A cut to the chase, poor man's Rockport featuring a massive 75lb. lead and corian plinth, 90lb. solid lead self flywheeling air bearing platter, integrated high pressure air bearing linear tracking arm. I modified it significantly. I made a trap for oil, positioned just after the pump, and another for condensation 10' downstream from that, followed by a 1' plenum then a 5' one. The charcoal filter comes next followed by an automotive fuel filter and then the splitter valve which I removed from the plinth. The bulk of the 500' of hose goes to the arm which is much more sensitive to air smoothing, with about 30' going to the platter. I installed a PSI gauge on the last plenum. I replaced the arm wire with 46ga. Acrotec 6N copper wire straight through to male RCAs to the phono stage which I've positioned conveniently. I firmed up all the arm joints with super glue. I removed the motor and built an outboard mount out of a cardboard mail tube and 1" thick by 3" wide hand turned cherry wood ends with a 2"x2" steel block for weight. I filled the counterweight tube with Mortite. I tweeked the fit and finish. I mounted the spikes on Marigo Bear Claw resonance discs.

I removed the motor and built an outboard mount out of a cardboard mail tube and 1" thick by 3" wide hand turned cherry wood ends with a 2"x2" steel block for weight.

Replaced my long time reference Cardas Heart. This revolutionary evolution of cartridge design employs a very close coil to magnet tolerance achieved by placing the coil armature inside a ring magnet allowing for a relatively high output for very few coil windings. Despite the consequently extreme low internal impedance, the unprecedented integrity of design and lack of resonance precludes the need for electrical damping through loading, allowing it to be run wide open at 47k with no hint of brightness. Improvements from the earlier Temper designs include better high permeability low saturation core material, more powerful magnet, lower resonance body, purer copper coils, refined cantilever, lower mass tip, and better damping. The result is unprecedented resolution presented in a disarmingly natural way, revealing profound artistic and emotional nuance.

This replaced the venerable VAC CPA 1 Mk II, a massive full function preamp, hardwired by me direct out from the phono stage. The Trumpet is smoother and more transparant with deeper bass but not as dynamic, which is hardly a surprise given the huge power supply of the VAC. This may also be a factor of the gain of the Trumpet being not quite high enough to accomodate the .48mV output of the Orpheus without putting the volume control of the Cary all the way up, revealing the noise floor of the Trumpet as well as the Cary. I have a pair of Sowter step up transformers on the way that should help. This is the discontinued older wood model which has been replaced with a slightly upgraded version which features upgraded key resistors and metal end plates, also discontinued. Evidently the metal ends plates were a logistical concern, not for sound. It also comes with small sorbothane feet installed and steel spikes included as an option. I didn't try the spikes but the sound definitely improved with Mapleshade Ultimate Triplepoints or the Walker Valid points installed, increasing transparancy thoughout the entire range. The Trumpet appears to be an excellent design but optimized for value, rather than a no-holds-barred assault, which the price certainly reflects. I'm sure it would benefit from upgrading the already very good parts. For the moment the drama is via delicate nuance rather than bombast. Tube rolling soon to come as well as replacing o-ring style tube dampers with homemade brass tube damper/shields reminiscent of the Mapleshade Tube Anchors. I actually did replaced the input impedence resisters with nude Vishay S102s and the output coupling caps with DynamiCaps. The result was increased refinement with a bit more textural detail. I also just installed a pair of Sowter 8055 transformers with the OCC copper option inside the Trumpet configured for true balance operation, reconfiguring the input of the Trumpet to match the fully balanced differential circuit while maintaining the RCA jack. I also installed a second pair of 47k loading resistors in order to maintain the high impedance my cartridge likes. This makes the load 100k without the transformer and about 1k with the transformer. Dynamics are now strartling and noise is a non issue. After about 100 hours of burn in of the transformers I feel there is very little downside to their addition. Photo shows Walker Resonace Control Discs with Mapleshade Ultimate Triple Points mounted on top which clean up the sound.

Gold faceplate, stable platter, Blackgate cap and Fairchild Stealth rectifier diode upgrade.

battery powered, non oversampling, minimilist design. I replaced the output caps with bypassed DynamiCaps; replaced batteries with Yuasa 8 amp hour ones; both big improvements.

