[mcgsxr]

Just a teaser, I have received my SB3 back from Wayne, after it went for a trip to the Colorado spa to get brought up to date for mods.

I will leave it to Wayne to describe what level it matches, but after 4 years it was very difficult to part with for any period of time! Thankfully, Wayne was quick quick quick, and I have it back in my system, running 24/7 for 100 hours now.

I will let it go for another 600 hours or so before I post impressions.

Thanks again Wayne!

[Wayne1]

You are welcome, Mark.

The mod is an update to the Full Enthusiast Level.

I did not change out the analog bypass caps. They are still the Sonicap Gen 2.

I did update all the internal power supply caps and installed a linear voltage regulator for the Clock/Buffer circuit.

It is very close to the mod I did for Bob in St. Louis.

[Bob in St. Louis]

  ............ 

[mcgsxr]

I have had the unit up and running 24/7 for 7 days now, and as it breaks in, it is a familiar story for my ears and caps.

First impressions are that there is greater separation between instruments (on Diana Krall Temptation, the keyboards are much clearer in the mix than before), and there is more bass for sure.

Highs are a mix of grainy, then smooth.  This I recognize from past experiences with caps breaking in.

Happy so far, more after 300-400 more hours of straight run in.

I will invite locals to listen in time too, there are some around my town that are AC members.

[mcgsxr]

Up and running for over 2 weeks now.

The treble is smoothing nicely, the detail remains, and the music is just flowing.

I will continue to drop teasers, and after a month (total, so in around 2 weeks), I will post a more fleshed out review.

All signs point to good things so far!

[loxllxol]

Which mods did you get?

[mcgsxr]

The SB3 received the Full Enthusiast Level mods.  http://www.boldercables.com/servlet/Detail?no=403

I don't use the digital output, in my implementation I use the analog outputs, directly into my amp - the SB3 functions as my source, DAC, and preamp.

[mcgsxr]

As posted just over a month ago, Wayne recently took another pass through my SB3, to bring it up to the latest Enthusiast mods level.  I have been running it in 24/7 ever since, so it has around 800 hours on it at present.  I would like to describe the system, and the room, to give my comments some context.

My system is relatively simple.  Bolder SB3 direct to tube amp, single driver OB speakers – though there are some added complexities, it really is that simple. 

Power from a dedicated 20amp circuit goes from the wall, through a Felicia balanced power unit, then through a Bolder Nitro PC, to the Bolder Rev1 with Jensen caps PS, then through a Nitro DC cable to the Bolder SB3.  Pretty clean power all in all.

There is a dedicated PC, running XP Pro, and Squeezecenter, wired Ethernet to the SB3.

From the SB3 the signal goes through Bolder Nitro IC’s to a Reckhorn active crossover.  From 100Hz and down, the signal goes to an analog EQ, then on to a 300w BASH amp, then to my 2 12 inch MAW OB subs.  From 100Hz and up, the signal goes directly to my Magnavox single ended EL84 tube amp (console pull from around 50 years ago), then straight to the OB Visaton b200 drivers.
So, modern front end, very old amp, and old school open baffle alignment for the speakers.  Clearly not your average home stereo setup, and lots of DIY effort in the speakers and their design.

OB Single drivers directly connected to an amplifier do many good things (come on, I am the mod for the Open Baffle Circle, you know I have to get a few licks in!) but they don’t have the treble extension of a good 2 way (I also have to keep it real!).  I pretty openly admit that.  I live with that compromise, because of what they do right for me, and what I value – mids, and a very musical presentation, supported by solid bass from the OB subs.

I have offered to some locals with more conventional speakers, the opportunity to hear my SB3 in their systems, and I expect to have 2 such chances to report back on, and hopefully one or more of them will chime in here with what they heard, in their system.
I have had the system in question pretty much stable for the past 2-3 years, and have been in the same room for closing on 4 years (when we bought the house).  It is a large, unfinished basement of 25x35x7.5, so it is a lot of volume.

As for the listener, well his 38 year old ears were once classically trained (violin at the 9th Conservatory level over 9 years) and are bolted to the sides of a head that likes a ton of different music.  A drive through the FLAC folder will uncover tunes widely varied from Progressive House, through Classic Rock, Spacemusic, Jazz, Blues, and Classical.  Mostly, I love female voice (Diana Krall, Bjork, Tracey Thorne, Rebecca Pidgeon, Vienna Tang, Natalie Merchant, Jewel etc), so it gives some context to my system, and why I have made the concessions I have (for the money of course).

Right, enough self indulgent blogging, how does the friggin Bolder SB3 sound?

Well, auditory memory is tough to go by, so it is honestly tough for me to think back 8 weeks ago when I last heard my system, compared to the time I am able to spend with it now.

I can rely on my best friend, who recently walked in to play pool and said – oh, there is more bass, what have you done?  Nothing, that is one of the differences in the system, that anyone will notice, just wandering in off the street.

What I notice, having spent more time with the unit over the past month, is very pleasing liquidity, an ability to resolve musical content, solid imaging, and impressive clarity.  There was a time during the break in that I suggested that my system could not resolve all the treble clarity available from the unit – an admittedly odd comment, but I just felt that there was more there than the b200’s could produce.  I will find out soon enough.

To take a live example of what I mean, let’s consider Rebecca Pidgeon’s “Spanish Harlem”.  As those of you with resolving systems know, there is a guitar part that comes in around halfway through the song, and with multi-way speakers, the “flicking” sound of the pick on the strings is clearly evident – I have heard it at my best friend’s house, on his system.  With mine, the guitar sounds more like a classical.  So the notes are there, but the air and bite of the treble are not reproduced.  When I listen to Chemical Brother’s “Leave Home”, I know there is more treble information there, than I am hearing on my system.  So I am aware of it, but like what I hear otherwise, and can live with it.

