ILLusion Liquid Air Umbilical for Modwright units

Wig, so I take it you tried both the Liquid Air and the Illusion Liquid Air umbilicals? If so, how substantial was the improvement of the Illusion over the LA?

It always seemed to me that PCs for DC would afford even more improvement than PCs for AC. Also, I wanted to ask you what rectifier you are using in your 9.9 now.

Brownsfan,

I lived with the LA for a year before moving up their line but I can tell you that the LA is very good and moving up to an Illusion will get you more refinement, precision and blacker backgrounds. But with the level of your system, I would get the Illusion.

I'm in agreement with your comment about DC verses AC improvements; all of my AC PC has made a difference in tonality and removing the veil but the LA changes are heard the moment you install it and gets better with 200+ hours.

At the moment I'm using the Mullard for their texture and ambiance retrieval but I have re-issue Gold Lions and Create that I like also, especially the GLs.

Thanks Wig. I take it you are sticking with the GZ34s rather than the 5U4-G type rectifier.
I have been tempted to give the EML 5U4 a try, but it is rather pricey for a rectifier. Pretty cool looking tube, though!

I have not considered the EML 5U4 but I may read up on it to see what folks are saying...

Wig, I found some older references on Audio Circle to a fellow using the EML with his MW transporter. He had some issues due to the voltage to the rectifier being too high.

I'm having a little trouble figuring out what the deal is with the 5U4 tube, and if the 5U4G tube is actually a suitable tube for the 9.9.

I did mention once to Dan that I wanted to try the EML tube in the 9.9. He didn't dissuade me from doing so, but I would want to know more before shelling out that kind of money.

The eml tube is supposed to be a superb rectifier. I am still using the Gold Lion 5AR4s in my 9.0 and 9.9. Every once in a while I roll the Mullard back in, but I just prefer the GLs hands down to both the Create and the Mullard.

I will give Jerry a call soon on the umbilicals and see what he says.