Alert, Warning, and Caution about Modified Components
This information has previously been provided to the group under a previous, pre-existing thread and is beyond dispute, argumentation, or refutation however the thread was deleted because of improper, abusive, antagonistic behavior by one of the participants which while it was a correct, justified, and measured response by the moderators it had the unfortunate, unintended, unnecessary consequence, result, and effect of removing this information that will be of value to some although of course many of the knowledgeable experts here will already know this.
There are some dealers who sell new equipment that they have modified, altered, or customized by some method, fashion, or design and I am not talking hear about professionals who are often degreed engineers who are fully educated, skilled, and qualified to make such alterations to components intended for use in a Music Reproduction System. I am talking about dealers some of which are actually "part time" as can be shown by they're store hours and these retailers, merchandisers, and salesman do not have the prerequisite qualifications to perform this type of work. Without expressing any opinion, judgement, or assessment of these "modifications" I offer to the group these agreed upon details of which those considering such action should be consciuous:
1.) Any modification of an electrical component carries with it a potential hazard of fire and/or electrical shock and as such can be lethal and this risk should be considered against the potential value of any "improvement" promised as a result of the modification.
2.) Any modification is certain to render invalid, void, and unenforceable any manufacturer's guarantee, warrantee, promise, or assurance regarding safety, reliability, and performance of the equipment subjected to the alteration.
3.) Because of as stated in item 2 above, the manufacturer of such modified equipment is certain to decline, refuse, and reject any request to service, repair, or even inspect such a unit that has been altered contrary to or in in conflict or defiance of it's original design.
4.) Because the altered unit is now something unique unto itself and familiar only with the person who did the modification it is likely if not certain that no one will be willing to service or repair the unit other than the modifyer himself which as we know may be fully unqualified to perform any such work.
5.) You should also be cynical, suspicous and doubtful of anyone who asserts, insists, or represents in any way that his modified component is superior in performance, specification, or result from a factory original unit which has been fully tested and verified before even entering into production.
I will add to these facts that those who are unqualified to make such expensive modifications refuse to provide specific information, detail, and explanation of the work that they perform while those who are expert, qualified, and capable to do such work will explain the exact work that they perform.
This thread is limited, restricted, and reserved for discussion of equipment component modification and off topic response will be reported to the appropriate Audiogon authorities for deletion.
I was trying to read the control markings on the top of my Sharp SD-EX111 mini system (my good eye was less than an inch from the top) and I pushed "eject" not noticing that a CD had been loaded.
The CD (top loaded vertically) ejected and cut the end of my nose.
The Sharp unit is completely stock with the exception of an aftermarket (IEC) power cord.
Component mods are one of the easiest, and certainly most cost-effective, things you can do in all of audio. In most cases its as simple as looking inside, writing down the values printed on the sides of the caps, buying some better ones and soldering them in.
My first mod was to replace the diodes in my Aronov with some $8 Hexfreds. For $8 the improvement from a blacker background, more liquid midrange and treble, and reduction in grain and glare, was more like $800.
Some people of course are scared to death of electricity. Those people probably should not be modding. At least not until they learn better. Some people of course are frightened of risks of all sorts. People afraid of losing warranty coverage probably should not be modding. At least not until they learn better. Probably also there are people who can't hear the difference well enough to evaluate, or they just for whatever reason think everything should be left stock, the manufacturer knows better, etc. Probably those people should not be modding. At least not until they learn better.
However, with understanding all of that, I fail to see why anyone wanting to mod needs anyone else's approval, authority, or certification. Or why anyone buying a modded component has anything to complain about, as long as the fact it has been modded was disclosed up front.
Nothing could be further from the truth the person promoting, advocating, and touting his "modifications" was of an expensive, high-end, audiophile grade music server and it was evident, apparent, and obvious that this person wholly lacked the skills, qualifications, and expertise to perform the "upgrades" and that in fact his entire approach to audio was completely flawed, incomplete, and incompetent not withstanding of claims that he deals only in "facts" and that is all I will say about this person for fear of this thread also being deleted.
I was trying to read the control markings on the top of my Sharp SD-EX111 mini system (my good eye was less than an inch from the top) and I pushed "eject" not noticing that a CD had been loaded.
The CD (top loaded vertically) ejected and cut the end of my nose.
The Sharp unit is completely stock with the exception of an aftermarket (IEC) power cord.
Nothing could be further from the truth the person promoting, advocating, and touting his "modifications" was of an expensive, high-end, audiophile grade music server and it was evident, apparent, and obvious that this person wholly lacked the skills, qualifications, and expertise to perform the "upgrades" and that in fact his entire approach to audio was completely flawed, incomplete, and incompetent not withstanding of claims that he deals only in "facts" and that is all I will say about this person for fear of this thread also being deleted.
