Ian's Horizon - mods and stuff

plasmod3 · Jun 15, 2024

It has been a thread long in the coming and i think it is time to document what i have done with my horizon to improve the sound more. Given most of the stuff here is done and proven to work at least i feel more comfortable in posting.

Be aware though any modification to our unit will void warranty - something i wasnt too concerned about my end.

Be aware also that while these mods work for my unit , i cannot promise it will for yours and take no responsibility whatsoever.

At any time pls feel free to correct me if i am wrong- i am only human and my learning was by making a lot of mistakes

plasmod3 · Jun 15, 2024

To first look at the horizon lets see what it is made of

This is the dac board ( the blue one) wth the usb board ( the red one)

Thee isnt much you can do on the dac board but the wires on the left from the dac board to the tube board can be upgraded with a sonic benefit more on that later; ditto for the wires fron the input to the dac board

plasmod3 · Jun 15, 2024

This is the underneath of the tube board

Luksz has made it quite easy to upgrade things here . the better caps some of them dont fit that well on this board so post mod it wont be as pretty but what we are doing here is all about the sound

plasmod3 · Jun 15, 2024

This is the top of the tube board, bite that everything is well labelled - here we see the connections for the filter chokes and the power supply for the rectifier tube on the bottom of the board - all very useful information

plasmod3 · Jun 15, 2024

Because of all the mods i have done over many months - we will probably go through it over many posts . this photo shows some of the changes i have already made to the tube board but focus on what is there on the chassis instead. front of board is the display board - not much to do on there. then there are 2 chokes ( which we can upgrade) the silver round potted transformers are the main ones that supply the dac boards tube boards- everything really. next to te chokes just to the left is a small board - this is a tube heater board. blue board again is the dac board. green board to the right is the volume control board. it is a mono board and stacked. mods can be made on this as well

plasmod3 · Jun 15, 2024

Ok onto the mods. main board first. This is a photo of the mods made to main board - not pretty as it said but space was a premium using the uprated components which were also unfortunately bigger

plasmod3 · Jun 15, 2024

Lets go through it

Look at photo on what is circled in red . This is a smooth capacitor for the rectifier output . A lot of people upgrade tubes but an upgrade to this single capacitor makes a huge difference. What is here is a mid tier mundorf capacitor - a very good choice indeed by luksz. You can get the top mudorf capacitor here to replace and also increase the capacitance value as well . now space is a problem so i put in the biggest i can find that fits the space but doubled it up but parallel wiring in another of the same capacitor to this so this smoothing is increased significantly

This is a cheaper upgrade than rolling most tubes and works very very well.

More to follow

steve williams · Jun 15, 2024

Wow No way I would take a chance to mess with something that I think is already perfect and with the XDMI input which hopefully in the next week or so will be connected to my new Taiko Olympus and IO I’ll be quite happy

To all Horizon users I would say only Caveat emptor and to Ian enjoy but not only voids the warranty but likely makes it unsellable

You have an inquisitive mind Ian.

plasmod3 · Jun 15, 2024

steve williams said:
Wow No way I would take a chance to mess with something that I think is already perfect and with the XDMI input which hopefully in the next week or so will be connected to my new Taiko Olympus and IO I’ll be quite happy

To all Horizon users I would say only Caveat emptor and to Ian enjoy but not only voids the warranty but likely makes it unsellable

You have an inquisitive mind Ian.

Thank you Steve, yes haha i do do whacky things

There's a lot to share here so i will post everything up over the next few weeks

LampiNA · Jun 16, 2024

We strongly discourage the modification of our DACs and will not make ourselves available for questions or warranty support for units which have been altered.

plasmod3 · Jun 16, 2024

LampiNA said:
We strongly discourage the modification of our DACs and will not make ourselves available for questions or warranty support for units which have been altered.

Yes pls heed this. Disclaimers made on first post as well to the same. Warrenty is voided once you start working on the machine. The rewards are there but pls note

plasmod3 · Jun 17, 2024

so the next part of the mod is the main capacitors on the tube board. if you look at the picture . the ones circled in red .Lampi has them initially with miflex caps. not a cheap item but they can definately be uprated. I have changed these over to dueland. the difference is quite amazing with this change

