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Author Topic: Oade ACM V3  (Read 61541 times)

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Offline OFOTD

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Oade ACM V3
« on: February 05, 2007, 03:31:12 PM »
Alot of people have been emailing me and I told everyone that I needed to hear back from Doug first before I made a public posting. Well I just talked with him so here is the public post.


Recently Doug Oade and I had a few conversations about my sound.  Obviously I am an AKG freak.  We talked about several options and finally the conversation turned to the V3.  To me the preamp is as fine as it gets.  The a/d section while good was not great.  This was fairly obvious with people using the V3 preamp but skipping the a/d to use others.  I had been using my modSBM as an a/d instead of the V3.  Doug has been following the chip market forever and finally felt there were a few chips that could not just change the sound of the V3 but to improve upon it and make it sound better.  We discussed several different options, sounds, chips and environments and finally came up with an answer.

The Oade modified ACM V3 

Here are some details straight from Doug:

- First and foremost, Doug   IS NOT taking any orders at least for a few months.  He hoped June at the earliest.
- The mod only is only to the a/d section of the V3.   
- The mods supports all bit depth and sample rates of the V3.
- Mine is the first and only non-Grace modifed V3 known to exist    ;D
- Currently in addition to the ACM mod  he has some thoughts on a Warm mod but they are only thoughts at this point
- He WILL be modding V3's that were not purchased from him.
- Price is to be determined
- Doug is putting together an official description of the mod and should get it to me in the next week or so.

Here are my thoughts so far as I have had the unit back one week total:

- The soundstage is HUGE! 
- I have found the sensitivity to be much greater now. Don't need to run the V3 nearly as hot.
- The mids have really seemed to jump out at me in a positive manner as that was one of my goals.
- The bass is very punchy and tight.
- The highs are not fatiguing anymore.  Fatiguing highs seeming to be a common knock on the V3.
- No noticeable difference in power consumption.
 
Some other thoughts:

- I have only taped Yonder Mountain and John Mayer to date.  The Mayer show will be in the kickdown later today.  YMSB should be up by the end of the week,
- Doug is moving the business to a newer location so that is one of the reasons for the delay in offering this up at this time.
- He also informed me that he was reaching out more and more to the broadcast industry and that the taping projects were becoming fewer and fewer but not going away.
- I will be offering up my V3 in the coming weeks to people that would use it fro a week at a time or so.  PM me if interested.
- Comps to the stock V3 hopefully will be coming soon. 
- No word on how this affects the Grace warranty.

I really feel like Doug has hit one out of the park with the V3.  Some of his mods I like and others to me are so-so.  This one so far is one of his winners.

If anyone has any questions at all about this mod or it's operation please ask here I am more than happy to answer anything I can.  With so many conversations with Doug planning this mod I feel very comfortable answering most anything.  All the above information from Doug is accurate as of today (2/5).  Plus it seems from talking to Doug that he spends all of his days on the phone so any relief I can give to him i'm sure he would appreciate.

Let the discussion begin.......


Here is the official description from Doug (added 2/27/07):

The Grace V3 is undoubtedly one of the great portable designs of all time. From time to time over many years I worked on improving the V3s sound only to find I could make it sound different but not better. Recent chip designs have finally changed that. The ACM V3 MOD is designed based on my signature "sound" ....> an open, detailed and accurate 3D soundstage that is free of audible distortions. In the audio design arts it is all about how components work together to achieve a realistic soundstage. A good ear can detect the sonic attributes of various components and with time, learn how they integrate to achieve the elusive goal of natural sound. The ACM V3 is total free of the brittle artifacts and audible High Frequency distortions that never appear in marketing specs but assault the ears of music lovers in many designs and after market upgrades. I rebuild the analog signal path of the V3s A/D PCB with new capacitors and chips selected by ear to enhance its impressive performance for those who love the sound of being there !
Trust YOUR Ears
« Last Edit: February 27, 2007, 01:16:43 PM by OFOTD »

Offline sygdwm

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Re: Oade ACM V3
« Reply #1 on: February 05, 2007, 03:34:57 PM »
i am really looking forward to your panic recordings from this spring. +t
mics: (4)akg c460b(a60,mk46,ck1x,ck1,ck2,ck3,ck61,ck63)
pres: oade m148/edirol wmod ua5
recorders: marantz stock671/oade acm671/fostex busman vintage fr2le

(P.S.: On a threaded discussion board like this one, there's no need to repeat someone's post when you reply to them; everyone can see all the messages in the thread.)

Offline Shawn

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Re: Oade ACM V3
« Reply #2 on: February 05, 2007, 03:42:52 PM »
is he only modding units purchased from him?

side note: has doug ever considered doing mods for the SD 7xx series?

Offline JasonSobel

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Re: Oade ACM V3
« Reply #3 on: February 05, 2007, 03:45:54 PM »
is he only modding units purchased from him?

side note: has doug ever considered doing mods for the SD 7xx series?


- He WILL be modding V3's that were not purchased from him.

Offline Shawn

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Re: Oade ACM V3
« Reply #4 on: February 05, 2007, 03:47:12 PM »
sorry don't know how I missed that.

Offline BWolf

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Re: Oade ACM V3
« Reply #5 on: February 05, 2007, 04:57:07 PM »
Dave, are we still doing a mod/unmod comp at GLove here in houston?
"The best jazz is funky, and the best funk is jazzy" -SMOOTH
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Offline Sanjay

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Re: Oade ACM V3
« Reply #6 on: February 05, 2007, 05:04:28 PM »
wow...
mics & cameras

Offline habit

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Re: Oade ACM V3
« Reply #7 on: February 05, 2007, 05:17:59 PM »
JUNE?!?!?!?!?!?!? This sounds like exactly what I want. Care to sale yours? :)

Thanks for the update.
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Offline OFOTD

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Re: Oade ACM V3
« Reply #8 on: February 05, 2007, 05:21:37 PM »
Dave, are we still doing a mod/unmod comp at GLove here in houston?

And you know this!  Really looking forward to it!

Offline Patrick

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Re: Oade ACM V3
« Reply #9 on: February 05, 2007, 05:29:19 PM »
Subscribing to this thread to see how it turns out.  That's really interesting!
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marc0789

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Re: Oade ACM V3
« Reply #10 on: February 05, 2007, 05:29:47 PM »
that's pretty freaking cool. If I had anything other than a 148 I might jump on that.

Offline j5brock

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Re: Oade ACM V3
« Reply #11 on: February 05, 2007, 05:30:41 PM »
Makes me glad I haven't had him mod my 671 yet... Did he find a place to stick a CF slot.. then I could just get rid of the 671.
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Offline thegreatgumbino

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Re: Oade ACM V3
« Reply #12 on: February 05, 2007, 06:30:15 PM »
that's pretty freaking cool. If I had anything other than a 148 I might jump on that.

148 > V3, Marc.   8)
It’s not what you look like when you’re doin’ what you’re doin’, it’s what your doin’ when you’re doin’ what you look like your doin’…express yourself. - Charles Wright

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marc0789

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Re: Oade ACM V3
« Reply #13 on: February 05, 2007, 06:57:03 PM »
that's pretty freaking cool. If I had anything other than a 148 I might jump on that.

148 > V3, Marc.   8)

 ::) ;D

this gives me pause...I always liked the v2, do not like the v3 adc, but with a doug adc mod? that's tempting, cause it's gonna sound good.

marc0789

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Re: Oade ACM V3
« Reply #14 on: February 05, 2007, 06:58:08 PM »
most importantly, this means his back's gotta be feeling decent...good news. ;D

 

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