Mods for hi end gear, not smart business.

[highfihoney]

I spend some time on another forum where its mostly hi end gear,lots of Mcintosh owners there who are getting into the MOD MY GEAR kick,wtf is wrong with people

I dont get the whole theory of modding ANY expensive gear,im not trying to say that Mcintosh is the end all even though it is for me what im getting at is the business end of it,all hi end people ive met or know change gear like the weather,why on earth would anybody purposely do a mod to a peice of gear thats assured to lower its resale value by 20% atleast,

People who buy new Mcintosh & other new hi end gear obviously have money,how did they obtain this money is what i wonder,if a person with money isnt smart enough to know how to protect their investment they wont have much money for long.

The last nut job wants to tear apart his brand new Mac amp (can you say expensive) & have aftermarket speaker terminals installed so he can fit his anaconda sized speaker wires on the amp,is this kind of thinking totally off the hook or what,to me its bass akwards,even if your an esoteric wire kinda guy wouldnt the smart business move be to mod the wire to fit the amp,wires have the biggest resale loss of all & amps have the lowest losses.

To me that kind of thinking is borderline ignorant,no different than buying a Ferrari & then modding it to look like a Ford.I dont get it,sometimes i want to reach straight through the screen & wrench some morons scrawny pencil neck

OK,i feel slightly better now .

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Wow, aftermarket modification of amplifiers, preamplifiers, & pre-pros?
Some people are just plain sick. I thought I was bad, but these people make me look 100% normal.

 

[Rickster71]

What? You've never put headers on a car?

I do hear what your saying though. An alteration will decrease the value of your resale, or at the very least limit it's sale.

I'm sure you know of Richard Modafferi (see link below)
Senior Engineer at McIntosh Laboratories from 1968-74
I'd think I'd trust his Mod work.

http://www.audioclassics.com/mods.php3

 

[Joe Schmoe]

The way I see it is if the (unmodified) gear is not what you want, buy something else!

 

[highfihoney]

What? You've never put headers on a car?

I do hear what your saying though. An alteration will decrease the value of your resale, or at the very least limit it's sale.

I'm sure you know of Richard Modafferi (see link below)
Senior Engineer at McIntosh Laboratories from 1968-74
I'd think I'd trust his Mod work.

http://www.audioclassics.com/mods.php3

I know about Richard Modafferi & point well taken,getting a Modafferi mod is the one & only case where the mod increases the gears value,mostly on the MR-77,MR-78 & other Mac tuner's,since he was the designer of those & other models while he was with Mcintosh it makes sense that his mods would increase value.I cant think of any other case where a modded peice of Mac gear even retains its resale value let along gain value like a Modafferi mod.

My MR-78 is a Modafferi modded unit btw

On the other hand,having a mod done to a brand new pair of Mc 501 monoblocks by some slick talking joker is assured to kill their resale,no serious Mcintosh collector will ever think about buying a modded Mac unit.

 

[Haoleb]

There are alot of mods that increase the value of something. But mainly I think because of the cost of the parts the labor in doing the modification. Professionally done mods are fine. But I have seen a couple of real amateur ones that had gone quite wrong. Like the guy who poured sand into his preamp and got it all into the volume control etc.

 

[Seth=L]

There are alot of mods that increase the value of something. But mainly I think because of the cost of the parts the labor in doing the modification. Professionally done mods are fine. But I have seen a couple of real amateur ones that had gone quite wrong. Like the guy who poured sand into his preamp and got it all into the volume control etc.

Why would anyone thing that is a good idea?

McIntosh gear should be left alone. If there are any mods to be done they should be done by McIntosh.

 

[Joe Schmoe]

Why would anyone thing that is a good idea?

Reminds me of Alice in Wonderland: "It was the best butter!"

 

[highfihoney]

Why would anyone thing that is a good idea?

McIntosh gear should be left alone. If there are any mods to be done they should be done by McIntosh.

Yup,i'll never get it.

 

[highfihoney]

There are alot of mods that increase the value of something.

This is only true with mid level or semi budget hifi gear,im talking strictly hi end gear,with components like Mcintosh,Krell,Audio Research,Pass Labs,Jeff Roland,Mark Levinson & Cello,ive yet to see one single modded peice of gear bring as much return as its non modded counterpart.

Most ad's for modded hi end gear ive seen on Audiogon the owners are in dream land,their selling price starts out stupidly high & the gear just sits there & stews for 30 days,then they relist with a new lower price,then it sits some more,then they change the ad to OBO,then when they do end up selling its below market price,check the Audiogon blue book to see what prices modded gear ends up bringing,the reality is far different from the prices listed.

BTW,The sand in the preamp has to be the biggest boner ive heard of in a while,two big smacks in the lips for that idiot

 

[fmw]

Ah, high end audio! It is like the Eveready bunny. It just goes on and on and on and on.

 

[Seth=L]

Ah, high end audio! It is like the Eveready bunny. It just goes on and on and on and on.

Ever-ready?

 

[croseiv]

Bigger, better transformer. Better quality and bigger caps. On and on and on.

 

[Seth=L]

Bigger, better transformer. Better quality and bigger caps. On and on and on.

I like big transformers, and capacitors the size of Red Bull cans.

 

[mtrycrafts]

What? You've never put headers on a car?

I do hear what your saying though. An alteration will decrease the value of your resale, or at the very least limit it's sale.

I'm sure you know of Richard Modafferi (see link below)
Senior Engineer at McIntosh Laboratories from 1968-74
I'd think I'd trust his Mod work.

http://www.audioclassics.com/mods.php3

That guy is phenomenal with FM radio stuff. He wrote for The Audio Critic many years ago on this. He has an amazing FM radio that he designed and was placed in production by McI.

 

[highfihoney]

Bigger, better transformer. Better quality and bigger caps. On and on and on.

Have you ever seen the caps inside a Mac amp,you couldnt shoe horn a larger cap inside,jesus would have to do the mod,replacing a Mac xformer with aftermarket is insane,the same person has been hand winding their xformers for 50 years,there is no better quality xformer.

Its tinkering just to be tinkering.

 

[croseiv]

Have you ever seen the caps inside a Mac amp,you couldnt shoe horn a larger cap inside,jesus would have to do the mod,replacing a Mac xformer with aftermarket is insane,the same person has been hand winding their xformers for 50 years,there is no better quality xformer.

Its tinkering just to be tinkering.

Who says they have to fit in the box?

 

[Joe Schmoe]

jesus would have to do the mod.

I knew he was a carpenter. He knew electronics too? Who would have guessed?

 

[adwilk]

I think there is some satisfaction in personally moddin' stuff. Every car i drive has a K&N and chip, The first thing i do with golf clubs when i get them is take them apart and blueprint the set. I mod my computers... when you know what you like, you know what you like. Its a HUGE part of what makes it a hobby and passion for some... anybody can BUY sound... making it your own is a different story...

 

[majorloser]

I knew he was a carpenter. He knew electronics too? Who would have guessed?

He's had to diversify his business model a little in 2,000+ years

(He gave computers and software to the Devil who in turn subcontracted the work to Bill Gates for the price of a soul)