AB, I hope you don't mind but I didn't want to start another SWL to SWLP thread and figured I would just add this here. Yes, I am a big ModWright fan and I paid for the upgrade.
I have one of Dan’s Platinum Level 9100ES’s with tubed PS and was unhappy with my vinyl setup because of it. Dan had helped me with some table selections but it still didn’t sound that great to my ears with the phono pre amp I had. So I had Dan convert my SWL 9.0SE pre amp to a SWLP with tube rectified power supply.
I am a member of the Club Polk Forum and we recently had a Chicago Area Polk Fest that was held in Bloomington, IL. Thirteen forum members and guests were in attendance. Many members brought different gear to hear, and I took near my entire system down along with my vinyl rig and the recently converted SWLP pre amp. I only had around 225 hours on the pre amp when I took it down. A friend with the same speakers I have brought his amps down. The system is comprised of:
InnerSound Eros MK II Speakers
InnerSound Active Crossover/bass amp (second design, 600WPC @ 4 Ohms).
Sanders Sound Systems ESL amp (600WPC @ 4 Ohms panel amp)
ModWright SWLP pre amp/phono stage – Raytheon 5687 Kuhl Tubes (Pre)/RCA Branded Mullard GZ34(PS)/Supplied Sovteks (Phono Stage)
Nottingham Space Deck/Space Arm/Sumiko Blackbird
Boston Audio Design Carbon Graphite Mat 1
The Clamp
All Harmonic Technology IC/Speaker Cables
Demo albums:
Robert Palmer - Riptide
Led Zeppelin - Physical Graffiti
Mannheim Steamroller - Fresh Aire 4
Dire Straits - BIA 180 Gram
A shot of the rig here.
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=25021&d=1179647778The thread is kind of long, but the after the fest comments start from this page.
http://www.polkaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45956&page=15I pulled some quotes out of various posts in regards to the vinyl rig.
Almost forgot....listened to Rich's vinyl rig; what can I say; I didn't want to hear it and I shouldn't have...I still think it's impossible it could sound sooooooo good. I don't want to get into it.....no....I won't..... (Post 437)
Your TT rig was stellar as I haven’t heard a proper analog rig in over 15 years. (Post 497)
Rich's vinyl rig sounded simply euphoric. (Post 525)
SCompRacer's vinyl rig was literally out of this world. I could listen to vinyl all day long on that rig (as long as someone else did the prep work. (Post 550)
I have owned some decent phono pre amps up to the SWLP ($2500 retail) but the SWLP has bumped them off the rack. I thought it sounded good but it was nice getting the favorable comments from others. Thanks Dan for all your help and for offering the SWLP conversion!
EDIT: Add more tube info