Modwright SWL 9.0SE Pre ... your thoughts welcome

A great review, Horseface. Thank you for sharing your impressions with us. I ended up getting a Sophia Electric EL34 tube amp, but now wonder if I also have room in my system for the Modwright!

Holly

Nsufian, I used to own the AI and believe me this is much better. The AI, in comparison, has no soundstage and is very congested and grainy. Don't get me wrong. I was satisfied with the preamp and up to that point was the best I'd owned. It's a decent preamp in the used price range. The service issues and the short life span of tubes drove me to explore other options. The Modwright will be a revelation to you IMHO.

I ordered a 9.0SE from Dan this week based on a good friends valued opinion of it, and many a stellar review. Cant wait to hear it. I do understand it needs some serious break-in time, but will be well rewarded with patience. It supposedly competes with the likes of the $12K VTL 7.5 and surpasses most anything in the $6-8K realm! Thats one serious component!

It doesn't take any time to sound good. You'll be thrilled out of the box, though it does mellow (in a good way) over the first couple days and weeks.

Hello All:

Just wanted to put my two cents worth in as well.

I also own the Modwright 9.0SE and love it. I have had mine
for almost a year now. I used to write for the Absolute Sound
but now have started my own pub, and we will be featuring a
full review after the first of the year in TONE-Audio.

I have owned quite a few different tube and solid state linestages,
but have really enjoyed the MW, because in my two systems, it
was as close to neutral, not overly warm or dry that I could find.

I previously had a CJ-PV12 which I liked a lot, but was a bit too
tubey and an ARC LS-3 that was always a touch too thin. Again, your
results may vary, but for me it was just right!

I have a very similar setup to what Dan was running at RMAF. I purchased
the Penaudio Serenedes that were in the booth, have his Denon player
(another great piece...) and am using the 9.0SE with a pair of bridged
Monarchy Pro 70's to drive the Serenedes with great luck in a modest room.

When I was still at TAS, I wanted to review the 9.0, but my boss Wayne Garcia made all sorts of excuses about us not being able to review products that didn't have 20 dealers (or advertise with TAS), or have been around forever.

I reminded him that many years ago I had purchased some gear from this little company that no one had heard of called Krell and it just fell on deaf ears.

The Modwright box not only sounds good, it's built like a tank! Even if Dan died in a fiery plane crash tomorrow, Im sure a competent tech could repair it should it ever require some work.

If there is any way you can audition one of these, I think you will be very
impressed!

Good luck shopping,