Hi,
I have been down exactly the same road with exactly the same units you mention and more too. When downsizing to my current set-up, I received a modified Powervar 1200 in a partial trade for my BPT-3.5 Sig.
It had Porter Ports instead of the stock outlets and extensive use of chassis damping and ERS Cloth. It was really quite nice with those mods. I added Auricaps accross the outlets and hardwired a Z-Cable Heavy Thunder AC cord instead of the stock cord to very good effect.
There are a lot of similarities to the BPT 3.5 sig ... not quite the same background blackness nor the seemingly absolute isolation from other electrical devices in our apartment, but surprisingly effective and quite nice for the money and time invested.
Good luck!
Scott
I have been down exactly the same road with exactly the same units you mention and more too. When downsizing to my current set-up, I received a modified Powervar 1200 in a partial trade for my BPT-3.5 Sig.
It had Porter Ports instead of the stock outlets and extensive use of chassis damping and ERS Cloth. It was really quite nice with those mods. I added Auricaps accross the outlets and hardwired a Z-Cable Heavy Thunder AC cord instead of the stock cord to very good effect.
There are a lot of similarities to the BPT 3.5 sig ... not quite the same background blackness nor the seemingly absolute isolation from other electrical devices in our apartment, but surprisingly effective and quite nice for the money and time invested.
Good luck!
Scott