Great results from the Upgrade Company
Comments
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two voltage regulator tubes (13EM7)
Old school radio tubes. My old Joule used them.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
That modwright oppo is stunning, nice neat and tidy work.2 channel:
Bryston 4B3, Bryston BDA3, Cary SLP05, Shanling CDT1000SE with parts conneXion level 2 mods, Nottingham analogue ace space 294, soundsmith Carmen MKii, Zu DL103 MKii, Ortofon MC 20 MKii, Dynavector XX2 MKii, Rogue Audio Ares, Core power technologies balanced power conditioner, Akiko Corelli power conditioner with Akiko Audio HQ power cable, Nordost heimdall 2, Frey 2, interconnects, speaker and power cables, Focal Electra 1028 BE 2, Auralic Aries Femto, Black diamond racing cones, ingress audio level 1 roller blocks, JL Audio E110 with Auralic subdude, Primacoustics room treatments.
Theater:
Focal Aria 926,905,CC900, SVS PB ultra x2. Pioneer Elite SC85, Oppo BDP93, Panamax M5400PM, Minix neox6, Nordost Blue heaven LS power cables. -
Did a bit of research. Well, see for yourself. Looks like the wires were wrapped with tin foil and the capacitors got a small rectangle of Dynamat. There also appears to be Dynamat directly on the PCB, some dangerously close to some "traces" or whatever they're called as well as solder joints.
Who did this?? -
honestaquarian wrote: »Did a bit of research. Well, see for yourself. Looks like the wires were wrapped with tin foil and the capacitors got a small rectangle of Dynamat. There also appears to be Dynamat directly on the PCB, some dangerously close to some "traces" or whatever they're called as well as solder joints.
Who did this??
The Upgrade Company.afterburnt wrote: »They didn't speak a word of English, they were from South Carolina.
Village Idiot of Club Polk -
http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?2845-The-Upgrade-Company&p=40808&viewfull=1#post40808Again, standard MO. Fortunately, we have photos of some of his handiwork. At no point in that thread did Mr. S deny that these photos were of his mods, nor did he respond to my direct question in the link. He did, in fact, praise the virtues of the blue goop shown in the photos as improving audio quality by reducing vibration.
Here is another before/after of the work from The Upgrade Company. After seeing the work that Modwright does, this instills zero confidence in me. I wouldn't send him my equipment if he offered to do it for free. This is my own personal opinion on the subject.
afterburnt wrote: »They didn't speak a word of English, they were from South Carolina.
Village Idiot of Club Polk -
Likely EMI paint. The tape and paint can be purchased easily for minimal cost. That and perhaps an hour or two of time. Another method would be to apply RF/EMI shield sheets to the lid and other bare metal parts inside the enclosure. Dynamat Xtreme with it's foil layer offers some RF/EMI shielding in addition to it's superior damping capability.
I'm not saying what he does isn't a good idea, it is. My issue is the price charged for the work is ridiculous.
Compared to what it costs for some of the upgrades to the crossovers on the speakers that I have seen.
Not really
This of course is a personal value judgement.I know a LOT of people who would call us all nuts for doing the stuff we talk about on this forum. I mean $4000 plus dollars for upgrades to the crossovers on a 20+ year old pair of SDA-SRS 1.2tl's??
more than twice what the speakers cost when they were brand new!!
I know for a fact there are people who would question the sanity of anyone who has done it and say things like "you could buy a car for that"
I am detailing my exceptionally positive experience. If you guys want to be skeptical,go right ahead.
I expected that
I was that
If you want to pick apart what the Upgrade cCompany has done go ahead.
I expected that as well
I even read all of this same stuff all over the web for two years BEFORE I got my upgrade.
Here is the catch
EACH AND EVERY SINGLE PERSON WHO HAS TRIED TO DEBUNK WHAT THE UPGRADE COMPANY DOES HAS NOT DONE ANY BUSINESS WITH THEM.
NOT A SINGLE ONE
Kind of like walking into a play and seeing five minutes of it,then posting a scathing review online about it and doing a huge amount of research to deconstruct what the writers of the play were trying to achieve.
YES ladies and gentleman I have actually witnessed this exact series of events play out in real life in real time.
If you want to talk about how there is no benefit to VR3 mods and you have never actually seen of heard one,how do you think a lot of the guys on this forum are going to react????
