Your experience:a cdp that gets best of lesser cds

You cannot get "more" out of a badly recorded or mastered disc with any electronics. You can find a CD player or DAC (or preamp, or amp, or wires, or...) that colors and masks the problems, or you can find a player that has excellent transparency and highlights the problems.

You already have an outstanding player in the Modwright Sony. Try rolling some Sylvania GB-5687 tubes in the Modwright. They will warm things upa a tad if you are currently using the stock Tung Sol black plates.

I think you should be looking for an equalizer you can apply to the bad recordings, not a CD player
Herman (System | Reviews | Threads | Answers)

That's one perfectly valid solution.

Arthur makes some good suggestions for various ways to color the sound of your bad recordings...and I have absolutely no issue with doing so. However, before you vote the Modwright off the island, you owe it to yourself to experiment with a couple tube alternatives. You will be pleasantly surprised. Even a $20 pair of Sylvania WA5687 would make a nice change toward a warmer sound that what the Tung Sol tubes provide. The change will not be subtle.

Also, the new tube rectified power supply for the Modwright makes a significant improvement to the naturalness of the music.

Start with some tubes, unless you are hurtling toward an inevitable CD payer change (which I sense you are).

It's true that only buying and trying, and listening to the possibilities will reveal which is best for you.

03-13-07: Foster_9
I've tried the stock Tung Sol's replaced them with the Raytheons then GE 7044's, then tried a second set of Tung Sol's given to me by Dan then back to the Raytheons's so I have tube rolled.

The Sylvanias I recommend are significantly different than those that you have tried. But, please do some more research into the Modwright players and preamps, and you'll comments here and on AudioCircle from several users who have installed Sylvania GB-5687. Two local audiophile buddies who have systems vastly different from mine both use Sylvania 5687 tubes in their Modwright Sony 999ES Signature Platinum players. One likes the Sylvania GB-5687 and the other likes the Sylvania WA5687. For $20/pair, you have very little to invest to try the WA5687.

You can't tell me that the synergy present between the front end and the rest of your system isn't going to affect the end product (sound) with all of your cd's, the well recorded and the poorly recorded.

True. However, what comes from the source component is the most critical. What's missing from the source will always be missing. Even the Modwright has information either missing or colored differently from other digital sources I have owned. It's a matter of preference.

Overall, I think the synergy thing is a matter of trial and error, and some luck. Unless you happen to find another audiophile with precisely the same electronics, speakers, wire, AC and room, you will not be able to assume their recommendation will translate to your system. That's a point well made by Arthur, and I agree with him completely. It's one reason I am recommending starting will a smaller expenditure since you already own a world class digital source, and one that fits into many systems regardless of their varying components and speaker systems.

It takes a strong working knowledge of voltage, gain and impedance matching to put together a "synergistic" system. Many of us don't have the working knowledge to do this properly, and that's where the trial and error enters the picture. If along the way we come across someone who knows this stuff in and out, like Alex Peychev did when I owned my APL Denon 3910 (and as Dan Wright does), then their help can be immeasurable in solving problems. Perhaps if you contacted Dan Wright, he might have a suggestion about adjusting the output voltage of your Modwright to better match your system.

Finally, if your Reimer loudspeakers are anything like the excellent Grand Tetons I heard, they are very revealing in the upper mids and highs, and will not help to ameliorate what you find objectionable in any of your poorly recorded CDs (or vinyl LPs, or computer music files). There are speakers that can be revealing and true to well recorded material while also being a little forgiving to bad recordings. You may not be able to hear the tympanist scratch behind his ear, though.

Best of luck on your quest.

I'm very tired of burning, churning, and losing money.
Foster_9 (Threads | Answers)

I hear 'ya brother. I still do a little churning, too.

Before you play "Survivor: CD Player Overboard", give Dan Wright a call or an email and explain your goal. He might be able to help with a slight resistor tweak.

FWIW, the top-of-the-line Ohm Walsh 5 loudspeakers can be adjusted along the lines of what Beheme suggests. They can also be adjusted for bass.

I owned a Behringer EQ, and I believe it is a good solution for some people. I was not engaged enough to learn the intricacies of the Behringer to make it worthwhile, but I think it's a powerful tool.

But using the right tube CDP (or an outboard buffer as suggested by Beheme) you can by selecting the right tubes soften the glare itself.

FWIW.
Newbee (System | Reviews | Threads | Answers)

OK, here's an idea I can't believe I didn't mention...and I've done it myself with excellent results.

Use a tube buffered Paradisea DAC, available on E-Bay for $525 delivered. Wow, talk about taming the digital nasties and producing warm, creamy and liquid music! Just run the Paradisea from the Modwright's Toslink or Coaxial digital outputs, and you have the best of both worlds!

03-14-07: Aball
Tvad - You should avoid making condensending remarks about people's "colored" suggestions when you are guilty of it yourself. You start off by suggesting that anything other than the Modwright is colored and then keep suggesting these tubes to effectively change (i.e. color) its sound.

Arthur, I never intended to suggest that the Modwright is uncolored and all other players are colored. If I gave that impression, then I needed to be more precise in my writing, because it's absolutely the opposite of what I believe, and I certainly had no intention of being condescending. So, let me correct it here.

Yes, the Modwright is colored. I happen to like it's coloration, and even more so with some tubes other than those provided with the unit. In fact, I made the following statement in a post above:

Even the Modwright has information either missing or colored differently from other digital sources I have owned. It's a matter of preference.

The Paradisea is also colored. Wonderfully so. In fact, it's exactly the meat-and-bones coloration that might fit Foster_9's goal perfectly.

The only digital source that I have ever owned that I believe showed the least amount of coloration, and yet was amazingly musical with tremendous meat on the bones was an APL Denon 3910.

Now, I'm going to re-read my posts to see where I wrote that the Modwright is uncolored and all other players are colored. It bothers me that you read my post as such, because it was not my intention to convey that message. Further, I did comment that the rectified tube power supply added to the naturalness of the Modwright's sound (freedom of grain and an added liquidity), but I don't believe I ever stated that the Modwright is neutral.

Frankly, in my opinion several of us are on the same page, and yet there is a continuing debate among us as though we are on opposite sides of the topic, and I cannot figure out why this is so.