Quote:
Originally Posted by wild wild west 
Ed,
I had no luck searching on modwright finding anything about the 95 tube mod so if you happen across it I would appreciate if you would send it to me.
Would you please change your settings to allow me to send you a private message?
Thanks Bob
Ed,
I had no luck searching on modwright finding anything about the 95 tube mod so if you happen across it I would appreciate if you would send it to me.
Would you please change your settings to allow me to send you a private message?
Thanks Bob
I think this is the review being referenced. It's rather long but comprehensive:
Modwright BDP-95 personal review.
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I would like to invite anyone from the Southwest Michigan area with a stock BD-95 to get together for a back to back shoot out with a number of unbiased listeners for a future review. Until that time, I respectfully submit this solitary review.
Background: I am almost 62 years old, and began a lifetime passion for music in my pre-teens. I became an "Album Oriented Rock" disc jockey in the late 60's and early 70's, won a best DJ of the year award, and mentored some young DJs that went on to major markets. Between promo tickets and working stage crew I attended at least a hundred live concerts at this time in my life, and many more since. I have a BBA from WMU.
Experience: I built a Heathkit receiver in my college years. It was pretty noisy and far from audiophile, but it was the beginning of my first system Which included a Harman Kardon linear tracking turntable, Dahlquist DQ 10 speakers with active crossover and an externally amplified DQ 1W sub-woofer, with Yamaha and Harman Kardon Amps. This system was stolen. My next system included an AR tube preamp, Linn Sondek LP 12 turn table, Dynavector ruby cantilever moving coil cartridge, and bi-amped Magnepan speakers. This system was stolen. I then got into photography with the insurance money and didn't get back into Hi Fi until the 90's when multi-channel theater was in its infancy.
Today: This system morphed into a flagship Denon 5803 receiver with ERS paper insulating the toroidal transformer, and two 7.1 external inputs with trimming capability, B&W 805 top of the line bookshelf speakers on three fronts with Bybee Quantum purifiers on the + post of each driver, with Mirage filling out the 7.1 system with the surrounds modified to tone down the tweeters maintaining 8 ohm impedance (switchable), and a flagship Paradigm Servo 15 sub-woofer. I have an X-can V2 headphone amp with gonzo PS, caps mod, ALPS blue velvet volume control, Sennheiser HD 600 headphones, a Samsung LN40A650A1F LCD TV, and of course the Oppo BDP-95 with Modwright tube mod on the dedicated stereo outs, SS mod on the 7.1 outs, The special Modwright umbilical, and the vacuum tube rectified PS (5AR7 nos tubes),for particulars see the Modwright site, a Monster HTS-3500 MkII Power conditioner with the dual Auricap .47uf 600v AC mod at the input. I have a dedicated 20 amp circuit to the power conditioner and a separate dedicated 20 amp circuit to the sub. My power cords are VH Audio Flavor 4 with the exception of the Oppo which sports a JPS labs digital power cord. My speakers are wired with 14 gauge double run pure copper. Interconnects are DIY unbleached cotton insulated 28 AWG .9999 pure silver wire, with Eichmann Silver Bullet Plugs.
Review: After much tube rolling, I settled on ShuGuang 50years TREASURE CV181-Z Tubes. My next favorite are the "Full Music 6SN7" also sold under the name "Sophia 6SN7, all made in China. Go figure. I owned the Oppo for about a month before shipping it to Modwright. My impressions of the stock unit were mostly positive, in fact it blew away my previous Denon 5900 Universal player. Much more detailed through out. The only negatives were a slight touch of graininess on the very top end of vocals and a somewhat rigid overall character to the sound, almost too precise. I would not call the sound thin, because it has a very tight and deep bass character. I probably could have been happy with the stock unit after some more break in time to the unit and me. However six weeks down the road and about 2k out the door, I was rewarded with a player that simply let the music through. Red book CDs are not quite the fidelity of vinyl, but the HD discs are superb. I thought I would be a little disappointed with the solid state part of the mod, but I was wrong. The SS Multi-Channel rocks. I had a friend listen to the last 13 minutes of the SACD 5.1 version of Moody Blues, "Threshold of a Dream". When it finished playing, there was a moment of silence then "wow". I couldn't add anything to that. This SACD is truly an immersive experience. For basic Red Book I chose Big brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin on vocals. Stand outs are "Summertime", "Piece of my Heart", and "Ball and Chain". The emotions really come through and Janis was all about an emotional personal connection with her audience. Me being an audience of one, made the connection. I was totally lost in the music. Listening to music is my form of meditation. For DVD-Audio I chose the Doors L.A. Woman disc. "Riders of the Storm" put me in a trance-like state. Vocals were uncolored and natural, like being there, Of particular note is the ethereal quality of the organ. Jim is truly a poet vocalist albeit a lugubrious one. For a concert video, I highly recommend Talking Heads "Stop Making Sense" Blu-Ray. There are a number of audio choices on this disc. I highly recommend the DTS-HD Master Audio Studio Mix (You may need to turn the bass down a little, but it is second to none for quality). Another disc of note is The Beatles "Love" DVD-Audio. In the high impact "A Day in the Life" there is a walking bass riff that I do not remember being there (Actually this bass riff is in "Hey Jude"). Perhaps it's the fine definition of instrumentation and black space character of a fine source unit or maybe it is the particular character of the deep tight bass native to this player, but whatever it is, it's 3 grand well spent, and however much a person sinks into a system, the old adage "Garbage in Garbage out" holds true. No garbage here.
! How many hours on it before you modded it?
As I got the most from my Pioneer 51fd from a lot of your grunt work! Although I posted only 2 or 3 times on the massive thread I lurked and learned much!
If you are in the Ottawa area and have great phones you want to audition with a 95 using one of these simple adapter boxes, pm me ...
