Testing of Stock versus Upgraded (modified) Components

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Hopefully in the near future, I will be making some comparisons of a stock versus an upgraded (modified) Denon DVD 3800BDCI Blu-ray player and a stock versus an upgraded Onkyo PR-SC885 Pre/pro. This is coming about due to the feelings of many of you that I am not providing truthful information and due to comments such as the quote below:

Originally Posted by btf1980

No one knows what Dave Schulte does, and from your posts, I don't think you remotely know either. You keep bringing up how much better your 3800 sounds. Better compared to what? Did you compare your modded 3800 to an unmodded one simultaneously? Everything about it reads like a Stereophile magazine. Chock full of vagueness, unsubstantiated claims, no proof of anything, no comparisons of modded and unmodded source units at the same time. It really gets old.

Changing power cords on blu-ray players? <sigh>

Dave Schulte of the Upgrade Company is attempting to get me stock units fresh out of the box to make A/B comparisons with my upgraded units of these models. It should be stated though that when the upgrades are developed for these models, the stock versus upgraded units are compared by several individuals to concur on the improved performance before these units are released as upgrades. The stock and upgraded machines are in turn compared to very expensive products on the market. The upgraded units come with a money back guarantee which is very unusual for modified products. These products would not be released if they would not have improved performance because this would be a waste of time and money for the modifications and the units would be returned for a full refund.

In an effort to make these tests as fair and unbiased as possible the units will be tested using identical singled ended RCA interconnects, single ended coaxial RCA interconnects, and HDMI cables, power conditioners, power cords, and tweaks. The volume of the units will be adjusted to be equal, the source disks will be identical, etc. We will attempt to test the audio and video reproduction for analog, digital, and HDMI cables.

It will have to be understood, that the fresh components will not have been broken in while my components will have more play time than the new pieces. Additionally, to avoid being called biased in the tests, I am requesting that several of the members volunteer and give their input on these findings in a listening and viewing session.

I will keep you informed as to when the components arrive. In the mean time, please contact me if you would like to participate in this comparison. For those interested, I live north of Allentown, PA but only have a small listening room so the group will be fairly small.

Rich