a tube amplifier repair technician

Hi, Couple of things.
I do believe that silver plated wire can sound abrasive or at least tipped up in many situations. Bob and I (providing the wire he uses) believe that the gold plated silver metals tame the silver and allow the detail and speed of the silver with the warmth of the gold.
As for the quatros, changing the binding posts, input jacks, fuses, or (most expensive) internal wiring would be a sure bet to make a difference. Lastly, on p/s caps, I agree, and have had good results with the "day off evening (for listening) on" cycling. So it seems that the "rise and fall" theory has practical fruit.
I can't wait to hear these caps, as I was a M.I.T. or Multi-Cap user previous.
Best Regards

Hi Spiro,
I really appreciate your thoughts about possible upgrades for my speakers as
well as explanation of potentials and benefits of gold plated silver wire.
Maybe , if I have known "ALL" of these informations before
deciding on modification of my amps , I would have asked for rewiring
upgrade.
From what I understood ( it is my fault ) initially was that the wiring is silver or
silver coated. That wasn't really making my hart pounding because:
a) I was/am using Vampire silver speaker wires and I was a little concerned
about possible coloration at upper frequencies.
b) preamp used at that time was Supratek Chardonnay linestage and its
behavior at upper mid and treble was questionable as well.
c) I wasn't going to pay couple hundreds for upgrade that could possibly add
more harm then good.
This upgrade would be very interesting if applied to all key components (
knowing what I know now) :
preamp , amps, speakers and connecting wires.
However after talking to Bob, I am not sure if he would be interested in
looking at possible upgrades for my Quatros. Man just wasn't as excited as I
remember when we talked about Cybers 800. That is fine.
I'm unfortunately not that skilled and confident to do it myself and I will
continue to try to find an audiophile or " moder"/profecional who
could assist me with this task.
But I am not sweating.
Right now I am exited about new preamp that will possibly be coming in few
weeks ( hopefully ).
Ones again, thanks for some pointers and wished that I could use them for
future upgrade of my speakers............. but it might prove too much....at least
for now.

So how is it going? I could have sworn I wrote to answer by suggesting
even the upgrade to the HiFi Tuning fuses at $30 (now they seem to be $40). But my response isn't here. ? :S
I talked to Bob, and I'm sure you have since. So how did it go?

From my original conversation with Bob about possibilities to improve the already superb Vandersteen Quatros , I concluded that Bob's confidence level with work that could or was necessary to bring these speakers to another level was pretty low. I felt that since Bob's enormous knowledge with circuits, preamps, amps and such was so great that some parts of Quatro's design could be at least looked at and possibly upgraded with better quality parts, wires etc. I still think that power modules (bass amps) can be optimize to sound their best. Maybe even the external crossover could use some modification to sound even better. I am not aware of the quality of internal wiring but that is another area that can be addressed with quality wires that would somewhat close the book on the Quatro mod.....at least those are the areas that I would look for the weak spots and would start there. Of course it doesn't mean that there is something wrong with my speakers but why not ...at least try to make them even better.
I am not sure but I think that Bob wasn't sure if he could actually make them better, that is why he sort of backed off from the attempt to modify them. Well, I do understand his reasons and I never try to pushed him into doing something that he wasn't comfortable of doing in the first place.

I might try few things but I still believe the bigger improvements can be made in amp, wire and crossover of Quatros. But that is just me.
Right now I am in the middle of trying few new components in my main rig as well as in the second system so it is not really (mod) on my priority list.

Mariusz

Mariusz, at this point, it may be time to introduce you to a person who does for loudspeakers what Bob Backert does for amplifiers - Bill Legall of Millersound in Lansdale, PA. You can reach him at (215) 412 - 7700 and http://www.millersound.net/indexfl.htm or read a bit more at http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/roadtour13/roadtour13.html

I would venture to say he's never worked his magic on a pair of Quattros, but as anyone who has heard what he has done with Vandersteen 2, 3, and 4 will agree, the transformation is pretty incredible.