OK, it's been about 4 days as the modded panny is breaking in, and the results are nothing short of astounding. I don't really have the lingo down as far as describing the sound, as this is really my first experience with audiophile type amps that sound this good. I could use cliches etc that describe the sound, but I will reserve those for another week or so until I feel the unit is completely broken in. My initial thoughts right out of the box, were, uh, well, less than impressed. Knowing that Wayne had told me how long it takes for the unit to break in, and since it was the middle of a work week, I reserved judgement and let her sing all day long, over the last four days to see what happened. After just three days everything that I had loved about the xr-50 was now back in the xr-45 and then some to say the least. The results: outstanding. I have never ever in all my life heard a home theater receiver that sound THIS good. The highs that I loved so much now literally sing, have become much more musical, while still mainiting the detail and presence that I had grown accustomed to hearing. I will sit down to a more critical session this evening before I hit the gym, but wow wow wow is all I can really say.
One item of note: I did get the bybee'd jumpers per Wayne's reccomendations and let them sit there for 24 hours to break in with the xr-50 still in the system so I could hear the unbiased and unchanged results of just their effect. Again, nothing short of astounding. I literally would have been happy with the xr-50 and these little wonders by themselves. The jumpers brought a sound out of the swans that I had NEVER had the pleasure of hearing before. The midrange became very prevalent, which I loved. It brought the highs to a new level, and the biggest impact was it's performance to the bass. The bass became extended, with much more detail than I had heard from them before. I actually thought the swans lacked a good defined bottom end until I added the jumpers. Thus, in summary, the jumpers were worth every penny and then some. I had no idea this little tweak would be such an improvement, in fact, I expected very little, and was shocked to hear what I heard.
Now, how the heck to isolate everything in order to review, a conundrum I have not had before. I assume switching out the nitro plus power chord with the stock chord would be a good idea, as well as feeding both digital and analog into the xr-45 will suffice. I will take a few hours this evening to review and take notes, then post my finidings. I will follow-up when I get back from Barabados, woohoo, in about several weeks.
Thanks Wayne for such an outstanding product and your customer service is nothing short of unreal. Power rec's anyone?
