Sunfire Amp? Mods

I'm still playing around with getting my "test bench" for measuring PLC's, power cords, etc... all set up. As such, i'm still playing around with these myself and having to do it by ear.

I do know that the cords from Custom Power Cord's are HEAVILY shielded, etc.. and seem to introduce "bass weight" in my experience. Unfortunately, i also noticed a slight decline in pace or speed of the music, probably due to the increased "thud factor". If your system is slightly lean though, they might work wonders for you. These are the folks that make the Top Gun, Model 11, Hi-Value cords, etc...

While i own 4 different Sunfire's ( Sunfire 300, Sunfire Signature 600, Cinema Grand, CG Signature ), i've only been inside of one of them. As far as i know, they are all EXTREMELY similar. As such, most any mod from one amp should benefit the others. Sean
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Which Sunfire Amp are you discussing. The Sunfire Stereo 300 wpc amp or the Sunfire Signature 600 wpc amp?

Interesting mods Sean, they sound very enticing! I am curious as to what cables you feel fall into the category of "heavily filtered / shielded or an impedance altered" power cord. Any of the Harmonic Tech or Audience power cords?

Greg

My first suggestion is to increase both the quantity and values of filter capacitors inside the amplifier. This will increase bass slam and impact, the one area that i think that this amp is somewhat weak in.

While you are doing this, i would also install several different value bypass capacitors across the top of the larger filter caps. This will tend to smooth high frequencies somewhat and also remove more of the AC line hash that has made it into the power supply.

You can also either replace or re-configure the internal speaker wiring. As they have it laid out internally, the cables go underneath or at least very near the transformer shield. They also tend to soften the treble response due to the apparent amount of inductance present.

Since these amps use a switching type supply, the use of a heavily filtered / shielded or an impedance altered power cord ( or combination of the above ) may help you out also. Not only can this clean up the "junk" going into the amp, it will help to minimize the amount of electrical hash that the amp itself tends to generate from finding its' way back into the rest of your system.

All of the above will help to lower the noise floor, giving the amp a blacker background and present an all around improvement. After that, things get more difficult. You can get into the technical side of things such as changing over to high speed / soft recovery diodes, higher grade caps, etc... Sean
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