Modwright SWL 9.0SE Pre ... your thoughts welcome

Thank you for your order Pardales. I am going to be shipping units within the next two weeks from the current production run. We have over 25 units from this run pre-sold.

I did speak with Kurt at Echo and I believe that 'Horseface' has borrowed a unit for audition. I am anxious to hear his impressions.

Thank you all for your support and recommendation of our product. We continue to work very hard to offer exceptional quality gear that represents an equally exceptional value.

Take care,

Dan W.

Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences and impressions of the SWL 9.0SE.

This is our first foray into manufacturing and I have spent quite a bit of time working on the design and build to be sure that it was what I wanted. Thank you for appreciating the time and energy that went into it.

The 9.0SE is meant to represent state of the art performance at a price that is accessible to more audiophiles than its competition.

I am actually an Engineer also, having worked in consulting as a Mechanical Engineer for seven years prior to launching ModWright LLC (now ModWright Instruments, Inc.) in 2000.

The build is purposely solid and simple, as are its aesthetics. It represents our mission statement: Elegance, Simplicity, Truth.

Our dealers are critical to our success, manning the front lines of customer service. I chose to have our product represented in this way (rather than just internet-direct) because I want people to be able to see, hear and evaluate the unit before they purchase. We do not offer a return policy, but we do offer a strong 5-year warranty.

Echo Audio is our Portland, OR dealer and represents the customer service and passion that ModWright Instruments is all about. Kurt is a great person and passionate audiophile. I am happy to hear that he made your auditioning and ultimately buying experience a good one.

The purpose of this post is meant to thank all of you for sharing your impressions of the 9.0SE and explain a bit about who we are and how the 9.0SE came to be what it is. I am sorry if this sounds like self-promotion, as it is not meant as such.

Parts selection IS critical to a good design, as is reliability, build quality and craftsmanship. Cost is a concern when building any product that is to be taken to market. Cost concerns should not dictate the sound of the finished product however. We made judicious use of the best quality components in critical locations. This DID raise the price from my intial targe of $1500, but the result speaks for itself.

Craftsmanship is critical and I rely on skilled technicians to build our product, in-house. Thank you Brent, John and Bob!

We do not have our products made over-seas and I personally Q/C the products leaving our shop.

Again I want to thank all of you for your support, feedback and reviews. You have helped make our 'freshman' product a success.

Take care,

Dan W.

Thanks Guys, you have certainly confirmed my instincts. I WILL keep the 9.0SE the way it is and build a future product with the rest of the bells and whistles.

I do reserve the right to make subtle circuit changes and improvements to the 9.0SE as time goes on, but nothing will be done to alter the spirit of the 9.0SE.

This does not mean that I will not finish the phono stage design. I do plan to finish it in early '06 and it will be made available both as a built-in upgrade to the 9.0SE and as a standalone product. What I will NOT do however, is make it part of the standard 9.0SE and raise the price.

Now EXTRA CHEESE...THAT will cost extra ;).

Thanks!

Dan Wright

Hi Ken, thanks for your support and rest assured that your unit is going to ship by tomorrow.

Thanks,

Dan W.

First of all, thank you all for the support and kind words. I am very pleased with the success of our first product - that is actually built by us from the ground up.

I am also pleased to hear that our attention to customer service is acknowledged and appreciated. I can't be all things to all customers, but I simply try to be honest with everyone and treat all of our customers with the same level of respect and service that they deserve.

To answer the question about balanced design options:

The SWL 9.0SE is a single-ended design, i.e. not balanced (not differential). The only way to truly add balanced outputs or inputs to the design (aside from simply adding XLR jacks, wired SE as some mfrs. have done) is to use high-quality line-level transformers.

I have successfully done this on the output of the design, converting the output signal from single-ended to differential (balanced). This has been done as a custom upgrade for a few customers.

I feel the result has been very good, but the high-quality transformers are expensive. The sonic benefits include even better impedance matching between amp and preamp and the ability to run LONG cables due to noise-cancellation and shielding benefits of balanced operation. Additionally, the output transformers that we use also reduce the output level (less overall gain) AND a corresponding reduction in preamp self noise, which is already extremely quiet.

I have considered offering a balanced output option for the 9.0SE. A balanced input is not available now and may not ever be. I am also working on a phono preamp that will be available, built into the SWL 9.0SE, or as a standalone phono preamp. The built-in option for the 9.0SE will include moving the power supply outboard. The advantages to offering an external power supply would include more space inside the unit (phono upgrade, possible future DAC board upgrade), and greater flexibility with an external PS enclosure to build a more sophisticated power supply. The improved supply would benefit the phono stage and linestage equally.

I am also considering building a higher-end unit that would be balanced throughout and feature an outboard power supply.

I am, to be perfectly honest, in a bit of a quandry here:

1) I want to offer options to suit different customers needs and desires. I also want to offer an attractive upgrade path to SWL 9.0SE customers and would of course prefer that they upgrade with ModWright Instruments products.

2) I am leary of alienating our customers, with a series of revisions and upgrades, resulting in the 9.0SE MK I Rev. II, etc.

3) I also want to be able to keep up with production of the standard 9.0SE and maintain a solid level of quality and efficiency in our manufacturing.

I would appreciate your comments and specifically, to answer the question of whether you as ModWright Instruments customers and potential customers want to see upgrade options such as those mentioned above, for the 9.0SE. Or, would you prefer to simply see another product to follow - necessarily at a higher price-point - that features those options.

The SWL 9.0SE was meant to be a high-quality, high-value product that brought Class 'A' performance to the audiophile at a real-world price. It is not inexpensive, nor could we build it cheaply and have it perform at the level that it does. But, at $2200, it was meant to compete with other products that are 2x - 3x plus its price. I don't want to lose sight of this with upgrades that will necessarily add to the overall cost of the 9.0SE.

Thanks and I do welcome your feedback.

Dan Wright
President, ModWright Instruments Inc.
360-247-6688

Thanks Tvad, I agree with you RE the constant upgrades and reivisions. I don't want to confuse the marketplace or cause audiophile nervosa either ;).

I believe the best thing is to reserve the special and major design upgrades for the next model.

I appreciate your input.

Dan

Phono Preamp is on the list for 2006. I have started work on a design that is intended to integrate well with the 9.0SE as well as other linestage/preamp designs.

Please do check back with us if you are in the market.

Thanks,

Dan w.