ModWright SWL 9.0SE Tube Line Stage Preamp

It’s an outstanding preamp. I could stop right there, but I’m sure you’d like me to add a wee bit more detail. So I will.

Dan Wright built his business by modifying existing components. He’s established quite a reputation in that field, but he wanted to take the next step by designing and building a product from the ground up. The project required three years and countless hours of R & D. The result of that effort is the SWL 9.0SE Remote Controlled Vacuum Tube Line Stage.

         I got an e-mail a while back from Frank Kraus, a good fellow that we’ve known for a while who distributes several high quality lines. He mentioned that ModWright was now part of his stable and that he’d like us to try one. Well, I need another preamp line like I need a hole in the head, so I wasn’t all that interested. The seed had been planted though and my curiosity got the best of me, so I decided to do a bit of sniffing around.

My first stop was Srajan Ebaen’s site, Six Moons. Wow, was he ever impressed! I won’t bore you with the details, but Srajan bought the review sample. The next site visited was Enjoy The Music to check out the review by Wayne Donnelly. You guessed it, another rave, and yes he purchased the review sample as well. By now it was starting to sink in that this thing could be worth a listen (duh!), so I rang up Frank and told him to point one in my direction.

            While in route, I had time to do a bit more digging on the SWL 9.0SE and turned up some interesting facts. In particular, I was intrigued by the tube choice. Dan has designed the circuit around the 5687 a very linear and extremely low noise dual triode used in pure class A. It’s obvious he feels this tube is an outstanding performer, but as it turns out, it’s a readily available and inexpensive tube on the New Old Stock (NOS) market. Rather than paying $40 - $100 or more for a premium NOS 12AX7, 6922, etc., really nice 5687s can be had for $15 - $25 apiece! Incredibly, the SWL 90SE comes fitted with some cherry NOS JAN/PHILIPS tubes that may keep you happy forever.

Top quality parts are used throughout, including FRED and Schottky diodes, metal film Vishay resistors, ceramic tube sockets and high-quality film caps in signal path applications insure exceptional performance. The power supply features choke input current regulation and there’s a mute-on delay turn-on sequence with soft-start B+ supply. The SWL 9.0SE is well endowed with connection portals offering 4 line inputs, 1 tape monitor input, 2 sets of main outputs and 1 tape out. The remote allows control of volume (Alps motorized potentiometer) and mute, input select, home theater bypass loop (HT/BP) and tape/monitor loop – basically everything except power and input select.

The unit is voiced to offer a full, fast and accurate recreation of the entire frequency range. Bass is deep, tight and authoritative and high frequencies sparkle. The tonal balanced is designed to be accurate and detailed without edge or glare. The liquidity and holographic imaging of tubes is present, without the ‘soft’ or ‘syrupy’ sound often attributed to tube designs - this is not a blatantly colored piece. It has both quickness and snap, qualities that often elude other tube designs.

Stone cold, right out the box, the 9.0SE was good. With a day under its belt it was very good. Another day hence and it was singing sweetly. This preamp has really excellent soundstage, with very accurate spatial cues. The ModWright preamp easily unravels ambience cues in recordings with good hall acoustics. Both placement of images on the stage as well as distance between players and distance from the listener are clearly defined. I think you’d find it hard to complain about the preamp in this department.

The bottom line – I think you’d be very impressed with the SWL 9.0SE. Its neutral balance will insure it will mate with a wide range of equipment and compliment most systems. Further, at $2200 I think it’s a really super value.

 The preamp is the recipient of resounding praise from Six Moons and Enjoy the Music, not to mention lots of positive customer feedback.

Review - SA Equipment by Todd Warnke - pdf file

Review - 6 Moons Audio by Srajan Ebaen 

6 Moons honors the ModWright SWL 9.0SE with its Blue Moon Award - "For "Raising A Very High Bar" in the affordable valve preamp category!"

Review - Enjoy The Music - Superior Audio Column 

Blue Note Best of 2005 Award - alongside the Wavac PR-T1 Line preamplifier ($30,000) and the Lamm Industries L2 Reference Preamplifier ($14,790), in the preamp category

Review - Positive Feedback by Mark Katz in the Nov/Dec. issue of Positive Feedback Online.

Positive Feedback crowns the SWL 9.0SE with the Reviewers Choice Award for '05

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