CuSn630V-050: 1uF 630Vdc Duelund CAST PIO Tinned Copper Capacitor

plasmod3 · Jun 17, 2024

ok tube board. as mentioned before the signal resisters are pretty easy to identify and i ave circled them in red here for replacement. The capacitors circled in blue can be upgraded to high spec mundorfs as well

plasmod3 · Jun 17, 2024

List of parts i used for main tube board

4 x RES-45-2W-24K: 24K 2W Audio Note Tantalum Resistor - £44.52 (£11.13 each)
SKU:RES-45-2W-24K, Location: AA08, Tariff Code: 8533210000
2 x CAP-100-R-1000U-25V-NP: 1000uF 25Vdc Audio Note Kaisei NON-POLAR Electrolytic Capacitor - £36.80 (£18.40 each)
SKU:CAP-100-R-1000U-25V-NP, Location: AB04., Tariff Code: 8532220000
1 x SESGO-22T2.700: 22uF 700Vdc Mundorf MCap Supreme EVO Silver Gold Oil Capacitor - £292.22 (£292.22 each)
SKU:SESGO-22T2.700, Location: AC04, Tariff Code: 8532250000
6 x MLGO450-330: 330uF 450Vdc Mundorf MLytic HV Radial Electrolytic Capacitor - £122.34 (£20.39 each)
SKU:MLGO450-330, Location: AL02, Tariff Code: 8532220000
4 x RES-AGNB40-2W-470R: 470R 2W Audio Note Silver Niobium Non-Magnetic Resistor - £186.00 (£46.50 each)
SKU:RES-AGNB40-2W-470R, Location: AR01-01., Tariff Code: 8533210000
4 x RES-AGNB45-2W-10K: 10K 2W Audio Note Silver Niobium Non-Magnetic Resistor - £186.00 (£46.50 each)
SKU:RES-AGNB45-2W-10K, Location: AR01-01., Tariff Code: 8533210000
4 x RES-AGNB45-2W-15K: 15K 2W Audio Note Silver Niobium Non-Magnetic Resistor - £186.00 (£46.50 each)
SKU:RES-AGNB45-2W-15K, Location: AR01-01., Tariff Code: 8533210000
2 x RES-AG40-2W-470R: 470R 2W Audio Note Silver Tantalum Non-Magnetic Resistor - £82.12 (£41.06 each)
SKU:RES-AG40-2W-470R, Location: AV01-03, Tariff Code: 8533210000
8 x CuSn630V-050: 1uF 630Vdc Duelund CAST PIO Tinned Copper Capacitor - £1,360.00 (£170.00 each)
SKU:CuSn630V-050, Location: AZ06, Tariff Code: 8532250000

TKK · Jun 17, 2024

There is some nice work done! I would want to do the same to my PAC, lol, maybe after upgrading to PAC2…
I am also wondering if it is possible to modify the reclock part—giving each clock battery powered, use OCXO or even better clocks, etc.

plasmod3 · Jun 17, 2024

TKK said:
There is some nice work done! I would want to do the same to my PAC, lol, maybe after upgrading to PAC2…
I am also wondering if it is possible to modify the reclock part—giving each clock battery powered, use OCXO or even better clocks, etc.

Hmmm a good idea, indeed I wondered the same but haven't research it much. From what I understand an external clock and therefore replacing the lock might be difficult... At least in the horizon... When I spoke to Luksz in Munich the clock in the horizon supplies multiple frequencies and not just one frequency. Got me scratching my head after I found out that one truly....

It would have been great if I can put in an external clock signal. In the coming days weeks I will show you what can be externalised though. Have done a lot of upgrades... it was experimentation over the last 2 yrs

Mike Lavigne · Jun 17, 2024

let me just say that Ian has visited me in my room, and is a very serious and knowledgable person. and has some extremely serious gear. which is his to talk about, not me. but anything he is doing I give him enormous benefit of the doubt about. if he likes it, it's probably doing some special things we would all appreciate. OTOH all the cautions are also valid.

most of us here, especially me, are not in a position to attempt these things. and mostly those who can afford top level gear, don't have the chops or guts to mess with that said gear.

fun stuff, and a privilege to observe. I'll get my popcorn.

dcathro · Jun 17, 2024

I have been in the hobby for nearly 50 years, and got into DIY about 27 years ago.

I must admit that I have destroyed my share of product over the years and also it is almost impossible to resell modified gear

However, no matter how expensive the gear - such as the Horizon, it is always built to a price point. It is always possible (as long as you know what you want) to improve upon commercial products by careful replacement of parts. With experience you get to know what usually works.

Watching Ian's work with interest.

bonzo75 · Jun 17, 2024

steve williams said:
Wow No way I would take a chance to mess with something that I think is already perfect and with the XDMI input which hopefully in the next week or so will be connected to my new Taiko Olympus and IO I’ll be quite happy

To all Horizon users I would say only Caveat emptor and to Ian enjoy but not only voids the warranty but likely makes it unsellable

You have an inquisitive mind Ian.

I had tried it on the Big 7, "upgrading caps and chokes and resistors" from a guy who used to repair amps for people in the UK. Ruined the sound, I reverted back to the original components.

Mike Lavigne · Jun 17, 2024

and hey, 10 or so years ago, Lukasz was just rising above the DIY stage and Ian is just carrying on in that vein. tube circuits designed with tube rolling in mind are always going to be candidates for mods. part of the vibe of them.

Ian's Horizon - mods and stuff

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