Arcam Alpha 7SE - mods?

I am in the process of buying an older Alpha 7, and am also interested in upgrades. According to Charlie Krone of Arcam's US distributor, Audiophile Systems Ltd., [email protected], they have to special order the Alpha 9 upgrades from Arcam in the UK, they cost $900 for the upgrade when they're available, and there aren't any available at the moment. He told me, though, that they do have some upgrades to the Alpha 8 available for $450. There is an interesting suggestion at http://www.musicalapproach.co.uk/news/arcamcd82.htm that owners of Alpha 7 and 7SE can upgrade using the DAC board from Arcam's current DiVA CD82 CD player, but I don't have any confirmation or pricing on that from ASL. If you're interested in other possible mods for an Arcam 7 or 7SE, take a look at http://www.geocities.com/godism7/HIFImods.html , which lists details including some part numbers, plus photos, for a series of mods done to an Arcam 7 a few years ago. Several of those look as though they would apply to the 7SE as well as to the 7, including replacement RCA sockets, fuses, vibration damping of the CD transport, and an internal cabling upgrade. There is also a recommendation for a capacitor upgrade where you would have to check the parts compatibility to make sure that the parts hadn't changed from the 7 to 7SE models. If you find anybody willing to perform such mods on a 7 or 7SE, please let me know.

Thanks for the info, 02Pete. Do you have a 7 or 7SE? If the latter, are you aware of two versions of the SE? I read something late last night that suggested two versions. My seller told me that the 8 and 8SE upgrades were not worthwhile. I guess I'd like to know what's involved in the upgrades. I believe the 7 through 9 transports are the same, so its mostly DAC/power supply action being modded. Regardless, it doesn't seem cost effective; and they don't have any to install anyway.

Now, the Musical Approach website info on the upgrade is very interesting. A 24/192 upgrade is quite significant. I wonder what the DAC board costs and how user friendly it is. I was planning on funnelling the 7SE through my Adcom GDA700 DAC using the 7SE's digital coax outputs if the 7SE was not as good, but a newer 24/192 DAC would probably sound much better. I have emailed one of MA support staff and will share any info I obtain.

The HiFi Mods are also interesting. I'm not sure they're very practical for the non-electrical engineer that I am, but I'll keep them in mind. Some of the mods are simple enough that I could do them, but I haven't soldered anything since high school and wouldn't know how to do it now.

I'll let you know if I come up with anything at my end. Will you do the same? Thanks.

Mine is the older Alpha 7, not an SE. It's in transit to me now. One of the responses I received to inquiries I sent to a local dealer and to Audiophile Systems indicated that there were some changes to the power supply of the Alpha 7 during the course of its production run, and that its ability to accept upgrades might be affected by that. I am trying to find out more, and will share info if obtained. If you are able to find out, I would be interested as to whether the Alpha 7 could accept a DAC board from the current DiVA CD72, as well as the CD82 mentioned in the Musical Approach website.