Burr Brown upgrade - worth the money?

[wj94 10+ year member]

I just worked out a deal for a Tru 4.65 amp that needs to be sent in for repair. Is it worth the $90 to have the Burr Brown upgrade installed while it's there? It will be powering a set of CDT HD-62 components until I can find an upgrade (looking for Seas/Rainbow/etc. middle-upper lines). Any input?

Click to read more...

 

[FoxPro5 5,000+ posts]

I just worked out a deal for a Tru 4.65 amp that needs to be sent in for repair. Is it worth the $90 to have the Burr Brown upgrade installed while it's there? It will be powering a set of CDT HD-62 components until I can find an upgrade (looking for Seas/Rainbow/etc. middle-upper lines). Any input?

Hmmmm interesting dilemma. It would be worth it to me if in the future I was going for balls to the wall sound quality with the Seas. Which line were you planning on...Reference? Which Rainbows? I run Pro Vanadiums powered by a burr brownless amp and they sound fine to me...BUT could they sound better and at what cost is the real question

 

[Eugenics 5,000+ posts]

just curious, what is the burr brown upgrade?

 

[3.5Max6spd 10+ year member]

Warranty work seems like profitable business for Tru.

You could always put that $90 towards a more reliable, more powerful amplifier-where you would hear a worthy difference with more headroom.

 

[faulkton 5,000+ posts]

Get it just for the braggin rights...you know it will add like 100db's on top of it..

 

[Dr. Dan 10+ year member]

I can't say that I've had any experience with the upgrade on that particular amp, but I have worked with Burr-Brown before, and it's killer stuff.

I'm a recording engineer, and studios have been "hot-rodding" their mixing consoles with Burr-Brown Op-Amp chips for years.

I did this with a vintage Trident mixer when it went in for service, and my co-workers and I were all knocked out by the boost in sound quality. Big, Smooth, Forward, Wide, are all terms I'd use to describe the sound. Just better in every way. '**** expensive, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

That was in a mixer though, so I don't know if it would make such a difference in an amp, but I would guess that it would.

 

[squeak9798 5,000+ posts]

I'd like to see if anybody has any pre-BB and post-BB measurements (not "wow it sounds so much better" comments, but objective measurements) to see what actual changes the upgrade would make.

If they measure the same, they'll sound the same. If they don't measure the same, I'd like to see what specifically it affects and how.

I've heard tons of subjective comments, but never seen any objective evidence to support the claims.