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Mods that really made a difference...

81.105.227.244

Posted by Sealed on March 24, 2004 at 22:24:05

I’d like some commentary on the state of design.

I have been on a roll lately modding gear from Rotel, B&K, ARCAM, LINN, and Musical Fidelity. Some of the products are older (circa 1988) and some recent.

I noticed a common thread in a products sound and perceived quality.

Shielding.

I modded a musical fidelity A3.2 preamp, and while I though it was a great piece for the money- it benefited greatly.

I built faraday cages for the toroids, lined the case with .006 copper foil, damped the caps with blu-tack, and bypassed the p/s caps with .1uf/600v polyester caps. I know mu-metal would shield better, but I wanted to prove a point to myself.

The cumulative effects of these mods seemed to open the amp up. There was a “speed” and “neutrality” that came out as well as what sounded like a blacker background and more soundstage depth (the decay artifacts became more prominent) I consider myself to be a healthy skeptic, and if this stuff did nothing, I’d admit it.

My hope is (since I have not pulled one apart) that $3k+ components already have designed in engineering that has these effects. I would frown on an expensive component with an inferior layout, and I am sure they exist.

I found that the modded gear was also more sensitive to cabling changes. Experimenting with old AQ blue, I decided to go with a helically –wound silver design that was similar, made by Apature. The cabling change was more obvious post mod than pre mod. These mods took a couple of hours and cost just a few bucks. But it really pulled the modded gear firmly into the big league. Listening to an old Rotel RCD-855 post-shielding, blue-tack and a clock upgrade is startling.

Is it a question of price point that these things are not done? Or is it engineering?

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Atma-Sphere Music Systems, Inc.

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