Cable vs. Electronics: biggest bang for the buck

Dan Wright has finished the mod and wrote me an e-mail I published in this thread:

http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?cspkr&1027655496&read&3&4&

Dan and I had a phone conversation yesterday wrapping up everything that has been done. We definitely have an understanding on this subject.

From what I understand the Bybees provide a subtle but definitely pleasant refinement in the musical presentation. This is what Dan wrote: "The Bybee filters lowered the noise floor and improved soundstage and presence."

The Bybees were the most expensive--and undiscounted--part of the mod but Dan convinced me they were pretty much essential in doing this right. Also, the Bybees will allow me to use a homebrew speaker wire with less remorse.

I'm going for some (surplus) 12 ga silver plated copper w/ Teflon insulation and sheathing ($32.50 for 50 ft). It's a 25 ft run and Dan told me to go ahead and use it. A friend of mine has a supervisor who's got a fixed setup for speaker cable cooking, so I plan to meet this person and ask him a favor. I then plan to send the cooked wires for vapor cryo treatment. It should be decent and within reason...

I should have the speakers next weekend, GW.

Psychicanimal, where do you get silver plated copper for .65/ft?
I'd like to try it. Thanks.

Animal, why not keep the Bybees external in case you prefer not to use them, some people don't. Also, when someone throws out terms like lower noise floor and improved soundstage what do they mean? I don't think the noise floor will measure lower, and changes soundstage and presence are due to frequency responce variations. Is that what Dan did?

steve

This is from the Modwright website:

"...I proceeded to install them in my speakers first as Jack indicated that this was where the Bybee filters had their largest and most obvious impact on system performance. I installed them directly to the drivers, one at the woofer and one at the tweeter in my Graybeard KB/2/2's. I soldered them directly, in series, at the positive terminal of the driver, soldering the other end of the filter to the internal positive speaker wire. This was done at each woofer and tweeter in my speakers. They could also have been installed at the crossover or anywhere in series with the internal speaker wire in the speaker cabinets. Jack indicated that the best place to install them however was right at the driver."

The Bybees work at a "quantum mechanics" level. All I can say is that Jahaira (José) is a friend of Dan and he kept telling me about how good of an engineer and a person Dan was...he insisted I send him my Swans. I did and when I talked to him on the phone my intuition told me he was authentic *and* decent. I just trusted what he was doing. He didn't ask me for any money for over a month and a half. The only choice I had was in the caps--I had two or three brands to choose from and I chose the most neutral (Auricaps).

When the "noise floor is lowered", soundstage expands--that's one of the most obvious effects of noise filters. Bybees are noise filters. I don't have the speakers yet and when I do they will have all the mods, so I won't be able to hear the differences step by step as Dan did.

CDC, if you want to experiment, Carol makes some decent, inexpensive silver plated copper in 12, 16 & 18 ga sizes. That's what I'm currently using.

FYI - I have a number of Bybee's I've removed from my equipment one by one - after having them installed one by one. They do make a nice change to certain systems but are not for everyone or every component.

I would say that overall they tend to ad a subtle but darker character to the music and ultimately make it less life-like and less lively - dull, flat... but the back-ground is blacker... What's more important? Lively or a black background... you decide! The sound stage doesn't "expand" per se', it does however become muddied and thicker sounding perhaps giving the illusion that it got bigger? I dunno... But when you get excited about soundstage while listening.. think about how realistic the size is rather than how wide it is. Sometimes a consolodation of the soundstage is a more accurate representation of the performance than a great big through-the-walls soundstage.

There are components which would benefit tremendously from Bybee's like the SCD-1 and 777ES SACD players and maybe some solid state components. Bybee's should be avoided with tube gear unless you're using an ARC preamp - in which case the more Bybee's the better! ;)

Given that I have not ever listened to a Modwright player, I would have to say that it could be that the mods add so much "detail" that the Bybee's become a welcome addition to refine and tame the sound slightly.

For instance, on a stock XA777ES, I would hesitate to think Bybees would make any improvement and think they would make a negative sonic impact over the original design since this particular player leans ever so slightly toward the darker side of neutral when compared to the SCD-1, and 777ES.

A fully modified XA777ES may have far greater resolution and perhaps too much - making the Bybee's an effective solution which refines the overall signature.