Reference Audio Lab Modified CEC TL1-X

I would say you could find a better transport if you are thinking of upgrading. Maybe a Simaudio Moon Eclipse PLAYER. or Esoteric.

Did you ever get the mod?

Deano, give Psychicanimal a holler or look up his answered threads under digital, he took his CEC / Parasound to a guy named Danny Boy and swears by it, you can tell him I sent ya.

Just so you know. Richard Kern of Audiomod does the
modification work, but the mod itself was designed
by Kyle at Reference Audio Mods. After Modification
the CEC can equal any transport out there. I have
compared the CEC to Sony, Teac, Levinson, Wadia,
PS Audio etc.

Danny Boy is Dan Wright (Modwright), but he's too swamped to do other than his stock mods at this time. The mod is awesome...

What happened to the guy that posted his testimonial in the Reference Audio Mods website is pretty close to what happened to my entry level unit:

I was affraid I'd lose this special feature of this particular transport, but after my TL-1X returned home, I couldn't believe my ears. Sure, I had been experimenting with digital cables when I had my Pink Triangle Cardinal/Ordinal combo and noticed bigger than slight changes, but this was ridiculous!! My transport was TRANSFORMED in every way possible...for the better. Good pace and rythm, from micro-dynamics to macro-dynamics without being harsh or being in trouble, a deep and wide soundstage with increddible transparancy, kick-ass bass that has both speed and accuracy, and the best thing: I didn't loose the analogue characteristic of the transport. All modifications improve exactly all of the flaws this transport suffers from when taken from stock.

I strongly recommend having CEC's modded, since it seems (from what I've read and Dan told me) that all CEC's suffer from the same weaknesses. In my unit Dan replaced the stock IEC with a Furutech Rhodium plated, replaced the digital out internal wiring and the RCA out for a Cardas. He also installed a Slipstream Bybee on the digital out. My belt drive is now a mean salsa and merengue playing machine. It can play heavy & rich percussion tracks with uncanny realism--attack, speed, decay and ambient information are truly awesome.

O.K. Psychicanimal, looks like mine will be taking the same route yours did, the adjectives and adverbs in your descriptives say it all, i'll be patient and get on the waiting list. You would have heard from me, but my outgoing email WON'T SEND ! Only receives ! Outlook Express 6 is ticking me off big-time ! Error code keeps poppin up.

I'll drive to Cleveland and take it along if you want. Just need to get my car back from the shop.

The testimonial is right on the money: the improvements do not take away the analog-like attributes of the unit. I had two top loading transports at the same time (McCormack SST-1) and I could easily tell the belt drive weaknesses. I talked to Dan and he said he knew exactly what to do to make it right. He had to completely rework the power supply.