Anyone here ever done a B&K "upgrade"?

Spoonman

Hi Everyone!

I'm am not quite broke yet but I am trying! Just bought a new TV etc. etc. and am now debating my pre/pro situation. Time for me to finally join the digital revolution I believe (better late than never). I have an old AVP4000 that has served me well however it is only Pro Logic. I might as well go to at least 5.1DD. One avenue is to have B&K do the upgrade. Just wondering if anyone has ever done this and were you satisfied? TIA

Phil Dawson

I had a ref10 upgraded to a ref50. I'm very happy and I thought the price was very good and the turn around time was resonable.
Phil

kelley

Phil, when they did your upgrade did you get 7.1 capability? I think the 50 has that? B&K told me that there was no physical change to the exterior so I'm wondering if you got that since they supposedly install the 50's processing. I'm leaning more towards getting a 30 and having it upgraded as the 30 is more money, but the upgrade is only in the $500 area. Kind of evens out in the end for someone who doesn't already have a BK.

Phil Dawson

Yes it does have 7.1. With the 30 they don't have to replace as many parts so it's cheaper. With the 10 it is my understanding that they replace everything on the inside so in effect you get a whole new unit in an old box. Either way you wind up with a super unit for not a whole lot of money.
Phil

Spoonman

Phil,
Thanks for your response. How long was the turnaround? How long ago did you have this done? Looks like the 10-->50 was a major upgrade. I am hoping they can do the same although I do not know how far they can take the 4000. I think it is the same box. Different face plate but same box. Anyway I will be calling them tomorrow.

Phil Dawson

The turnaround time was +- 3weeks. That included shipping from Denver to Buffalo and back. It seems like they said 7-10 working days. I went through my local dealer which seemed like the way B&K likes to do it. I had the upgrade done this last summer Aug, I think. If you go through a dealer they can call B&K and get the time based on how busy the factory is. It was a very smooth transaction. B&K folks are good to deal with. I had a warantee issue when the unit was new and they took care of it quickly with no questions. As an added bonus the company is american.
Phil

mantis

We have had alot of them done for customers of mine.

Personally I will join the list.I'm only waiting for the new faceplate to become available.

Great company offering above and beyond my expectations.

Dan

Spoonman

Thanks for the feedback all! Sounds like B&K is on top of things.
Looking forward to talking with them tomorrow.

kelley

Phil, another question for you. With Ref 20's quite available over on Audiogon what is your opinion on someone who wanted to buy a ref 20 and use it for awhile before getting it upgraded? Could you have lived with your 10 and been satisfied or were you definately looking for something better? Mitch

Phil Dawson

The ref10 is a great sounding unit. The problem is that it is not very surround sound friendly. The ref 10 will not even do DTS processing. I wanted to upgrade so that I could use discrete outputs from a DVD-A and SACD player. I never had a chance to A/B the units obviously but I didn't notice a great sound improvement when I got the unit back from B&K. The upgraded unit will play and decode just about every format out there and should remain current for at least anohter week or two. Down the road I will upgrade again as necessary. Living with a ref 20 for a while should be an enjoyable experience if you aren't concerned with the formats it can't handle or provide. Although the ref 50 components are better I'm not sure that it sounds a lot better and the ref 10 sounded great to start with. Hope this helps,
Phil

kelley

Phil, did your ref 10 come with 2 outputs for the center channel? From the looks of B&K's site it did, while the ref 30 and 50 only have one. If yours has 2 do they both still work after the upgrade? That would be a big plus for me.

Phil Dawson

Sorry it only has one center out. I run a pair of CS440is off a Mac 250 bridged to mono. The 400s are roughly 6 0hm load so I ran the speakers in parallel and go off of the 4 ohm tap. They sound great and by doing it this way I don't have a problem with each speaker getting a different amount of power if the two stereo channels aren't perfectly matched.
Phil

Spoonman

FYI

Looks like the upgrade is a moot point now. Seems that B&K has had a price drop($1,000 msrp) on the ref50 & 507. I can now get a brand new ref50 for the same as the upgrade! Yipeeee!