Bybee Internal Speaker Bullets - user feedback?

Hola Acresverde.

You mention

purifiers soldered directly in line with the drivers of my speakers themselves

That is actually what I was thinking of when I emailed Jack Bybee. What kind of purifiers did/are you using there? Just one on the + leg of the driver, or + and -?
Did you ever compare that to the performance of the speaker bullets?

Thanks for chiming in!

We seem to have people saying they tried them and liked what they did to the sound, those believing it just can't work (but apparently haven't heard them), and Ozzy having tried them and believing they are too expensive for what they have inside...I guess he didn't like the effect.

My question, though, is not to argue whether they are fake/junk/placebo/you name it. After trying them I don't believe they are. Just like those who believe they are fakes and it doesn't matter what others say here they will not change their mind, I do not think they are fakes and I won't believe they are just because someone says so here. I tried them.

So I'm more interested in reading from those who used them: do you think my best bang for buck in terms of Bybee mods are the internal speaker bullets or other Bybee mod?
- Treating all my components' AC inlets would cost abot $800.
- Treating the analog signal throughout the system would take about $550.
- Using regular purifiers soldered directly to the speaker drivers, I guess about $1.4k.
- Using internal speaker bullets $1.6k.

I can't help but wonder if it makes sense to spend $1.6k in tweaks on $4k speakers.

Thanks for the input!

Onhwy61,
I don't think these will be the last speakers I'll ever own, but placing the bullets between driver and crossover is easy enough to put in and take out, so should I sell the speakers I would keep the Bybees with me.
I'm wondering along the same lines as you regarding spending 1.6k on this. Rest of system is highly optimized PC server, Audiophilleo with PurePower, Metrum Octave, Lamm LL2, McIntosh MC275, and 2 Rythmik Subwoofers in DIY boxes.

Cerrot,
Stillpoints under the speakers. Interesting. Never thought of that. Which Stillpoints would you recommend? 3 or 4 under the speakers?

Ebm,
don't know...are my speakers great per your definition? For many here they would be mid-fi, yet for 99% of people they would be outstanding.

Cheers!

07-17-14: Jmbatkh
Net, I like them with some speakers, not with others.

Thanks Jm. Which speakers did you like them with, and with which speakers didn't you like them?

07-18-14: Larryi
We tried the bullets in a friend's system with much better results. The sound was unequivocally better.

Hey Larryi. Thank you as well. Do you recall what were your friend's speakers?

Thanks Larryi. I did look at your system before replying so that's why I had not asked about yours - intriguing set of speakers!
I was hoping to draw some correlation between those experiences and estimate an outcome for mine, but the two data points are from speakers too different from mine to draw any conclusions.

I'm now leaning towards trying only an SE AC bullet instead of a whole internal speaker bullet set, to keep the cost down and see how they impact the sound in my case. I would be using 2 bullets per speaker: one on the positive between bass XO and binding posts, and one before the midrange/treble XO. If I like it, the upgrade path would be adding a regular purifier on the negative side of each, and eventually doing the same but for every driver.

My conclusion from this thread is people who have tried them all agree they make an impact on sound. Most liked what Bybees in their speakers did for sound, although not on every system they heard. This is not bad for a tweak.

Then there is the discussion about whether the improvement is worth the price. Again, like every tweak except those super-cheap ones. This is such a relative aspect (expensive means different things to different people). Not that I don't care! On the contrary. I keep coming back to my speakers costing $4k when new 6-7 years ago. I haven't taken the decision yet just because it is not an meaningless amount for me should it not work.

Thanks to all who contributed here!

Hi Cerrot.

Yes, Stillpoints are well documented in A'gon threads. But talk about bang for buck!? 4 Stillpoints under each speaker would cost $2k for Ultra SS or $1k for Ultra Minis. Again, under $4k speakers...I struggle to see the likelihood of being worth it.

Not that I don't like Stillpoints. I have a set of their original units under my preamp. But like someone said above about some Bybee products, price has gotten out of whack with the Ultras, I think.

Cerrot,

Thanks for clarifying.
Please note now I'm not looking at spending $1.6k on Bybees. More like $600, per my post from 7/19. Should I find the sound improvement worth it I might eventually spend more on Bybees, though.
But I like the option to try smaller and spend more if I deem it worth it. Can't do that with Stillpoints and I struggle to see the rationale for spending 2k on 4k speakers.

Dangelod,

Thanks for the tip! I sent Ryan an e-mail.
Am I right to assume your comment

where the purifiers were installed in line (2 per speaker) as outlined by Acresverde

Refers to a speaker with two sets of binding posts, where one set of Bybees where installed between the woofer's crossover and the binding post, and the other set was installed between the midrange/treble binding post and its XO?

-----

BTW, I decided to try it. After lengthy discussions with Jack Bybee I decided to buy two SE Internal Speaker Bullets per speaker. That means one bullet on the positive of the bass and one on the positive of the midrange/treble, which is Option 4) on Bybee's website/speaker installation options.
Although a significant amount of money to just try ($600), it's far less than what I was looking at first and does give me the chance to try it for myself and follow the upgrade path described in that website, should I deem it worth it.

Unfortunately I have to deal with very complicated logistics so it will be a couple of months at best until I can try them. I will post my findings here as a way to give back to all of you, who have been so helpful (and I do mean everyone - a quote of skepticism is very healthy, I think).

Cheers!

Given the time many of you dedicated to sharing your experiences and opinions around my question, I thought I should provide follow-up - no closure yet, though.

I finally got together with the 4 Super Effect Internal Speaker Bullets this week. As mentioned before, my logistics are very complicated :-)

I got in touch with Ryan at Vapour Audio, following Dangelod's suggestion:

A quick summary, I didn't find any improvement with Bybees on larger drivers (8" woofers and up), in fact they seemed to have less impact after the Bybees. However on the tweeter and midrange drivers, I ended up using 2 slipstreams per driver inside the cabinet, soldered directly to the driver terminals. I liked the silvers on the tweeter, but when silvers were used on the Accuton midrange drivers it added a bit of stridency.

I asked him back why he chose on the (apparently) regular Slipstreams instead of the SE Internal Speaker Bullets suggested by Jack Bybee, but I haven't yet gotten an answer. BTW, his turn-around time was very long, so I might still get an answer.

Nevertheless, Ryan's comment defeats a preconception along the lines of "you either treat all drivers or none".

Now I need to find the time to open up my speakers and do the internal work. My plan is to try two alternatives:
1) One purifier between (+) binding post and woofer XO, and another purifier on (+) between corresponding binding post and mids/trebble XO. This is Setup #4 on Bybees website.
2) Per Ryan's, one purifier on (+) tab of the midrange driver and one on the (+) of tweeter. This approach is close to Setup #2 and 1 on Bybees website, said to be better than 4, but this has an untreated woofer compared to Bybees suggestion.

Next week I receive a new DAC I want to try, so I'm hesitating to make changes on my speakers that could mix up the results from introducing many changes at once. So it might be another month before I follow up with impressions about Bybees in use - that is if I can fight back anxiety ;-)

Thanks again to all who contributed.