So, was there anything wrong with the unit? Are you having any problems with it? Any problems related to the mods? At all?
millercarbon "So, was there anything wrong with the unit?"
I know longer do business with the person in question who I will not identify by name here because he has threatened and stalked me here on the forum as has been alerted to the Audiogon authorities and his modifications are something I would never seriously consider, contemplate, or recommend he does not deal with science, truth or "facts" not withstanding his repeated claims, pronouncements, and representations.
I know longer do business with the person in question who I will not identify by name here because he has threatened and stalked me here on the forum as has been alerted to the Audiogon authorities and his modifications are something I would never seriously consider, contemplate, or recommend he does not deal with science, truth or "facts" not withstanding his repeated claims, pronouncements, and representations.
So let me get this straight. You bought something you knew was modded, it works just fine so you have nothing to complain about on that score, so you're complaining about the guy not being properly qualified (whatever that means) to mod?
Or you're complaining about him being a stalker? The guy with no name. Who apparently despite stalking you cannot be bothered to post here.
It seems what we have here is a title that pretends to be about modified components, and a post that pretends to be about a deceptive seller, but then it turns out to have nothing to do with either of those things. Now it seems to be a very roundabout way of complaining about being stalked. By someone who for all we know does not even exist.
@millercarbon yep, you got it -- the counter party in question btw is our good friend and equally locqacious European Mr Bo. There is a long history between these two but it seems to have nothing to do with the actual performance of the component in question.
As long as the "modder" is transparent about what they are doing then its up to the buyer to decide whether the modded component sounds good to them and pay their money. If the modder is cagey and can’t explain what they’re doing then that to me is a bad sign!
If the modder in question is who I think it is, he will not disclose anything he does, for fear someone will rip off his ideas, such as they are. Very secretive and eccentric guy.
Why the heck does EVERY statement Clearthink makes have to be in multiples of three for the adjectives?
Is one or two not sufficient to get the point across?
Seriously it is REALLY annoying and does detract from any potential arguments they may have to make.
Or is it just me being grumpy.......
The problem, weakness, or flaw in writing, posting, or talking with adjectives, adverbs, and clauses always appearing, following and duplicating in triplets, threes and two plus ones, is its so tiresome, tedious, and boring to read its hard to follow, understand, or interpret whatever it is he was trying, intending, or hoping to tell us, or anyone, or everyone, about.
Always assuming, supposing, and hoping there ever was anything there that was worth writing, posting and saying in the first place.
Which, I'll grant, proffer, and submit, may be a stretch, long odds, and unlikely.
Honestly what makes more sense to me, and you, and everyone else, is that whenever you know, understand, or think of the one best word to use, employ, and write, that you use, employ, or write that one word and that one word ONLY.
I feel for you if you had a bad audiogon experience.
But do you mind if I ask why you always write three similar adjectives in a row, in almost every sentence you write, where one would do? Even in your thread titles!
Adding two extra synonyms every sentence is superfluous, gratuitous, redundant.
And it makes you very hard to read.
So I’m wondering about this odd writing style of yours.
Mods like in Loudspeakers , amplifiers, or anything else if using the Exact same values, then no risk to speak of .i have been into modding for over 20 years .in truth most equipment has Average parts quality at best, less then 25%=actually goes into the build ,the rest is overhead and dealer markup. Modding is a very cost effective way of putting in premium parts at much less then buying a new product with much higher Audible returns for monies spent .i owned a Audio store for 10 years and many customers wanted upgraded resistors and capacitors, and Xovers in Loudspeakers modified. Look at Dan Modwright for example he picked a quality product worked with great audio design engineers and made a great career in modifications.
The problem, weakness, or flaw in writing, posting, or talking with adjectives, adverbs, and clauses always appearing, following and duplicating in triplets, threes and two plus ones, is its so tiresome, tedious, and boring to read its hard to follow, understand, or interpret whatever it is he was trying, intending, or hoping to tell us, or anyone, or everyone, about.
Always assuming, supposing, and hoping there ever was anything there that was worth writing, posting and saying in the first place.
Which, I'll grant, proffer, and submit, may be a stretch, long odds, and unlikely.
Honestly what makes more sense to me, and you, and everyone else, is that whenever you know, understand, or think of the one best word to use, employ, and write, that you use, employ, or write that one word and that one word ONLY.
Don't you agree, clearthink?
He thinks it helps to assert, affirm, and emphasize his perspective, wisdom, and intelligence.
Don’t you agree, admit, and concur that you made a mistake, error, and fault millercarbon, millercarbon, millercarbon?
