Now I am REALLY confused.
My Swans will be back from MODWRIGHT in two weeks and they've been internally rewired with 20 ft of Jena labs cryo treated wire. I am still a nomad, so I am totally confused as to finding a reasonable solution for speaker wire. |
Quote: "Sometimes this site is better than a Marx Brothers movie, and I do mean the better ones."
IT IS!
And now we have an audio engineer playing *Harpo*... |
Being serious, I need help with the finishing touches of my system. My little Swans should be back from MODWRIGHT next week and I have some serious speaker and power cable issues.
Dan has done an *impressive* modification including 4 Bybee filters, Auricaps, Deflex panels, Jena Labs deep immersion cryo treatment of the four crossover boards and their speaker wire used for internal wiring. Dan says they will "blow me away".
My weak points will be speaker wire and power cords from my 220V ONEAC iso trans to my Tice A/V Solo and PS Audio Juice Bar, as well as all the smaller iso trans I have floating around. I need to find a reasonably priced alternative for my nomadic lifestyle. Also, right now I'm using a mixture of CAT5 and 18 ga Carol silver plated copper wire from The Home Depot. Deano auditioned my system in Chicago and liked the speaker wire--but I moved again.
I e-mailed Bob Bundus the details of what I'm thinking, since he was already informed of my progress as I went along, but I'll appreciate any feedback.
I live in a small 1 bedroom apt. Please realize I'm aiming at a near field system capable of successfully playing any recording of any type of music regardless of recording quality... |
Dan Wright has finished the mod and wrote me an e-mail I published in this thread:
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1027655496&read&3&4&
Dan and I had a phone conversation yesterday wrapping up everything that has been done. We definitely have an understanding on this subject.
From what I understand the Bybees provide a subtle but definitely pleasant refinement in the musical presentation. This is what Dan wrote: "The Bybee filters lowered the noise floor and improved soundstage and presence."
The Bybees were the most expensive--and undiscounted--part of the mod but Dan convinced me they were pretty much essential in doing this right. Also, the Bybees will allow me to use a homebrew speaker wire with less remorse.
I'm going for some (surplus) 12 ga silver plated copper w/ Teflon insulation and sheathing ($32.50 for 50 ft). It's a 25 ft run and Dan told me to go ahead and use it. A friend of mine has a supervisor who's got a fixed setup for speaker cable cooking, so I plan to meet this person and ask him a favor. I then plan to send the cooked wires for vapor cryo treatment. It should be decent and within reason...
I should have the speakers next weekend, GW. |
This is from the Modwright website:
"...I proceeded to install them in my speakers first as Jack indicated that this was where the Bybee filters had their largest and most obvious impact on system performance. I installed them directly to the drivers, one at the woofer and one at the tweeter in my Graybeard KB/2/2's. I soldered them directly, in series, at the positive terminal of the driver, soldering the other end of the filter to the internal positive speaker wire. This was done at each woofer and tweeter in my speakers. They could also have been installed at the crossover or anywhere in series with the internal speaker wire in the speaker cabinets. Jack indicated that the best place to install them however was right at the driver."
The Bybees work at a "quantum mechanics" level. All I can say is that Jahaira (José) is a friend of Dan and he kept telling me about how good of an engineer and a person Dan was...he insisted I send him my Swans. I did and when I talked to him on the phone my intuition told me he was authentic *and* decent. I just trusted what he was doing. He didn't ask me for any money for over a month and a half. The only choice I had was in the caps--I had two or three brands to choose from and I chose the most neutral (Auricaps).
When the "noise floor is lowered", soundstage expands--that's one of the most obvious effects of noise filters. Bybees are noise filters. I don't have the speakers yet and when I do they will have all the mods, so I won't be able to hear the differences step by step as Dan did.
