heavier as compare with mine. he opened it up and show me and was told some nice vintage tubes and some oil thingy capacitors. i bring over for you see see okie. cheers,

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  2. Hi SK,

    No worries call me once you are back

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  3. Hi. Fascinated to read about your X-10D experiments. I have just bought one to go between my X-ACT and my Roksan K3 amp. It sounds pretty good but I am interested in maybe upgrading the valves. However, I am unsure how to get inside the casing without damaging something! I undid the two screws at the rear and tried gently to slide the PCB out but it seemed to be held by something after a couple of inches. I bottled out and slid it all back (connecting the earth tag as I went). Can you help me understand how to get inside the unit safely? Also, what valves would you recommend as the best upgrade overall? Many thanks. Ian

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    Replies
    1. Your attempt was probably held by the LED cable at the opposite end... need to open up both ends, watch for the LED & cable at the "head", before removing the "tail" section.

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  4. Quais as melhores válvulas para o X-10D

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  5. Pretendo comprar um Musical fidelity X-10D. Ou um kit original Musical fidelity x-10d.agradeco contato para o meu e-mail americolouro1960@gmail.com
    USE o Google tradutor SFF tankiou

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  6. Procuro um musical fidelity x-10D em excelente estado de conservação e funcionamento.. alguém tem para venda.. americolouro1960@gmail.com

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