Or if not that then possibly misjudged, misread and misinterpreted the situation, circumstance and problem. Or maybe my question, query and interrogative wasn’t clear, concise and direct enough? In any case he hasn’t responded, replied or answered. At this point I wouldn’t be surprised, startled, or shocked if he, she, or it wasn’t thinking enough, already, alright?!
I remember when I purchased my '97 Carmaro SS Convertible 22 years ago. First winter, with less about 2K miles on it, I tore into it replacing cam, heads, added full length headers and 4.10 gears in the rear.
Thankfully I haven't had to make use of the warranty over the past two decades.
But yeah, had I gone with a high psi blower without forged pistons, fuel injectors and a custom tune, I could have had some major problems.
Why the heck does EVERY statement Clearthink makes have to be in multiples of three for the adjectives?
Is one or two not sufficient to get the point across?
Seriously it is REALLY annoying and does detract from any potential arguments they may have to make.
Or is it just me being grumpy.......
It is not just you being grumpy. His posts are extremely annoying, and most of the time I just skip right over them. His first paragraph in the original post was one huge run-on sentence! He reminds me of the lawyer from Seinfeld. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8rxPrV-tn4
Everyone has the right to have his own opinion, even clearthink. Even if we are not friends. It doesn’t matter at all.
Let him say whatever he wants to say. We live in a free world. I said it many times; audio will always be chosen by what people prefer and love most.
I speak the owner of AudioService about 3 times each week. He owns the biggest company in technical support in audio in the Benelux. (Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg)
He does the technical support for:
-Lumin, Pass Labs, Mark Levinson, Marantz, Accuphase, Anthem, Arcam, Quad, Avalon, Chord, Classe, DCS, Denon, Esoteric, Onkyo, TEAC, JL Audio, Hegel, Luxman, Meridian, McIntosh, Moon, NAD, Primare, Paradigm, Parasound, Spectral, T+A, Theta, Velodyne and many more.
All manufacturers have one thing in common according to AudioService, they use cheaper parts after time goes on. We talk a lot about the parts these brands use. The audio market is a decreasing market. This is why they all use cheaper parts these days. This makes it for us so easy to do modifications. The results prove the effectiveness of it.
AudioService does also different modifications for us. And this year we will make all our modifications free for all brands. We always work with different specialists who have a lot of experiences with audio and also modifications.
We share a lot of ideas with different specialists. We will make soon many professional videos of our clients. We will let them speak of their own experiences with Tru-Fi and our modifications.
I owned the World’s Most Extensively Modded OPPO 103 several years ago. I’m not interested too much what others do or don’t do. I broke the OPPO warranty the very first day. There was so much stuff in there at the end the cover would no longer fit. The OPPOMODS Linear PS, Audio Magic, PWB, WA Quantum Chips, Machina Dynamica, etc. I’m pretty sure I broke a whole bunch of electrical codes in the process, who the hell knows? No, I don’t want to come over and see how good your unmodified, untreated system sounds.
The thing I don’t understand is why some people over here make it so personal all the time. And put the focus on a person instead of the reply of a person.
People are often a lot different compared to each other. Just let them be who they are. For me, audio is like a competition and being superior to the rest. Other companies have the same changes as we have. And they need to show that they can create the same quality or even a better level.
I don’t believe in compromises. Limitations are only for the born losers in this world. We feel very responsible for all our clients. It is our task and goal to give them a superior level in quality no other company can achieve and create. This is a choice we make because it is the only way we can do our job.
Why you would want to do something that is the same level or even less than other ones do. It doesn’t make sense at all. Selling a box can even be done by a child. Like trial&error is doing audio at the level of a child. These days people do most things without any kind of foundation.
When you are still not aware that audio by trial&error is pure gambling, your system will always be limited. It can never reveal all the aspects of sound. People need to learn what sound is and on which parts it is being built. And which aspects influence sound and stage negatively.
Here’s a great resource, for anyone interested in expanding their knowledge, regarding this most enjoyable facet of the audio electronics hobby: https://www.powells.com/book/audio-electronics-the-pooge-chronicles-9781882580149 It’s dated, and may be hard to find, but still very informative and worth the search. Anyone that’s had an audio addiction for very long, should recognize the names, Walt Jung and Richard Marsh(the primary contributors).
The limitation of products can be found in the DNA of it. Sound and stage prove that most audio products cannot reveal all the aspects of sound. Even a modification cannot add the missing aspects of sound what a product cannot reveal.
You only can improve those aspects/properties each individual product already owns. Ask people who create and manufacture audio products about the aspects/properties of sound? And aks them which aspects influence sound and stage. And what their limitations are on the sound and stage.
Then you will understand why so many products are still incomplete regarding aspects/properties of sound which are missing. Use real instruments and voices and compare them with audio products. The sound and stage will prove how different they all sound compared to the real world.
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