What about Bybee Filters?

Twl, before committing to Dan Wright, you might also want to talk to Stan Warren (co-founder of PS Audio) of SuperMods un Eugene, OR who also does supposedly an excellent job on the s9000es.

I talked with Stan on several occassions and was about to send my s9000es to him when I got laid off. So I put off having the mod done.

He only does one revision at $250. He claims a 25% improvement in sonic performance. A friend of a friend who is some type of audio equipment reviewer, had his s9000es done by Stan around a year ago and he claimed about a 40% improvement in performance.

So I'm guessing between 25% and 40% improvement in sonic performance.

I still have the unmod'ed s9000es but have since purchased a Sony SCD-1.

I had the Bybee filters installed by Dan in my Pioneer 38A. It was at the same time as I had the level 2 mods done to the transport and had the clock upgraded. It is therefore very hard for me to be sure which component upgrade was responsible for the new sound. I can tell you that the player after he got done has a very clean sound. It seems like the electronic mush in the background that was always there in the past has been removed so the instruments are much more clearly delimited, i.e. a blacker background. I find the level I listen to music has dropped coniderably because of the improved resolution and lower background noise. I would attribute this to the ByBees, though I can't say for certain that it is true. I hate to say it, but Dan is probably the person best qualified to advise you.

I have always heard that the most effective place for the ByBees was at the speaker, although you need one for each driver I believe. Second most effective is supposed to be in the digital front end. The in-line ByBees seem to be the most controversial. I have read quite a few postings which said the owners found them ineffective, even with owners who had very good things to say about the speaker and electronics location.

Sorry, I can't be more unambiguous, good luck whichever route you choose!

Regards,
Greg

Gpalmer is right. Dan Wright will probably send you straight over to Stan Warren. :)

The Bybee filters do nice things for AC mains, such as allowing the digital gear to remain on when listening to analog if separated into separate circuits, digital and analog....I don't care for them on speakers or ICs as feel too much of the baby gets thrown out with the bath water, but YMMV....Some folks love them throughout.....

I have both the Bybee speaker filters and the IC filters. The IC filters are on the lines from both my digital (CD player) and analog (phono preamp) sources to my linestage at the linestage inputs, and are also on the lines running from my linestage to my amplifier at the amplifier inputs. I initially thought that the speaker filters had the most effect, and in certain systems, I still think the effect of the speaker filters is at least very noticeable (good). However, in my system and in some others, the biggest and best difference is made by inserting IC filters going into your amp, whether they are coming from a preamp or directly from a source. This has proved to be the case not only in my system but in at least 2 other quite different systems I have listened to at great length recently.

A local dealer here claims that inserting Bybees directly into the power feed of a CD player or DVD player will make a very dramatic improvement in the digital sound reproduction and video output as well. I can't yet verify what this dealer is saying, but I can say that he is a very knowledgeable and reputable fellow whose opinion I respect.