[MarkgM]

Hi,
Just curious about the caps used when moving to extremes.  Curious as to what caps were in the Gary mods if anyone here knows as well. Curious as to what caps people have tried.  Are the same 15,000 uF caps used throughtout the line? TIA -

Mark

[mgalusha]

My Extreme's appear to have the same caps as my stereo Stratos did, just more of them. I believe the "Full Gary" version had Sonicaps as bypasses on the power supply caps. These statments apply only to the 15,000uF power supply caps. The caps are branded Odyssey, so I'm sure Klaus buys enough quantity to have them labeled. The quantity adds up fast when there are 12 per amp. 

I have tried replacing the input coupling caps with BlackGate NX and found this to be a nice improvement. I also tried bypassing the BG's with some .1uF Sonicap Gen II's. IMO this worked very well.

Mike

[bunky]

Hi,
Just curious about the caps used when moving to extremes.  Curious as to what caps were in the Gary mods if anyone here knows as well. Curious as to what caps people have tried.  Are the same 15,000 uF caps used throughtout the line? TIA -

Mark

my"special order" mono extreme SEs use Nichicon muse capacitors and Hexfred bridge rectifiers. Alex @ Odyssey built himself a pair of them and i bugged Klaus for six months straight until he finally agreed to build a pair of them for me. im sure glad he did!   thanks....WCW III

[MarkgM]

mgalusha, that's interesting they're branded.  IIRC, my Stratos caps were not branded Odyssey.  I think I bought that amp close to 4 years ago.

Interested to see what people's comments are about the nature of the changes, particularly, at different parts of the frequency range. ?

[MarkgM]

Bunky, what's an extreme SE?

[Wolfman]

Bunky,
You've started it now!
My S.E.'s are loaded with nice,big,white Sonicaps. Looks very patriotic with the red boards and blue Odyssey L.E.D.s   

[klaus@odyssey]

Different custom jobs,  at different stages,  and at different times.
Essentially,  I'm willing to do whatever a customer wants.  Well,  nearly always.

Klaus

[bunky]

Bunky, what's an extreme SE?

Hey Mark, as Klaus said in his prior post my"special order" mono extreme SEs were a custom job.mine were based on mods Alex G @ Odyssey performed on his own pair of mono extreme's. after i had a discussion with Alex about his SEs i knew i just had to have a pair of them. Klaus said that if things slowed down a little they would build them for me,so maybe six months later the Boys at Indy built my pair of SEs and i asked Klaus to wire them with the Groneberg TS premium cable to match my speaker and ic cables and he did. these Amplifiers are lightning quick and as smooth as silk and will drive any loudspeaker that i am aware of. thanks....WCW III

[MarkgM]

six months later the Boys at Indy built my pair of SEs and i asked Klaus to wire them with the Groneberg TS premium cable to match my speaker and ic cables and he did. these Amplifiers are lightning quick and as smooth as silk and will drive any loudspeaker that i am aware of. -bunky

Well, you know, I think the Stratos I had was a hell of a performer, straight out.  It's just a mean machine.  The bass response, down to the lowest frequencies I could produce were the best I could do so with any amp I was using.  But then, there was this business of "silk" in the highs.  Now, I don't think it's too strong, and I also find it to be an extremely flat performer across the range, also holding very well at lower volumes (which many amps don't do).

So, I was thinking of where I would look to try to get from silk to transparency in the high treble. A little whispery, it seems to me there.  And, what comments would people offer who have been through upgrades, from Stratos to monos to extremes, and even beyond that to SEs or Gary mods?  There has been so much todo in this area, so I am curious as to specific comments or observations when applying these kinds of upgrades. 

TIA - Mark

[lazydays]

after reading this thread, now I'm completely confused instead of just slightly confused. When my two monos were rebuilt I was told there were three different upgrade paths (seems as if it were three anyway). I took the notion that more of a good thing is even better, so why not just go the full tilt boogie.
I have no idea what wire was used let alone caps, and to be truthfull I don't care as long as they sound great. They only thing that was done that I remember being mentioned was something todo with the power supply, and expect to have at least three hundred hours on them to sound half way decent.
And lastly I do think they should have came with a back brace <g>!
    I do know that some caps sound better than others, but how many are in there I have not the slightest clue. I one of those guys that works on the "if it ain't broke then don't fix it." For me the greatest mod I'd ever do to an amp or pramp is to just swap tubes (I do have a phobia about draining caps)
gary