This is the discontinued 20 watt big brother of the 300 SEI single ended triode integrated using KR 300BLX output tubes and 6SN7s for driver and preamp. I've been doing mods on tube equipment for over 15 years and have recently completed a full rebuild. I replaced the main rectifiers with Fairchild hyper fast super soft recovery diodes, replaced the electrolytic power supply caps with larger polypropylenes bypassed with DynamiCaps, replaced the volume pot with a stepped attenuator, created separate filament supplies for each channel and for the preamp tube using Shotkey diodes and larger better Blackgate and Nichicon Muse caps with bypasses, adding chokes for the 300Bs, replaced the coupling caps with DynamiCap pairs, and upgraded a number of the resistors. I incorporated a significant circuit change that simplifies and improves the return path of the output tube significantly improving transparency throughout the entire range. I also cleaned up the internal wiring routing making it much more direct. All this turns a beautiful little amp into one of the better amps you're likely to hear, with lower noise floor (especially useful with high efficiency speakers), sounding much more powerful, cleaner, smoother, tighter and effortlessly natural. I'm very excited about the result and would be happy to share it with anyone who might be interested.

Rebuilt. Moved tweeter network outside to top of stand behind tweeter. Removed bypass resistor, upgraded caps to DynamiCaps with .1 bypass then upgraded them again to just a pair of 6uF Duelund VSF caps, stripped tweeter wire insulation, moved tweeter forward 2 inches and canted speaker back to align woofers, removed front of tweeter grill, stuffed ports with microphone wind screens, and braced back of stands. Highs are phenomenal, Bass could be a little cleaner. A few things that improved this last issue already were, first, putting microphone windscreens into the ports which took out some of the boom without effecting extension or dynamics, bracing the back of the stands (see pictures, soon to be improved), removing the tweeter network from inside the upper sphere, and lastly, installing the Walker Audio Reference High Definition Links.

unshielded foil ribbon design with small networks spaced along it. the main difference between this and the more expensive ones in the digital line is the number of these networks. Very smooth, transparent and silent.

.5m from DAC, 1m from phono stage. Scary good; beautifully nuanced; wide open; no additives/no subtractions. IMHO, the truth and nothin' but the truth.

20' pair, uninsulated raw silver plated copper foil ribbon, ran under the floor, connected directly - foil to binding posts with no spades.

a major upgrade from the Planar I or II. Uninsulated passive possibly better than the active version.

Cut up one 6 footer into 3 smaller ones. Clearer than anything else I've tried.

I shortened the power cable, hardwired a Coherent Systems EAU1 parallel circuit inside and added a TRT Infini cap. Very neutral and dead silent. I recently switched to plugging the Cary integrated amp straight into the wall for a big improvemnet. I still like the effect of the Chang on the other components.

parallel circuit that purportedly changes the way electrons flow from chaotic to coherent. Cleans things up leaving them deep, sweet and much more palpable.

massive brass pointy things. Damned if they don't make a huge difference.

used with their ST-2 antenna on the roof.

had to fix it a bunch but a beauty.

homemade laquered MDF and all thread, clamps in components with cones if desired to channel out vibes; cleans up, opens up. Price is the retail on the commercial product.

4 Cornertunes, 10 Echo Tunes, 4 Deluxe Roomtunes, 4 Tunestrips. homemade versions. Cleans up chaotic reflections to great effect. Price is the retail on the commercial product.

Hard drive recorder, editing format and CD burner. Replaced caps with bypassed Blackgates. Great machine. convenient great sounding, portable for on location recording, high resolution options and can burn high rez CD Roms.

tube reel to reel from the 60s. Ergonomics a ltittle funky but sounds nice and clean.

Headphones - Very comfortable physically and sound wise, smooth, delicate and rich. Recently upgraded from the 600s. These are more revealing with stronger bass. The richest headphones I've tried, and very much the opposite in every respect to the Etymotic Research ER4S.

Headphones - The best in ear. better isolation and sound than the Shures IMO. A little lean but clean clean clean!

Placed between speaker terminals. These are the fancier and pricier of the two models made by Lloyd Walker, made with custom components. They dramatically clean up the entire range including the bass.

Very expensive but excellent caps designed for speakers. A single 6uF replaced the 6uF with .1uF bypass DynamiCaps that I had replaced the original InfiniSeti caps with. As good as the DynamiCaps are the Deulunds are way better in every parameter, even without a bypass, and they better be at the price! Their very large size might preclude some installations. Pictured installed externally on the rear of the Gallos along with the Walker Audio Signature High Definition Links.

Magnetically treats LPs and CDs, DVDs and SACDs. Improves transparancy across the board. Betters the Furutech at half the price as well as all other comers.

The fancier and pricier of the two models of silver bearing paste contact enhancers, made by Lloyd Walker. Dramatically improves sound across the board when applied sparingly to the contacts of any and all cables or tubes.

Seriously heavy solid brass cones with 3 point interface. Channels resonances out of components better than anything save the much more expensive but similar Walker Audio Valid Points soon to be installed.

Burn in signal generator. Great for thoroughly burning in anything from any type of cables to entire systems. It works!

clips edge warped LP to platter.