I know I certainly have never seen of heard one,but you don't see me talking negatively about them do you?
If you want to deconstruct an Upgrade Company modification and how others have more and better benefits,then why don't you purchase one and see for yourself if what you are saying is really true?
If you do not have any actual experience with an Upgrade Company mod then how can you say for sure if it is worth it or not?????
When I said that I would put my preamp up against any of the higher end models out there @F1nut immediately came back and asked if I actually had done it.
Yet here you guys are trying to discredit what the Upgrade Company does and none of you has ever actually heard or seen for yourselves ANY of their upgraded products.
Anyone can go online and say whatever about whomever and people just take for granted that what they say is true.
The pics that I posted are of real products that I own and are using right now.
NO I am NOT a paid representative for the Upgrade Company
Just a VERY happy customer who was VERY skeptical at first like a lot of you.
If you cannot produce an actual product yourselves to prove these theories about how it isn't worth it,then doesn't it stand to reason you have nothing to stand on?
Purchase an Upgrade Company product or service and then if you are not satisfied you can return it.
THEN you can come onto the forum and talk trash about them and David Schulte. I know he certainly has given many people fodder for their cannons.He definitely did with me at first. Again like I said in my posts,he has an abrasive manor which is very offputting at first.
AGAIN LET ME REPEAT WHAT I SAID ABOVE-IF YOU DO NOT HAVE ANY ACTUAL EXPERIENCE WITH AN UPGRADE COMPANY MOD THEN HOW CAN YOU SAY FOR SURE IF IT'S WORTH IT OR NOT???
And NO @F1nut I have not actually had the opportunity to do a side by side comparison with any of the higher end preamps out there as I cannot afford them. I just know what I am hearing in my system and I would be more than willing to actually do a side by side comparo if someone with one of those units were to bring it to my place. Like I said previously this upgrade was a tax refund.
I HAVE however had some audiophiles over who have heard my system before and after the upgrades and they were VERY impressed with what they heard.
@Nightfall I do not know where you or @F1nut live,but if you are ever in Washington,D.C. you are both welcome to visit and I can show you my preamplifier and cables as definitive proof.
Or if anyone is willing to do a Skype call with me I can show you my system live on video from my cell phone which has Skype on it.NO I ain't gonna tear my system apart for someone on Skype to look at the inside of my preamp.Let's be reasonable here.
Just PM me here and I will give you my Skype name.
Can you get in touch with those naysayers who CLAIM that those pics are of actual Upgrade Company mods to verify what they are saying??
Or are you just taking for granted they are telling the truth just because you found it on some "reputable" links and such?
I hold the pics of the inside of my Onkyo PR-SC5509 preamp as proof of what the upgrade Company does and stand by my claims.
The simple fact that I opened the thing up may have even voided my warranty,but I wanted to see what they did and was told by another Polk owner to take pics before and after as proof.He asked if I could send them to him and I did. -
@Nightfall
Those threads are from four and five years ago.
My pics are from early 2015 as you can see on the date stamps. -
I agree that the tape looks a lot more professional than the foil he was using several years ago.
You are again correct that I cannot say with 100% certainty that those pictures are of TUC's work. If you read the thread though, the owner of TUC himself was posting in it and although he never said "Yes, that's my work", he also never denied it wasn't. Take that for what it's worth.
I apologize for putting you on the offense, I was just sharing the information I found.afterburnt wrote: »They didn't speak a word of English, they were from South Carolina.
Village Idiot of Club Polk -
honestaquarian, I can see what he has done and I know what he used. As I stated previously, it's not a bad idea as there are benefits, but the price he is charging is beyond ridiculous. As I also stated, there are other ways of getting the same results, all for considerably less money.
BTW, your comparision to Trey's work.....well, take one look at what he does. You can see what you're paying for, which is far more than I can say about the Upgrade stuff.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
@F1nut
You are ONLY seeing one pic of one unit (*and it isn't even showing you the whole kit and kaboodle*)
The same gentleman who asked me to take pics of the unit before and after and send them to him also looked up the Upgrade Company and was extremely skeptical because David does not want to show his work. He had his SDA-SRS1's modded by @VR3 because Trey DID show what he does.
To each his own.
I'm not sure if he is a member here,but I bought a set of feet from him for my SDA-SRS 3.1tl's.
