The upgrade not yet ended. I still have something to finalize my Aikido PreAmp. I go to upgrade some section in order to make it firms before fitting it on the new chassis.

Here we go. First, we will install the affordable grade IEC from Furutech, the Rhodium plated FI-03. Fuse holder integrated there (oh well, which fuse shall I use?). That’s gonna be another question.

Vishay Z201 “naked” Z-Foil Resistor. This 0.4 Watt considered as one of the world’s best resistor. Available at higher rating at extra cost (well, basically this is custom made, and they can make as large as long as you can pay the cost). Will use them in a very special section on the PreAmp.

I pick two kinds of hook-up wire.

First is Kimber SF23 – KS (Intrinsic Cu solid flat conductor with Clear V-Teflon dielectric).

Second is Duelund 2.0 Rev 2, which quite famous as natural sounding cable.

Both of them will be used on specific location with special purpose.

Finally, I upgrade the el-cheapo RCA to Cardas GRFA. This one is non-magnetic, eutectic Brass, Rhodium over Silver plate. So far, I love Cardas for my RCA needs, both male and female one. They offer very reasonable price with very good sound. Hard to beat at their price range. The only problem is, they are very hard to solder. Make sure you have a very good soldering iron and good tin. Otherwise, you will have some problem when soldering them. This is the only thing that I don’t like from them. But with their other good side, I think I can live with it 😉