Cell Bernardino's System

Cellcbern

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Main Amp - Pathos TT RR with capacitor & resistor upgrades.JPG ByBee Stealth Power Conditioner.JPG Modwright Sony Ultimate Truth XA-5400ES on Townsend Air Platform.JPG Merlin VSM-mme with Soundocity outriggers and Yamamoto ebony spike cups on custom isolation plat.jpg

Pathos TT RR Integrated Amp w/upgraded coupling capacitors (Mundorf Supreme Silver/Gold/Oil) and other mods; Modwright Sony 5400 SACD player; Merlin VSM-mme speakers w/Soundocity outriggers on custom speaker isolation platforms; Bybee Stealth Power Purifier (2015 model); Cerious Graphene Extreme and Klee Acoustics cables; Townshend Seismic Sink (air bladder), ER Audio Space Harmonizer, and Yamamoto ebony spikes w/Audio Points spike shoes under SACD player; Yamamoto ebony cone cups and Sound Mechanics CY Crystal Platform (not in photo) under Pathos TT; Custom Cerious Graphene umbilical between SACD transport and Modwright PS 9.0 power supply, which sits on Yamamoto/Audio Points cones/cups and custom corian isolation platform; Z-sleeves on interconnects and speaker cables:Quantum Physics Noise Disrupters on SACD player and power conditioner; Shunyata cable elevators; Marigo VTS, Combak Harmonix, and Acoustic Revive tuning dots; RPG acoustic panels, ASI resonators and Sugar Cubes; modified Decware Z-rac
 

treitz3

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Hello Cellcbern and welcome to the What's Best Forum. Looks like you have assembled one great rig!

Tom
 

Cellcbern

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The photos above are out of date since I have moved and now have a dedicated listening room (see my small Avatar photo). Using a different rack now but only minor changes in the system which include:

-Isoacoustics Gaia II footers in place of spikes on the Merlins' outriggers
-Currently HiDiamond D8 speaker cables, Klee and Dueland DCA20GA interconnects, Audio Magic Liquid Air umbilical, Gutwire Perfect Ground grounding cable
-Isoclean Supreme Focus, Verastarr Grand Illusion II, Audio Magic Clarivoyant Liquid Air, and Lessloss C-MARC AC cords
-No longer using Acoustic System Resonators and Z-Sleeves
 
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Cellcbern

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My system as of 1/2022:

Modified Pathos Acoustics TT RR integrated with upgraded components and 1950's Sylvania long black plate 12AX7's: Dueland Cast PIO Tinned Copper Foil & Mundorf Silver/Gold/Oil caps; Vishay Z-foil resistors; Bybee Music Rails (2) installed; rewiring with Stage III Concepts Aerostrand and Duelund tinned copper cable; replacement of the red 33,000 uf caps (4) and main and mosfet power boards (2) with the latest versions from Pathos; Yamamoto teflon tube sockets; Furutech gold over copper rca connectors and IEC inlet; Nasotec Namoo gold over copper/wood speaker binding posts; vintage Alps "Black Beauty" volume pot to replace failed stock unit. Amp sits on customized (to accept the fixed chassis spikes) Marigo Mystery feet and custom Corian isolation platform.

Custom Bache Audio Metro 001 speakers (augmented wideband design with 4" full range driver covering 500hz - 9000 hz) on Isoacoustics Gaia feet: optional 3/4" bamboo cabinet; upgraded crossover components; stock Tang Band 8" woofers upgraded to Eton Symphony (required modified porting); air motion transformer tweeters upgraded to the rare, out of production Japanese made Fostex FT96-EX2 tweeters (there is a cheaper, lower performing Chinese made version); rewiring with Stage III Concepts Aerostrand and Duelund tinned copper cable; Bybee Quantum Clarifers on woofer and wideband driver magnets.

Modwright modified Marantz SA8005 SACD/CD player with 1950's Tungsol long black plate 5687 tubes, on last generation Townshend Seismic Sink air platform, Dalby Lignum Vitae feet, and Salamander Archetype rack with custom isolation feet; GEC U52 5U4G or Sophia blue 274B rectifier in separate Modwright PS 9.0 power supply, on Acoustic System Top Line feet and custom isolation platform; Custom Audio Magic Illusion Liquid Air umbilical between player and power supply.

Cable selection optimized for each individual component and the system:

Verastarr Grand Illusion
II copper speaker cables; Townshend Fractal F1 interconnects; Verastarr Grand Illusion III High Current copper AC cable with AC connectors upgraded by Mike Powell to Oyaide "Armored" AP-004 and AC-004, and Lessloss Firewall 640X Entropic filter (ordering 2nd one) between wall and power conditioner; Hemingway Z-Core Beta AC cable on Pathos amp; Lessloss CMARC Entropic AC cable on modified Marantz SA8005; Echole Omnia AC cable on Modwright PS 9.0 power supply.

Bybee Stealth Power Purifier AC conditioner with Nordost Qk1 and Qv2 plugins; dedicated (JPS Labs in wall wire) 20A line and breaker box; Oyaide R-1 outlet with WPC-Z; Environmental Potentials EP-2050 and EP-2750 on main panel; Quantum Physics Noise Disrupters on power conditioner, Modwright power supply, and under Pathos amp; multiple Akiko Tuning Sticks and Byebee IQSE's; strategic chassis and parts damping with fo.Q damping material.

Details of my listening room acoustical treatment can be found here:

 
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Cellcbern

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Nice , that are a lot of mods cell
Deliberately. In my experience it is the only viable path to "world class" sound when resources are limited. The key is finding great circuit designs like the Pathos TT that were offered with cheap parts to meet a price point and upgrading the parts. That's what Dan Wright of Modwright looks for when deciding which players to modify. Unless I hit the lottery I will never be able to afford the likes of Absolare, CH Precision, Magico, etc. But my ears tell me that I've gotten close to the mega-buck component level of performance in my small listening room via the modification route. Most of my components and accessories were purchased used or demo.
 
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