@Nightfall
Again I saw all of those arguments all over the web when I did a search for TWO YEARS before I took the plunge.
What caught me was the fact that NOT ONE of those people actually purchased anything from the Upgrade company!! So for me at least it shot a huge hole in their arguments.
It's a total leap of faith here.
The return policy and warranty are great backups and trust and believe I AIN'T returning mine!!! -
If you take a closer look you can see that the power outlet was upgraded.
That is just one of the changes that I noted and was told about.
David is not any more forthcoming about the others.
All I can say is that whatever he did the cumulative effect was HUGE. -
You are ONLY seeing one pic of one unit (*and it isn't even showing you the whole kit and kaboodle*)
My comments are based on the picture you posted. What else did he do to your pre amp?
Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
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All of the pics are high resolution,so you can click on them and expand them greatly. These were taken with my digital camera, I have even more on my phone.
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The euro spec power cord that I had to return -
So, he put some little "plates" on some chips, some sort of 3M weather material on the sides and a lot more of that blue stuff. Sorry, but that still doesn't justify what he charges, not even close. FYI, putting that blue stuff on the heatsinks was not a good idea as it might hamper their ability to release heat.Political Correctness'.........defined
"A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."
President of Club Polk -
@F1nut
This is your personal value judgement.
As a salesman you KNOW that everyone has a different set of value judgements about the same things (*and everyone always likes to assume that everyone else is either just like them OR SHOULD BE*)
If you don't think it's worth it then fine you have the right to that opinion. Just like I have the right to the opinion that it is crazy to spend north of four grand for some crossover mods on speakers that are not only over twenty years old,but didn't even cost that much when they were new and nothing that you can tell me will change my mind about that.
However that DOES NOT mean that I wouldn't use @VR3's services if I could afford them.
To each his or her own -
The old and new power cords for the Sunfire amp
All of the pics above with a date stamp were taken with the digital camera. The ones without the date stamp were taken with the cell phone on the same days. This pic of the power cord was much later. -
All we are saying here is this:
If his mods are worth it, why not list SOMETHING more specific about what he does. I'm not saying detail it in all its glory with a roadmap/schematic/parts list so you can do it yourself, but as a consumer and potential customer, not having an idea what I'm paying for besides just a lower noise floor is kinda nuts...
Some of the things your commenting about with upgrading parts in our speakers... something to think about... There is no reason you HAVE to pay Trey to do your crossovers... the parts are availiable to everyone. Do you have the skills to do it quickly? Different story. But with Trey you know what parts you are getting, the reasons for such, and the documented changes you will see.
With the upgrade company, I dont really see a detailed list of what they do to the units to justify the cost. That is all we are saying. We are not saying that the issues he attempts to address are not problems inherent with the gear. Simply that without a breakdown of what exactly he addresses, we cant get a gauge on if the cost is worth it.
Something else folks have to factor in is the warranty aspect. If I send my still in warranty unit to him, get it back and it stops working for whatever reason, if I'm still within warranty from the manufacture do you think they would actually honor it if they saw that when they opened it up? Nope.
Then factor in the changes we've seen in receivers in the last 3 years (using the warranty length on my Denon as an example), and realize most enthusiasts will replace their unit every 3-5 years, which makes those upgrades even more costly as you'd have to KEEP doing them over and over and over.
Now with something more simple like a stereo pre-amp, or integrated your going to use for years (5+), I could "maybe" see the value, however when those items where manufactured I'm sure the issues would have been addressed already given the cost for a decent "newish" pre-amp...
"....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963) -
@Nightfall
Again as I said above I saw all of that stuff and a lot more when I was doing my research on the Upgrade Company for TWO YEARS before I decided to take the plunge.
The same thing kept coming back to me over and over and over.NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WAS ACTUALLY AN UPGRADE COMPANY CUSTOMER!!!!
I don't know about you,but that kind of shot a HUGE HOLE in their arguments for me as I have seen this kind of naysaying nonsense many times before about many things.
Look at how many people try to say that Jesus wasn't real
Look at how many people try to say that God isn't real
Okay this is not in the same league here,but my point is that sometimes ya just gotta take a leap of faith.
I did because my instincts told me to do so. I have learned to listen to them,because they have never,ever,ever led me wrong.