Moving to Natalie Merchant’s “When they ring the bells”, it is a most moving musical tune.  I currently can follow any of the instruments, but always am drawn in by the overall presentation of the music.  Her haunting voice is live in the room, and the simplicity of the guitar work drives over the bass line.

On Sonny Rollins “Saxophone Colossus”,  the bite of the sax is all there, and the fluidity of the runs up and down are very very realistic (I played in the band in high school, and spent 5 years playing trombone near some sax’s), but so too is the realistic sound of the snare, and the stand up bass.  The whack of the drumstick is crisp, and snappy, the transients are "brisk".

There is also music that is new to me, that I have been enjoying a lot on this system – Keb mo, Mark Knopfler and Chet Atkins, and a couple of sampler cd’s (BPT, Bolder, Salk).  I don’t have any ability to compare them listening on my old system, but I can certainly get excited about how good they sound now.

The coherency of the system is entrancing, I have been tired at work since last week!  I find myself listening longer, and exploring more and more the less frequently played folders in my collection – I think that is a strong recommendation for Wayne’s work.

There are many ways to skin the high quality audio cat, and Bolder clearly offers some excellent value when it comes to using your PC as a source.  Lots of folks use USB DAC’s, or other networked music players, or high level sound cards, but for me the simplicity of the SB3 and the ability to leverage the wifi in my house to run the PC headless, keep me happy with this setup.

Thanks too for the fast turnaround, and excellent shipping packaging Wayne, you make dealing with cross border, distant transactions very comfortable.

I am sometimes tempted to try another amp (the Monarchy SM70 keeps haunting me), or sometimes I think that another set of speakers would be interesting to try (Salk TL’s look marvelous), I have never had the urge to try another front end.  The latest mods to the SB3 just add to that resiliency.

Thanks again Wayne,

[kyrill]

hi
may I add my comments?

I have send my Sb3 last year to Wayne, convinced as i was ( after reading a LOT of threads here in Audiocircle) that it would be worthwhile.
I opted for the digital out mod only  but then ALL the things Wayne could think of (off?).
It turned out to be a split in 3.3V and 5V and more things ( for instance changing caps and putting a screen between display and sensitive chips) . To be honest Pat fiddled around with the S/PDIF out and put a little transformer in the output. I have a DEQX digital preamp so i need the digital out of my source

When i got the unit back it sounded as awful as the original unit. I was really shocked.
my "panic" emails were kindly answered. And after 50 hrs slightly the sound became to loose gradually that terrible electronic sound. I really hate sound that so easily refers to  electronics as a medium. But after a couple of weeks continued play the sound became natural and deep and musical.
I did not choose for Wayne 's nirwana pws. I could not afford it so went to Paul Hyne's SB pws instead. I understand that Wayne is now using Paul's components as well. They are that good.
After the long break in I enjoy my Sb3 so much that i will never play cd from cdp or transport again. I had a very good transport the TEAC VDRS 1 modded with a super clock but it is less transparent than the SB3.

Then a year later i upgraded my setup. I used already modded Jadis tube amps ( DA-5 and Orchestra both 40-50 watts PP tube amps) modded in a way of better internal caps ( Jantzen copper foils) and hook up wire. I got Joe Rasmussen's triode mod and output transformer mods and bias mod ( extra pcb) from Menno van der veen  and Guido tent.
Those mods are not typical for Jadis but for all PP (not SE) amps. One of the results was the elimination of internal FB as the amps became rock stable. The sound dropped in wattages to 20 watts but equal to SE level of quality. Anyway the eperience of listening became such a pleasure,  the best I had after 30 years of searching ( I had Martin Logans Quests before as my main speakers)

Unexpected another change made me "jump"in my chair. I already used OB speakers with the DEQX  as an active 3 way Xover unit and felt i was still searching for the best midrange driver. I found a very very good active servo OB subwoofer from GR-research and wil never change that. Also now the amps became world class too and i will not change them either. For instance i sold my Redwine 3.2 amp ( wonderful musical amp) to make place for the Jadis ( knowing i would need to mod them). My previous amps were Melos triode amps and Counterpoint.
I bought the Visaton B200 and became lukewarm enthusiastic. Painted it with Ennemoser's C37 lacquer and became much more enthusiastic ( really more transparency and quickness). but used the B200 between 125 Hz and 2khz. The sound altogether i could live with.
2 months ago I experimented with the tweeter Xover. ( tweeter is the already very good Peerless 810921 HDS) I tried a Xover at 8 khz and WOW never changed it since then.

The music became much more firm, more fleshy more gestalt like. It was as if the one inch tweeter made the upper highs more sqeaky more insect like sounding. With the DEQX, on remote you can change Xover on the fly. the interruption is less than 0.5 second.
with the high Xover the sound became much more coherent, real.  It was not a matther of better phase characteristics as DEQX keeps phase differences between drivers practically to zero, but it was as if the mid highs of the B200 sound more mature, stronger without being more sharp. I tried with higher Xovers but then i lost the bite mcgsxr mentioned. Crossing over as low as 4 khz still retained the magic but to a lesser degree. So now I use the B200 between 125Hz and 8 kHz.
The sound reminds me with good CD's to analogue LP and I realized i listened to the SB3 as i have never done before. The better you make the rest of yr setup the better Wayne's SB3 will sound