The Upgrade Company

+1 269-352-7609

Unsolicited Customer Testimonials - Every client has paid The Upgrade Company LLC in full.   No kickbacks, no commissions, no fees of any kind for recommending our products and services.

CLASSE CA-5200 5ch Power Amplifier "Signature Edition" Upgrade

Got the Classe amp back in place yesterday.  I'm hearing improvements already:  Imaging is more focused, like real musicians standing or sitting on stage or in a studio;  hall acoustics are so much more apparent, against a jet black background.  Before the upgrade, when not playing any music I could hear a faint “hiss” through the speakers.  Now, I literally have to put my ear right against the one of the B&W Diamond tweeters to hear the hiss.  This is amazing.  Was I listening to all that electrical RFI & EMI grunge before?

 The music is cleaner, more fluid and more real than before your Signature Edition upgrade. There's more impact, slam and tightness to the bass and more fullness in the midrange.  Blacker background, greater depth and ambience. 

Prior to the upgrade, I typically listened to music, depending on the recording, at -41.5dB on the Classe SSP-800 prepro's volume control.  Now I can effectively lower my typical volume level to -45dB and still get even greater bass & top end response and better detailing.  Amazing.  Simply more music is reaching my ears with the upgrades.  The soundstage is more palpable.  Musicians occupy their own distinct space right before me.  Since this was the last component in my system to have the Signature Edition upgrades, this big jump must be because the CA-5200 amp is finally reproducing all the sound quality that it was being sent but never able to reproduce or match in Classe's stock "For Profit built" form.

Overall my system sounds beautiful David.  Obviously I'm completely sold on this whole upgrading thing.  If I did not witness a huge improvement with each upgrade, I would not have sent you this beast of an amplifier. It was a chore let me tell you.  For the record, over the past year and a half, I'm glad I had you perform the Signature Edition upgrades to my McIntosh MCD-205 CD changer,  NuForce Edition Oppo 83SE Bluray Universal player, Scientific Atlanta HDTV satellite tuner, Classe Audio SSP-800 and this CA-5200 amplifier.

Oh and those guys who claim there couldn't possibly be any picture quality improvements need to do an A-B with one of your upgraded units, because even on my HDTVCable tuner the improvements were huge.  A little less so on Bluray but it was sharper, more saturated and the blacks were darker, with more separation and gradation in the blacks.  Definitely more film-like after the upgrades to the NuForce Oppo.  I also must say that the pristine picture I'm getting on my 60" Pioneer Elite KURO is also due to my top of the line Monster BP-2000 Signature Power Line conditioner, that made a big difference too.  Much more then the audiophile brands I've tried frankly.

Thanks again,

Raymond Sarno, NY

Classe SSP-800 Prepro, McIntosh MCD-205 CD Changer & NuForce 83SE with Signature Edition Upgrade

Hi David,

Here is a long overdue update:

The Classe SSP-800 prepro upgrade exceeded my expectations. The naturalness, the ease of the music, the accuracy of the midrange and highs and the clean, tight bass is quite apparent.

The NuForce 83SE with your Signature Edition upgrade also exceeded my expectations: it's now got a pristine picture and hits way above it price point on music discs. The noise reduction techniques you focus on in your upgrades are readily apparent to me over everything else I've tried.  Do not let the crap on the internet from wanna-be competitors posting on forums as consumers dissuade you. You are really onto something here.

The upgraded McIntosh MCD-205 CD changer sounds superb.  Some of the cleanest, blackest, most transparent sound I have heard from CD's.  I can just imagine a new upgraded McIntosh 881...

My system sings a very musical, accurate and detailed presentation of a live event. I've also been venturing into NYC HiFi showrooms and the trade shows for years and I'm telling you I'm not missing anything now.

Raymond Sarno, Long Island NY