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Experiences with ModWright Sony 999ES



Hi,

I'm in the market for a new CD/SACD player. A short
list of my top contenders are the following

Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista SACD
Wadia 302
Audio Aero Prima
McCormack UDP1
Krell SACD Standard(Not really sure about this one though)

On a recommendation I got from my previous post I called
Frank Stuppel at fsaudio.com. Franks a nice guy and was
extremely helpful with his opinions and suggestion. One
option he said I should consider is the ModWright Signature
Truth Sony 999ES for about $2700.

After doing a little research here and on AudioAsylum it seems that Dan Wright and Richard Kern really do some impressive work. I do admitt to being a little more that
curious now. I was hoping to get some feedback from anyone
who has a Modwright Sony. Have you had any reliablity issues? Do you feel that the ModWright Sony is in the
same league sonically as my other contenders? I would
certainly appreciate your experiences and advice.

Thanks
Cmach
cmach
greeni
92 posts
 
I would be more cautious towards the Tri-Visita. This MF player seems to have some reliability issue. I owned a unit in the past. Purchased new and start to have disc reading problem not long thereafter. Since then I have learnt of four other users having similar problem, two of them are reviewers including Michael Fremer of Stereophile.
brm1's avatar
brm1
108 posts
 
I had a Modwright Sony 999 with all of the mods and just sold it to upgrade to Dan's new player the Sony 9100es. I think that the 999 is one of the most musical players out there. I had a Cary 306/200 before the Sony and liked the Sony better. The Cary was a $5000.00 machine and the the Sony was about $3500.00 totally modded, so the value felt good too. Dan is a great guy, excellent to do biz with I highly recommend his products.
Mike
bblilikoi's avatar
bblilikoi
99 posts
 
In my systems, the Modwright Sony 999ES sounded brightish with some amplifiers--PrimaLuna One, Electrocompaniet ECI 3, Aragon 8008ST/Rotel RC 995--but mostly warm and sweet with others--Cary SLI-80 and Edge NL-10/Modwright SWL 9.0. On operatic voices and some choral, it could be glassy at volume and high frequencies, though it was wonderful in combo with the Edge/Modwright separates. Finally, it could lack dynamic drive with some orchestral music like Beethoven's "Eroica" symphony (Dohnanyi/Cleveland), while being very good with others (Brahms #1, von Karajan/Berlin, 60s). A good PC helps it a lot (Shunyata, Audience). It is glorious on SACD. I found it sounded best with a big, smooth power amp like the Edge NL-10 in combo with almost any kind of preamp of some quality.
cmach OP
193 posts
 

Bbilikoi,

I think some of that brightness and hardness may have to
do with the stock Tung Sols. I have replaced the Tung
Sols on my Modwright with a pair of Sylvanias and they
made a big difference. They have all the extension of the
Tung Sols without any of the hardness.

I agree about the powercords. The best I have heard in my
system so far is the Purist Audio Dominus.

Cmach
1markr
594 posts
 
I can't stress enough about the importance of having the "right" tubes in these Modwright players, as well as the "right" power cords, and the "right" umbilical.

I found that I did not like the T-S tubes, and have replaced them with the GE 7044s. I did not like the silver umbilical, which I replaced with a custom made Jena Labs cryo'ed copper umbilical, and I use a Poiema !!! power cord on the power supply, VD Nite II or Xindak on the cdp itself.

These changes transformed a good player to an immensely satisfying one. BTW, I am not the only one to make these changes for the better.
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