CDC, if you want to experiment, Carol makes some decent, inexpensive silver plated copper in 12, 16 & 18 ga sizes. That's what I'm currently using. |
BWhite, I can't say anything about the sound yet...I don't have my speakers and I'll get them fully modded. There's no way I can isolate the efect created by the Bybees unless I sart playing surgeon. The Bybees were the first thing Dan installed on my speakers, FWIW. The gear used with the final audition is described in the thread "Modwright Swans M1", if you're interested in seeing what was used. Definitely not state of the art, but definitely along the lines of what I'll be using...
What you explained about expanded sountage does make sense and I have experienced it when comparing the Absolute Power cord to the Tice PC3. The Absolute's soundstage is smaller yet the sound is more accurate than the Tice's.
Dan placed one of my Tice interconnects between his DAC and preamp and liked it because it is "dark" and was a good companion to the extremely detailed high frequency response of the modded Swans.
I don't plan to upgrade to another speaker or amp or anything major in my audio train (except for another Melos w/ more than the three inputs my SHA-1 has & an ART Di/O, no hurry), so if it sounds good, so be it. That's why I have a modded 1200...I just want to *play* records.
I would like to hear what Dan has to say about this, though. |
Let's lock this thread, please... |
It's frustration--not anger!!!
It's frustrating how some people are unwilling to experiment and find things out for themselves. Instead, irrationality is brought to the table. Then the thread rambles on and on and on till someone gets irate and/or insulted. Not to mention mental masturbation episodes here and there...
At this very moment I am burning in my Dan Wright modded Swans (I got them yesterday afternoon). I'm thinking what cabling will bring the best synergy to the already synergistic mod. I am trying to absorb as much knowledge as I can.
The mod has transformed my little Chinese babies into a top notch speaker. It's so good Dan e-mailed me they outperformed his 6.5K Greybeards. Want some humor? Five hundred for the Swans plus the *heavily* discounted mod :)
Something serious? Today there was a little Priority Mail box in my mailbox. I didn't order anything...the box contained a modded integrated headshell Stanton 500 MKII fitted with a NOS Stereohedron stylus. There was a note that said: "For your evaluation."--in my modded 1200, that is. Some serious people are trusting my ears...
POP UP THE VOLUME!!! |
Albert, you're the man! What you have done takes more than money--takes a good ear, patience, goals and, above all, love for music.
It might not seem so, but your approach to building your system and mine share many many similarities--I just don't have the financial resources nor the stability of having a fixed residence. We do share a good ear, patience, goals and, above all, love for music...
POP UP THE VOLUME!!! |
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I *know* what I'm talking about--the person that got me into high end and darkroom photography is a friend of my father. He taught me that the most important thing to look for in audio was "resolution". WRONG. Having worked at record stores, everytime I went to his house he would show me his latest wire and/or gadget (like the VPI brick--ha!)--he in turn would *always* drool with my new LPs. He was listening to equipment...
It was so much fun when I brought my Yamaha NS-10M studio one night...he had a multi-thousand dollar transport and DAC, a Klyne SK-5A pre and a Krell sliding bias beast hooked w/ $100 @ foot speaker wire to some B& W 801's. My $315 Yamahas were *uncomfortably* close to the $6,000 801's!!! I wonder if he learned the lesson...
What *if* he hears my Modwright Swans? They would really kick the s**t out of them 801's!!! |
I am sending a pair of Marantz Ma-5 Class A Monoblocks (SS) to Stephen Sank for complete overhaul pretty soon.
Right now I'm using my oldie but goodie Proton AA-1150 Dual Mono. I just hooked it up to a ONEAC 1.2 KW isolation transformer--it's sounding really good. I have a Melos SHA-1 hybrid linestage, which is also a goddie goodie. Tice interconnects throughout, with a cooked (by Sean, of course) Phoenix Gold digital cable between Cambridge D300SE and Soundstream/Krell DAC-1. The DAC sits on a non resonant Caribbean Moca wood board supported by Mapleshade Triple Point cones. The CDP on Sound Qwest Isol Pads with a Bob Regal foot on top of the transport mechanism. Three BR feet under the Melos. All this on IKEA RACK tables.
