My system is completely fitted with Synergistic Research active interconnects, speaker cables, and power cords. A few years back, I bought four Galileo MPCs based on Ted Denney’s recommendation. The four Galileo’s were all I could afford at the time, leaving me with two of the stock MPCs to feed the DC-powered active shields of what I thought to be "less critical" subwoofer power cords. I recall that the effect of substituting the Galileos for the stock MPCs was not overwhelming, but it was significant. I was happy with the modest improvement and stored away my stock MPCs in a shoe box in my listening room’s closet for safe keeping in case I ever sold the Tesla stuff.
I recently bought a second Classe’ Audio DR-9 amp to run them in bridged mono and I needed a second SR active power cord to match the one I already had. It so happened that Michael Spallone had one for sale, so I called him and during our conversation regarding the power cord, he told me about his V2 MPC mod. He did not exaggerate or make overly boastful claims about his mod, only encouraged me to try one for a $55 total cost including return shipping and offered me a money back guarantee if I did not hear significant audible improvement from my system. He did say that they needed a few hours of run-in to begin to bloom and that they would consistently improve from there over the first 3-5 days. Fair enough.
Having only $5 for shipping at risk, I sent two of my stock dual-lead MPCs to Michael for his V2 mod. A few days later, the Spallone-modded V2 MPCs arrived and I immediately set to burning them in by plugging the male active-lead connectors of a couple of sets of SR active cables that were not in use into the V2 MPC females and, of course, the V2 MPCs themselves into my QLS-9 MPC power strip. Michael emailed me shortly afterward to see what I thought of them and I replied that they were "burning-in" off line. He told me to go ahead and install them into my system, starting with replacing two of the SR Galileo MPCs feeding the active shielding to my speaker cables and component interconnects. I did so, expecting them to take hours if not days to equal the effect of the well-seasoned Galileos. There was an immediate change in the sound of my system. Macro-dynamics were noticeably bolder and the soundstage grew. There was also a reduction in the noise floor so perceived detail and micro-dynamics were improved. I was truly shocked that Michael’s inexpensive V2 mod was so much better than the Galileo MPCs that retailed for $400 each when I bought them. It even seems that the blue LEDs indicating that the active shielding was functioning got brighter with the V2s. Amazing. Listening to one reference recording after another made it undeniable that the V2 MPCs had made a major improvement in the sound of every recording I played.
I immediately set forth to get two more of the V2 MPCs from Michael. I already had a "new to me" SR Powercell 10 UEF/FEQ on the way and it arrived before the second shipment of Michael’s modded MPCs could get here. Well, the Powercell 10 UEF is a truly revelatory upgrade to any system and I thought that the second batch of V2 MPCs wouldn’t make much difference on top of the mind-boggling improvement from the Powercell. WRONG! After listening in amazement to my "new" system with the Powercell for two days, the second batch of V2 MPCs arrived. I used these to replace the remaining Galileo MPCs, including the one feeding the Powercell and its included Element Copper Tungsten powercord. Holy cow! Boy, did the Powercell and its power cord love the V2 MPCs!
Just how far can this active-shielding improvement and electro-magnetic power conditioning take my system forward in sound quality? Don’t know yet. Intending to find out, I am shipping another two MPCs to Michael for his V2 mod to complete the replacement of the remaining two SR MPCs.
I really can’t imagine the sound getting any better than it is now, but, you know, I said that not once, but twice before...
Most highly recommended!!
Dave
