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Post by G-Man on Jul 6, 2012 10:53:42 GMT -5
Nice project. Well done. The only thing that scares me is voiding the warranty. Perhaps this is best done on amps whose warranty is at or near expiration.
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Post by richardyc on Jul 6, 2012 10:58:37 GMT -5
modding is definitely fun but can get costly and the end result might not be worth the time and money invested. A while back I modded and tube rolled a Music Hall DAC 25.3, ended up cost me close to $1k, at the end, do I get a DAC that sounds better than a $1k DAC? I don't know, never A/Bed it against other $1k DAC, too afraid to find out, I guess.
A UPA-1 is around $250-$300, plus this mod is $250, for around $500, you voided your warranty and it's still no XPA-1, for $400 more, I can get one XPA-1 with 5yrs warranty, to me that's a better deal. Just my 2cents.
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DYohn
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Post by DYohn on Jul 6, 2012 11:05:11 GMT -5
People who mod their gear are generally not doing so because they care about the cost/benefit ratio or warranty coverage. I do it for fun and because I can.  |
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jul 6, 2012 11:42:48 GMT -5
If you can mod something, you can fix it yourself. A warranty is 100% pointless........ If you can fix it yourself. My XDA-1 and USP-1 are probably voided. Do i care, no  |
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Post by Jim on Jul 6, 2012 19:07:12 GMT -5
People who mod their gear are generally not doing so because they care about the cost/benefit ratio or warranty coverage. I do it for fun and because I can. Same here..... Now I just need to work on my soldering skills so I'm more confident about not breaking stuff! |
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RPA-1 man
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Phutureprimitive "Kinetic" 2011
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Post by RPA-1 man on Jul 6, 2012 19:52:38 GMT -5
Modding can be lots of fun. I had a lot of fun modding/refurbing my Carver C-1 preamp. I highly recommend it for the fun factor, but be sure you know your limits in order to avoid the magic smoke.
Refurbing older equipment, 25 years and older, for preventative maintenance reasons is a good idea as well. It can save a nice piece of gear from catastrophic failure.
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Post by ottaone on Jul 6, 2012 22:28:38 GMT -5
People who mod their gear are generally not doing so because they care about the cost/benefit ratio or warranty coverage. I do it for fun and because I can. Same here..... Now I just need to work on my soldering skills so I'm more confident about not breaking stuff! Before I replaced the convergence chips in my Hitachi RPTV, I bought some cheap boards and a part that has lots of pins like this one so I could practice: www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062593  |
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Post by wizardofoz on Jul 30, 2012 3:24:49 GMT -5
Just take not that if you let the magic smoke out of the output stages in one of the UPA/XPA output stages then identical replacements seem to be hard to source - at least I couldn't find them from the usual sources. Without removing a good one spec'ing the devices you could perhaps buy from Emotiva as a single part but they may not sell as they maybe dont carry anything other than replacements complete boards.
I have replaced many modules sent out from Emotiva to owners here in Singapore even tho it might only be a small part on the board that failed (normally the boards look to have removed from working units as they have connector jointing paint on them. Its often cheaper to replace a whole board than to fix it.
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Post by Boomzilla on Oct 25, 2012 6:14:08 GMT -5
While I applaud the OP's diligence in getting the project done, unless he kept at least one of the amps stock, there is *no* way he can tell if the mods really did improve the sound. Expectation bias is a *powerful* drug, and after dropping $250 on each amp, most anyone would hear an improvement. I might politely disagree. I've made mods before with no expectation that the sound would be any different (for example, replacing a bad capacitor in one channel of a component with a "better" capacitor). After the change, the "repaired" channel of the component sounded not only different, but also "better" than the unmodified channel. I then had to go back and install a similar "upgrade" to the second channel to restore balance with the first. Admittedly, this was a direct A-B comparison, but there is no question that parts quality does affect the sound quality. Me? I'd probably just buy better amps to start with Yes, but "better" amps, equal to the sound quality of the modified amps, would probably cost 10x the price of the mods. This is why people modify their components! For the investment of their labor, they can get an otherwise unaffordable amplifier, preamp, player, etc. at an affordable price. |
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