Dan did a *superb* job. I take my hat off...
POP UP THE VOLUME!!! |
Muralman has put the thread back in track! after I requested closing it--damn...
I have just talked to Dan Wright updating him on the details of my system. The Modded Swans are letting me hear things in a totally different way and since I have moved to a different appartment I have lost my reference point. That's not all bad, either. It will just take me a little bit longer to figure things out.
Muralman has a very valid point--like his system, mine would benefit most with another amp, an electronic crossover and a sub--simple as that. I am not placing a lot of emphasis on esoteric speaker wire when I just purchased spec'ed 12 ga. silver plated copper (Teflon insulated & sheathed)50 ft for $32.50. Some Bananas ($26), silver solder and vapor cryo treatment @ $10/ lb will give me more than decent performance and free my cash for other priorities. |
Good Asa, you're cooking again...Muralman's getting the best of you? No, I'm not chiding ewe (I had to look up that word in the dictionary--it's *Saxon*).
As for me, I'm happy where I am---I'm starting to focus on a farmhouse, a horse and a boat--adiós audio gear!!! |
Wire/cable is an *extruded* product. A $7,000 interconnect is robbery anyway you put it. Doesn't take much to figure that one... |
An extruder is a very sophisticaded machine--a good one will cost about one million dollars. My last job was in idustrial inkjet sales, mainly to the extrusion industry (yes, the coding that repeats itself on and on and on...).
Quite the contrary, because a good extrusion machine is capable of putting out a well made, sophisticated product in one run that's why good cabling shouldn't have such high prices. Look at companies that have their own extruders and what they can produce for the money (Belden & Monster among them). Extrapolate this to state of the art product and one can see that there's no reason (in a capitalist system) for the prices to be unrealistic. |
So, Nrchy you want to start the Groucho Wire Co. w/ me? We can start selling stock....we'll even give the Audiogon staff stock options. Extruded super duper cabling for the recording industry & audio enthusiast. Profit = (margin x volume), right?
Let's find an extruder in Mexico--I've got the connections (companies like Extrumex) and the CD ROMs. Did I forget to mention my girlfriends in Monterrey? They dance for a living! I'm sure you will find them appealling-- I am a man of good taste...
Sounds like a good project--send me a few Dominus for evaluation! |
Asa & Muralman: I should give you guys boxing gloves, videotape the fight and then sell the copies here on Dutch auctions! I bet we would sell two hundred copies in a week... |
Greg, we just subcontract an extruder--and if it's in Mexico we'll discuss business at the 'restaurant' where my girlfriends work and we'll charge on the Visa (actually the charge says "Restaurant Bar Alvarado"--my kind of place). Get the point?
On a serious note, if the Purist was that essential for recording someone like Mapleshade or Chesky would be using it--then a more sensible marketing structure would follow...and someone true to the music would become an evangelist about the product--just like Kevin Barret is a 1200 evangelist.
The more I play with my newly arranged system the more I reallize how futile it is to keep upgrading. Truth is my system's limit is the recording I am playing. No amount of money will be able to compensate for that--especially with the music that I listen to. This I emailed to Sedond a few minutes ago:
"In my system, I've realized the new homebrew speaker wire is not limiting--it's the source components. I need to get a modded ART Di/O and properly damp my CDP's transport. My 1200 needs better cabling (cryo'ed)and proper burn-in. I need to get rid of that Sumiko headshell and just use the silver wires in the Technics headshell, which is *much* lighter. Then get the upgraded Power Supply for my Monolithic and have Dan Wright put a top of the line Burr Brown op amp and some high speed Shotsky rectifiers. That's what will really kick my system in--not a $700-800 interconnect. The Tice ICs will get LN2 cryo & TPT retreatment, though...best bang for the $$$."
My mind is very clear. |
