Modding Synergistic Research MPC to Galileo status


I recently had the good fortune of upgrading my stock Synergistic Research MPCs closer to Galileo Status by the help of a friend who is inclined to do such work.

He replaces the Synergistic MPC's four cheap, general purpose lamp rectifier diodes with four ultra fast, soft recovery IXYS rectifier diodes and the 470uf 50 volt dirt cheap chinese electrolytic cap with a 680uf Panasonic FM extremely low impedance, high ripple current, long life (7000 hrs). It is now a super low noise power supply.

This mod provides better shielding to Synergistic Research cables resulting in more transparency, blacker backgrounds, increased detail and warmth with even lower noise floor than stock MPCs.

I was really taken aback by the improvements mentioned above. When considering the cost of a Galileo MPC, this mod is a downright bargain.

The cost of this mod will be $40-50. I can provide contact information for additional questions regarding components and price.
devilboy
Thanks to this thread and Michael Spallone I'm now getting absolutely undreamed of awesome sound from my new (to me, they are 15 years old!) Synergistic Research Element CTS speaker cables.

Element CTS are active shielded and these were bought and came with the Galileo MPC. Even before buying these I had read about and wanted to do the MPC mod. For comparison I was one of the early adopters of Active Shielding way back when it came out and bought have run a Master Control Center from the beginning. So I know that even things like changing the power cord on the MCC, or putting it on Cones, etc, works equally as well as these things work with anything else. Because of this the idea of being able to improve the MPC with better quality diodes and caps made total sense to me.

I was a little skeptical however, because of things like Quantum Tunneling. Synergistic runs a million plus volts through all their stuff now, something no modder is going to be able to do. Still, Michael Spallone assured me that his modded MPC will outperform even a Galileo MPC. Also, he said, that with the 8 ft length and complex shielding of my CTS that one MPC per cable works a lot better than just the one powering the pair that I have now.

So I sent them off and got them back and right away noticed a deeper more layered stage with a lot more inner detail. Again, this was right away. Even knowing Michael burned them in some before shipping still to sound so good right out of the box was pretty impressive.

I kept listening and by the time I was done that first night they were sounding a whole lot better. 

Its now been just about one week. There's a process a lot of components go through where they don't improve all aspects equally and evenly as they burn in but instead some things get a lot better while others lag until somehow by the end it all balances out. Well that is the way it works with the good stuff anyway. A lot of crap just never does get much better no matter how long you wait.

In this case what I heard was incredible inner detail and microdynamic shadings right from the beginning. Then a few days later it seemed like maybe a bit less of this but a bit more dynamic. Now at one week, wow, the detail for sure never went away in fact there's tons more. Only now with dynamics and fundamental harmonic development all in balance and with a palpable presence so far beyond anything I ever heard before it is frankly kind of hard to believe.

I mean the CTS alone even with the Galileo MPC are a really hard act to follow. As I told Michael before sending these off to be modded, between their powerful articulate bass, startlingly realistic dynamics, wealth of inner detail and holographic imaging it is hard to say which they do best. Which is another way of saying don't mess with my freaking amazing cables! Just please make somehow make them even better!

Which he did. And they are. Crazy good better! 

Last night there was presence like I never heard before. Not presence in the usual sense of midrange but presence in the sense of the music being present in the room. Dynamic, open, deep, wide, and of course utterly divorced from the speakers.

I don't know which part of it amazes me more. That these are 15+ year old cables. That they sound this good. Or that Michael Spallone somehow found diodes and caps that are so much better than what Ted Denney with all his resources managed to come up with.

Whatever. Who cares? Its awesome!

And hey, its only been one week!


Btw if anyone wants a Spallone modded MPC I seem to have one surplus to my needs and if you want it then PM me and we can arrange how to get it to you, just pay shipping, thanks