The Leo R Saga.Now Leo is a long standing friend and fellow audiophile.
A real DIY hack!
Assembled and redesigned his own DAC, a constant tinkerer with things audio.
So it came as no surprise when Leo asked for 6 x M11 Monopoles for a conversion
he was intending to do on his Audio Research Classic 60.
Leo bought the Monopoles in April 1995.
What followed shows how patient we both were on the progress of the conversion.
A skirt had to be made from Stainless steel to retrofit under the Classic 60 to accommodate the six Monopoles; and this was done a year later.
Many telephone calls and much humour and by 1998 there was still no mod done.
Then, wife Mary, decides that its time to re-arrange the living room;
Its now 1999!
So in the month of December 1999 the conversion process gets into full swing.
The new base is retrofitted to the Classic 60, the transformer tap wires are
reconnected to the Monopoles with telephone cable ( each strand is 0.5mm in diameter pure copper individually insulated and there are 12 strands per cable; this stuff costs about $3.00 per meter from Dick Smith ( Australia ) and is a top performer ); with one full cable per tap to Monopoles®.
TomCat TC-5 RCA sockets are also retrofitted and these are linked to the Classic 60 inputs with pure silver wire.
Finally on Sunday the 9th of January 2000 the system was fired up.
Amazing! says Leo.
Couldn't believe my ears!
OOdles of detail, stablising and distinct 3D soundstage all the adjectives that
are bandied about but never realised by equipment reviewers!
The best I've ever heard says Leo!
Leo reckons he has gone from a $16k system to a $60k system with just less than
$1k in mods!And a very happy audiophile he is too.
And the living room? Its more lived in now with every cd and vinyl being
replayed to listen to what was never there before!
Typical audiophile;Wife approval factor of 100+.
Next on line is to fit some custom M19 Monopoles to the VanderSteens!
Probably by 2006! stay tuned!