Last week I dropped off my old Hafler 9180 amp along with my Audio Alchemy DAC to RHB Sound Dezign for repairs.

RHB is a well known modifier of high end tube equipment and lots of positive feedback can be found over at Audiogon as well as testimonials on their site.

They brought my Counterpoint NPS400 back to life when I got it and we briefly talked then of possible mods. Friday, while there looking at all the beautiful work they do on CJs and the likes, I asked Bob where the best bang for my buck would be, moddding the VAC Pre or the Counterpoint amp. Without hesitation he said the Pre. They can do many things but a basic Mod is to have them design and build a custom gain board, re-map the existing pc board to accept their custom one, and a set of Teflon V Caps. He also said that he would eliminate one of the 2 sets of tubes. He explained that the way my VAC is designed, it goes through the set of 12AXs giving it one gain parameter, then the signal goes through the set of 12AUs multiplying the gain again and then to control it, it gets fed through a feedback loop which increases the distortion.

Their custom Gold-J board changes all that and would only require the one set of tubes, the 12AXs I think.

So I asked what I would notice and the first thing he said was that all the distortion (that I didn't even know or realize) would be gone. Other things include better handling of bass as well as depth of bass. Things that are more in your face would be dropped back a bit, while things that appear too far away would be moved forward giving me a more linear sound.

The emails and letters section of their website go into further detail as to what people got back after the mods which substantiate the above plus more. The entries I found over at Audiogon again confirmed that what they do makes one's Pre amps and Amps so good that the owners cannot see themselves parting with the gear.

Bob told me what they can do for the Amp but as far as most for the money, the Pre would be the first place to start, then the Power Supply of the VAC which is a separate outboard box can be upgraded, then look into the amp itself.

The cost of the mods for my VAC, which include them custom designing their board since it would be the first CLA1 MKII that they would mod, along with the V-Caps that run about $200 a piece, would cost me about $1000. It would bring my $6500 originally priced Reference Pre from the 90s back up to a reference Pre of today. (I barely paid $100 for the pre in a package deal and re-tubed it for $50) My wife has agreed to give me the Mod for my 50th B-day later this year.

Any thoughts as to agree, disagree or other as far as getting the most for my money by modding the Pre amp and not the Amp?

Side Note: I had him check out the Power Supply of my Audio Alchemy DAC to see if it was the PS or the unit itself giving me grief. When getting nothing from the output jack of the PS, he metered across the prongs of the AC plug and pretty much determined that the Transformer must be stuck open. It's all inside a molded and glued plastic box, and he said he can repair it but it may not be pretty. I told him that is what electrical tape is for. I don't really care what it looks like when he is done, only that I can use the DAC and not have to spend $200 on a new supply.

Their usual backlog is 3 to 4 weeks, always, so I have several weeks to wait to get my Hafler and DAC back.