[bunky]

after reading this thread, now I'm completely confused instead of just slightly confused. When my two monos were rebuilt I was told there were three different upgrade paths (seems as if it were three anyway). I took the notion that more of a good thing is even better, so why not just go the full tilt boogie.
I have no idea what wire was used let alone caps, and to be truthfull I don't care as long as they sound great. They only thing that was done that I remember being mentioned was something todo with the power supply, and expect to have at least three hundred hours on them to sound half way decent.
And lastly I do think they should have came with a back brace <g>!
    I do know that some caps sound better than others, but how many are in there I have not the slightest clue. I one of those guys that works on the "if it ain't broke then don't fix it." For me the greatest mod I'd ever do to an amp or pramp is to just swap tubes (I do have a phobia about draining caps)
gary

Hey Gary, every Amplifier in the Odyssey lineup from the Little Khartago to the mono extremes are built like a tank using better parts than the competition at several times thier price point.  what is also remarkable is that they are handmade to order one at a time. the premier amplifier in the Odyssey lineup is the mono extreme version. that being said there are boutique parts out there that are desireable but expensive and Klaus is willing to do custom work using these parts if the customer wishes.all of the latest Odyssey amplifiers are wired internally with Groneberg Quatro reference cable. i requested the Groneberg TS premium cable in my extreme SEs because i like the cable and use it exclusively in my two channel rig but again this was a custom job done at my request. thanks....WCW III

[lazydays]

after reading this thread, now I'm completely confused instead of just slightly confused. When my two monos were rebuilt I was told there were three different upgrade paths (seems as if it were three anyway). I took the notion that more of a good thing is even better, so why not just go the full tilt boogie.
I have no idea what wire was used let alone caps, and to be truthfull I don't care as long as they sound great. They only thing that was done that I remember being mentioned was something todo with the power supply, and expect to have at least three hundred hours on them to sound half way decent.
And lastly I do think they should have came with a back brace <g>!
    I do know that some caps sound better than others, but how many are in there I have not the slightest clue. I one of those guys that works on the "if it ain't broke then don't fix it." For me the greatest mod I'd ever do to an amp or pramp is to just swap tubes (I do have a phobia about draining caps)
gary

Hey Gary, every Amplifier in the Odyssey lineup from the Little Khartago to the mono extremes are built like a tank using better parts than the competition at several times thier price point.  what is also remarkable is that they are handmade to order one at a time. the premier amplifier in the Odyssey lineup is the mono extreme version. that being said there are boutique parts out there that are desireable but expensive and Klaus is willing to do custom work using these parts if the customer wishes.all of the latest Odyssey amplifiers are wired internally with Groneberg Quatro reference cable. i requested the Groneberg TS premium cable in my extreme SEs because i like the cable and use it exclusively in my two channel rig but again this was a custom job done at my request. thanks....WCW III

well I guess my extreme monos are wired with the good stuff as well, being as they're barely three months old. But the cap issue is something I know nothing about. I can see absolutly no reason to open up my monos; as they sound just fine the way they are. Besides what would Klaus think if he knew I was in there fooling around with a perfectly good amp? And knowing my phobia with electricity and what happens when you get in contact with it<g>. Would I buy this same pair of amps again? More than likely. But do I need enough power to arc weld with in my system? Not really (remember my system(s) are set up for tubes, and this solid state thing is new to me. The one thing I put above all the other comments brought up here is build quality, and from what I see my three pieces reek with quality.
    Still I'll be the first person to tell that my systems are a constant evolution with amps being the very last thing ever touched. In the last five or six years I've been thru six preamps. Four are tubed, and without a doubt there wont be a solid state preamp in my systems ever again. Tubes are magic in the control devices as well as sources. With the amps, the jury is still out. But will tell you this: I could make a good down payment on a Caddy XLR for what it would take to match these two mono extremes. So now I'm happy (that's saying a lot if you know me very well as I'm the perfect Ed Crankshaft model). I see the next move in my system downstairs will come in the phono stage area as well as an added second tone arm. If I can can find some money laying around.
Right now I'm using a George Wright WP100, but would like a little more gain and better tubes. Oh and a major plus would be externally adjustable loading for the cartridge as well as gain controll. See I don't want too much!
barely staying out of the poor house
gary