Firstly, see my testimonial of December 2024. The system chad continued to improve, probably took around 100 – 150 hours to reach its full potential.
Following the delightful improvements I was enjoying on the back of the previous upgrades, I decided to take the plunge (after a conversation with John) and have the power supply upgraded (effectively now a stage 3 upgrade to KW500) along with the CD Transport (which to be honest was probably more than ready for a service anyway).
Initial thoughts after around 10 hours or so of playtime was…….. underwhelming and I did momentarily think what I have I done ? But again knowing the way these things work and the fact the upgraded transformers would need some playtime to reach their operating ability, I left things playing when not listening for a few days.
Suddenly, things started to come into focus and it has continued to improve with time.
The bass is more weighty, controlled and even more articulate. The mids and vocals are just fabulous with even more detail, air and separation than before. The trebles are even sweeter and articulate with truly shimmering cymbals; whilst background vocals reach yet further heights.
Overall, yet another leap forward in musical enjoyment and now all delivered even more effortlessly than before.
Doing the upgrades in stages allows you to experience, determine and enjoy the improvements incrementally, but honestly in my opinion, if you can, just bite the bullet and go the whole way straight away.
Having done both Bristol and Cranage hi-fi shows this year, buying a second hand Musical Fidelity KW system and then having it serviced and upgraded by John is money very well spent, with the results knocking spots off many of the £10,000 – £40,000 systems on show (prices of which exclude any speakers, streamer and turntable).
John, yet another big thank you for your time, patience and skill. Our latest customer is very excited and cannot wait to get his serviced/upgradedTechnics SE amp back. I will ask our customer to leave a review in due course.
Gary
(Soundhound Hi-Fi Consultancy)