Gator aid. Or how to get the most from your Gator.

[Gazjam]

The innards of my Caiman after yesterdays update.

Looking good Bernie,
that a couple of Panasonic smoothing caps you got there too?

[Gazjam]

Plus one for the above comment Stan, from me. When things get tight at our end of the wealth spectrum, as they regularly do, thanks to the 'experts' we somehow finish up with running the country and it's financial system, what we need is value for what little disposable cash we have. Your products fit that description admirably IMHO. Great 'sound per pound' return, so please keep up the good work .
Dave.

+1

[StanleyB]

I have been getting an increasing amount of request for a Caiman SEG with the Silmic mod over the last couple of days. As I don't have any SEG cases left I am going to have to ask the case maker if he is prepared to make say 25 to 50 cases, even if I have to pay him a bit more for the cases.
So anyone who would like to put their name down for the SEG Silmic version should PM or email me their email address so that I can send them a notification when and on which page on my site they can order one from.

[Canetoad]

Looking good Bernie,
that a couple of Panasonic smoothing caps you got there too?

Yes, Gaz. On the advice of MartinT. It's sounding pretty good at the moment too!

[Gazjam]

I had an accident with my smoothing cap where it burst and leaked electrolyte all over the PCB!

Cleaned it all up and replaced it with this:
http://theartofsound.net/forum/showp...8&postcount=42

Looks lost in there doesn't it?
Good improvement over the stock one too.

[Canetoad]

Yes, I read that thread. I was glad you got it sorted.

How are the Dexa regs performing for you now?

[brian2957]

You have PM Stan.

[StanleyB]

You have PM Stan.

I would have preferred if you let the rest of the AoS community know your opinion of the upgrade, instead of sending it to me via PM . I already know that it works great, which is why I made it available .

[brian2957]

I was going to wait a few days as I like to provide feedback after a few hours of listening Stan . However as I stated in the PM first impressions of this modified board are very positive indeed. The music now appears to have much more depth and weight . Getting more , cleaner ,bass .I'm hearing more detail in the midrange and treble . Instruments which I could barely hear before are now present and clear. Looks like it's going to be a late night . The last time I heard Sade sound so good I was the owner of an expensive turntable
I don't know if this board is 'run' in but if it stays like this I'll be more than happy . Thanks for a cracking service and a fantastic upgrade Stan . I'll get back in a couple of days .
Brian.

[DaveK]

Hi Stan,
I'm happy to commit myself, I got my board today after a commercial friend installed the components for me - I'm useless with a soldering iron and don't know what I'm doing electrically - and I'm very pleased with the result.
First a minor point for others doing the mod: IMO the coil should be installed bent very slightly inboard as mine, fitted with the base flush to the board very slightly fouled the neighbouring PCB - note: it did not stop the board from seating properly but there is definitely contact between coil and board when the board is fully seated.
The words that spring first to my mind are realism and detail, better focus. This was very noticeable when listening to red book CD FLAC rips through headphones direct from the HP socket on the B-DAC. When the signal was routed from B-DAC fixed output to headphone amp the improvement was similarly noticeable.
When I tried Hi-Res FLAC playback there was also an improvement compared with the same path pre board mod but it was not so signifiant as for Red Book rips.
I have not done any listening through speakers yet but can think of no reason why the improvement should not be as noticeable - I'll let you know .
FWIW another member of our threesome who followed the same mod path has found similar improvement but as he's more 'golden eared' (and 'golden tongued') than I am I'll let him post his own report, hopefully shortly .
The third member managed to be out when the postie delivered his mod'd board so his findings are still awaited.
Dave.