A recent post in the "200 Feedback" area of the Saloon, "Found this on Audiogon," prompts me to think ...

There are 10,001 modifications that folks are offering out there. Some make sense. Some just move the quality of a piece of gear from 99.5% to 99.7% for an exhorbitant cost. Others may actually lower the quality or cause problems. And a WHOLE lot of them are just BS to convince those of us in the quest for near-perfection to part with our $$$ so that it becomes their $$$$$$.

So how do we sort through it all?

For example, an article somewhere may say, in essense, "Everyone knows that XYZ speakers are great except for the crossovers. Buy our crossovers instead! Ours are better!"

Further research reveals that not "everyone" is convinced of the crossover flaw. Several reviewers really liked the XYZ Model One speakers just as they were, "stock." The XYZ company claims to have hired a fantastic designer and say "all is wonderful."

So, no matter what the gear is, we all don't have exotic test labs ... how do you decide who to believe and where to put your $$$?

Feel free to contribute good answers as well as your 'wildest' story of a claim by someone offering a mod!

[This message has been edited by bestbang4thebuck (edited June 11, 2003).]