** Reference Grade V-Cap Teflon
capacitors installed in the signal
path coupling stages. The capacitors are mounted using a high quality double
sided adhesive tape as well as being secured with zip-ties to
eliminated vibration.
** Reference SoniCap Platinum Teflon
capacitors installed in the
single ended input stage.
** Innerstage signal coupling capacitors are replaced with SoniCap
Platinum Teflon capacitors. (4 pieces total)
These capacitors are securely mounted in a way that eliminates mechanical
vibration as well as radio frequency interference.
** Mills non-inductive resistors replace the input tube cathode
resistors.
** Elna Cerafine electrolytic capacitors used for cathode bypass on
input stage (where applicable).
** Mills non-inductive resistors are used for the grid stop
applications. All grid stop resistors are mounted directly to the grid pin
of each power tube eliminating all unnecessary wiring. It is a common
practice to mount the body of grid stopper resistors as close to the tube
grid as possible. Many tube amp manufacturers do not utilize this
practice. All grid stop resistors are then mounted directly to the leads of
the coupling capacitors and all leads are cut to minimum length.
** Mills non-inductive resistors are used for the screen grid
applications. These resistors are removed from their circuit mounting boards
and also mounted directly to the screen grid pin of each power tube
eliminating all unnecessary wiring.
** High quality 5 watt Mills non-inductive resistors used in cathode ground
locations.
** Dale/Vishay 1 watt 1% non-magnetic resistors used throughout the
signal path. 40-60+ pieces. The signal leads of these
resistors are shortened to the shortest lengths possible
** Dale/Vishay 1 watt, 1% resistors are used in the bias stage in series
with the coupling capacitors. These resistors are mounted in series with the
coupling capacitors and then into the bias stage circuit boards. Again, we
keep all signal wiring as short as possible.
** Dale/Vishay 3 watt 1%, non-magnetic resistors utilized throughout
various power supply locations.
** All exposed resistor leads throughout these amplifiers have heatshrink
applied to help reduce mechanical vibration as well as preventing circuit
shorts.
** The grounding layout is reworked to provide a the best possible results
with a dead quite background and lower noise floor.
** All power supply capacitors are bypassed with Teflon units. Each
power supply filter capacitor receives its own bypass unit. Total of 4 or 8
Teflon bypass capacitors depending on model
** Bybee Quantum Purifiers are installed in the B+ voltage of the power
supply directly at the rectifying stage. 4 pieces total.
** Bybee Quantum Purifiers are installed in the input signal path of the
signal ended input.
**
Fairchild "Ultra Fast - Soft Recovery" diodes are utilized in the
rectifying stage of the power supply. The diodes are mounted directly to
the capacitors of the power supply.
** High quality silver plated solid core copper signal wire both from the
input RCA jack to the first stage of the circuitry as well as for the
balanced input signal. (Solid Core OFC copper also available)
** RCA input jacks are high quality gold plated "RA Jack" RCA jacks.
** High quality Neutrik XLR connectors are used for the balanced inputs
where applicable.
**
High quality WBT replacement speaker binding post used at the 4
ohm and 8 ohm positions as well as commons.
Total of 6 pieces. OPTIONAL on Hurricane MK II models
** WBT
Silver solder used throughout (on US models only)
** Bench tested for 2 hours
** Minimum 12 hour burn in
** Labor : 12-20+ hours per pair
Pre 2007
Monsoon: $3900
Some
Customer Feedback
"I
unpacked them, set them up, biased them and ran them for about 40
hours (low volume music). Then I sat down for an initial listening
session. HOLY CRAP !!! The difference is not at all subtle !!! Yes,
I liked the pre-modified hurricanes: they were very detailed, had
good liquidity and did space very well, but the modified hurricanes
are in an altogether different league. The detail and space
portrayed is far better, but the entire musical tapestry is still
woven as one cloth. I've had these gentle giants turned on for over
80 hours now, unfortunately not much listening due to other
commitments. However, this weekend I did some serious listening and
they are getting better, no doubt the capacitors breaking in. Prior
to the modifications I enjoyed very much listening to the hurricanes
but always would find some areas where improvement would be welcome.
However, to date, I cannot find any wrong doings. I dare to say that
at some points in my listening sessions I would swear that I had
some large solid-state units installed, especially during some bass
and/or very dynamic passages. But then the continuousness and
spaciousness reminded me that tubes were at work. Marvelous..."
"The stock Hurricanes sounded good,
but with Bill's modifications the Hurricanes soared to a whole new
level. The new nonexistent background noise helps to squeeze out
every detail and produce a blacker background. The sound now has a
nice liquid, non fatiguing feel to it with. This has increased both
my quality and quantity of the time spent with the
Hurricanes.........."
<READ
FULL TEXT>
Bill,
From what I have heard, you don't need any more
glowing reviews on the Hurricane extreme mods but you are welcome to
use my humble expressions that do not convey the true worth of these
<READ
FULL TEXT>
While I
would like to offer you more customer feedback, many of my customers
for these products would prefer to stay out of the limelight and not
have their comments posted even though I promised not to use their
names. I can tell you that EXtreme Hurricanes have found their way
into some very prestigious 2-channel audio systems costing upwards
of $140k.
More words on
the ASL Hurricanes
"..........This
amplifier has been extensively auditioned by the same associate who
owned the rare and expensive CAT JL-1 mono blocks, now in "Class A".
A comparison of the two models was made on his own (very high
resolution) system. The results are............."
<
READ FULL
TEXT >
