Hi there!
I owned two of these in a home theater set up. I agree with your description, but I want to encourage you to absolutely leave it alone. This is a gateway amp for many people. Yes, it’s good, but it’s good in a way that makes you look for even better, evidenced by your desire to mod them already.
Leave them alone and trade up when you have to so you can preserve the resale value.
As for the bias, I did some power measurements on them at idle. They already run hotter than spec, and I suspect they are already biased warm, do not adjust.
The only mods I might encourage you to try are to build your own IC and power cables. The amp’s XLR inputs are convenience, not real so don’t force yourself to use balanced IC’s.
I’d recommend using DH Labs shielded power cables, and pure silver IC cables with KLH plugs. See what you learn.
https://www.partsconnexion.com/DHLABS-57225.html
https://www.partsconnexion.com/DHLABS-75520.html
Of course, if you are just getting into high end audio, I always encourage you to invest in room acoustics as early as possible.
I owned two of these in a home theater set up. I agree with your description, but I want to encourage you to absolutely leave it alone. This is a gateway amp for many people. Yes, it’s good, but it’s good in a way that makes you look for even better, evidenced by your desire to mod them already.
Leave them alone and trade up when you have to so you can preserve the resale value.
As for the bias, I did some power measurements on them at idle. They already run hotter than spec, and I suspect they are already biased warm, do not adjust.
The only mods I might encourage you to try are to build your own IC and power cables. The amp’s XLR inputs are convenience, not real so don’t force yourself to use balanced IC’s.
I’d recommend using DH Labs shielded power cables, and pure silver IC cables with KLH plugs. See what you learn.
https://www.partsconnexion.com/DHLABS-57225.html
https://www.partsconnexion.com/DHLABS-75520.html
Of course, if you are just getting into high end audio, I always encourage you to invest in room acoustics as early as possible.