Boy am I glad I listened to them for once
The Upgrade Company's website suggests trying a less expensive upgrade like a CD player or Blu-ray player first to kind of get your feet wet. Then if you are satisfied you can dive a bit deeper. I went ahead and dove in because I was VERY unhappy with the sound of my Onkyo and just could not live with it any longer.
I have no intention of using their return policy EVER.
I have seen and heard that Oppo Blu-ray player tube mod all over the Capitol Audio Fest this past summer.As a matter of fact I will post some pics of some of the systems I found it in. They are on my phone.
I cannot really say much about the sound as it was all on some unfamiliar systems,usually with unfamiliar program material. OR they were playing records when I walked in. -
@Nightfall
Again as I said above I saw all of that stuff and a lot more when I was doing my research on the Upgrade Company for TWO YEARS before I decided to take the plunge.
The same thing kept coming back to me over and over and over.NOT A SINGLE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE WAS ACTUALLY AN UPGRADE COMPANY CUSTOMER!!!!
I don't know about you,but that kind of shot a HUGE HOLE in their arguments for me as I have seen this kind of naysaying nonsense many times before about many things.
Look at how many people try to say that Jesus wasn't real
Look at how many people try to say that God isn't real
Okay this is not in the same league here,but my point is that sometimes ya just gotta take a leap of faith.
I did because my instincts told me to do so. I have learned to listen to them,because they have never,ever,ever led me wrong.
Boy am I glad I listened to them for once
The Upgrade Company's website suggests trying a less expensive upgrade like a CD player or Blu-ray player first to kind of get your feet wet. Then if you are satisfied you can dive a bit deeper. I went ahead and dove in because I was VERY unhappy with the sound of my Onkyo and just could not live with it any longer.
I have no intention of using their return policy EVER.
I have seen and heard that Oppo Blu-ray player tube mod all over the Capitol Audio Fest this past summer.As a matter of fact I will post some pics of some of the systems I found it in. They are on my phone.
I cannot really say much about the sound as it was all on some unfamiliar systems,usually with unfamiliar program material. OR they were playing records when I walked in. -
You're missing the point of what is being said...
No one is saying that it does not make a difference. But he is doing small amounts of work (sloppy work IMO) and charging a ton for it.
So, either he is using some super secret, expensive procedure or he is way overvaluing his time.
The reason he does not explain what he doing is because people will see through his pricing in 5 seconds.
I can't stand people that price gouge. -
I don't know man, any company that can't specifically tell me what they are doing is a no starter in my book. Just sayin'...
I'm not a big mod guy for the record, especially with newer gear. If I don't like the sound of a newer piece, I'd sell it and move on to something else. Given the costs of some mods, it might even be cheaper to do so. Bringing vintage gear back to all it's glory is a different animal though.
I can see smaller mods on newer stuff, dynamat...changing a cap here or there, fuses, but full blown mods which can get costly....not a fan.
I don't know what you paid for those mods from the Upgrade company, which seem minimalistic and overpriced, but wouldn't it had been better to put that money towards a better sounding pre/pro like an Anthem or Cary ?HT SYSTEM-
Sony 850c 4k
Pioneer elite vhx 21
Sony 4k BRP
SVS SB-2000
Polk Sig. 20's
Polk FX500 surrounds
Cables-
Acoustic zen Satori speaker cables
Acoustic zen Matrix 2 IC's
Wireworld eclipse 7 ic's
Audio metallurgy ga-o digital cable
Kitchen
Sonos zp90
Grant Fidelity tube dac
B&k 1420
lsi 9's -
No I am not missing the point
Again as I said previously ALL of the arguments that yous guys are making I read elsewhere on the web over and over and over again FOR TWO YEARS BEFORE I TOOK THE PLUNGE.
I agree that he is not helping his cause by not being willing to detail what he does. YES I had this very discussion with David Schulte himself. YES he has had this discussion with many over the years. If he don't wanna do it that is his prerogative. I don't own the company and am obviously not going to change his mind. All I can do is say it's YOUR equipment,it's YOUR money and it's YOUR decision. I said eff it and took the plunge and am happy I did.
Outside of the audio world I have had the same argument that I'm having with yous guys about whether or not someone who is not and audio or video phile thinks it's worth the money to pay for example $500 dollars for an Oppo Digital Blu-ray player when they can get an Insignia player from Best Buy "that does the same thing" for like $79.99
Does this argument look familiar anyone?????
