Well, I finally got around to doing a few of the things I said I would, and the system upgrades are drawing to a close:

Power Cords: I ordered the connectors (Wattgate and Marinco) and bulk wire (DH Labs) and put everything together. It was pretty easy; the hardest part was getting the screws lined up on the IEC connector so I could close the housing. No fires yet. I’ve got one feeding the 970 and another hooked up to the amp for my mains.

Interconnects: I’ve built a few interconnects over the past few weeks. All use DH Labs products: some D-75 digital coax cables for my DAC and upsampler, and some analog interconnects using the new BL-Ag bulk, silver interconnect. The technician I spoke with said the BL-Ag comes very close in performance to their top-of-the-line Revelation ICs which are $400 per meter. By comparison, you can build a pair of BL-Ag’s yourself for around $50. Goes to show that shopping around and a little DIY effort can really pay off.

Behringer SRC2496: If there’s anyone out there using an outboard DAC, this is a pretty slick little device. It upsamples up to 24 bit / 96kHz and provides jitter correction for about $130 (online). I’ve got one feeding my Musiland MD10 and things are sounding really, really good. Highly recommended. And even if you don’t like it, it won’t have broken the bank.

All I’ve got left is a multi-channel amp for my surrounds. I’m considering the Emotiva (“Traitor! Burn him!”) The similarly powered Outlaw is almost twice as much, so I just can’t justify it based on the fact it will only be for surrounds for movies.

It’s taken about two years, but the old system is close to being completely replaced, bit by bit. I gotta’ tell you though, I’m getting burned out. The upgrades were fun for a while, but I’ll be glad when everything is over. Even my posting activity has fallen off. Not so much here, but I’ve noticed on some of the other boards, the vast majority of threads deteriorate into flame wars where one party defends what they bought/hear/believe, against others who attack the legitimacy of what they bought/hear/believe, which then lead to tangents, which lead to more flames, and so on. It’s a pity; there are a lot of bright people in the hobby, but a lot of egos as well. In some respects, it’s no different now than the audio print press in the 80s. What’s different is that, with the Internet, millions of folks can go at it in real time. And a thread that starts off talking about a CD player turns into a debate over how CDs are pressed.