This is quite late but I wanted to post my experience building an 11 channel modulus 286 power amp (split into two enclosures of 5 and 6 amps each) to drive a 5.1.4 channel atmos home theatre setup.. Notably I’m only using 9 channels at this stage but built headroom to go to 7.1.4..
I purchased the 11 modulus 286 kits from Tom in August 2020 and proceeded to build the 11 channels into two Dissipante 3U enclosures using power 686 boards and the older soft start modules that were diy build. Given the scope of the project I had probably half a million questions during the building process plus some minor trouble shooting issues to work through, all of which Tom painstakingly answered throughout.
At the end of that process, I then realized the benefits of going balanced/XLR and again he helped as I built a paired preamp using his universal buffer and preamp power supply modules in order to convert the single ended signals my Denon x3700 preamp was delivering to balanced, and again he went out of his way to help throughout.
More recently I engaged in another project to build a 9 channel muses digital audio control preamp which used some of the universal buffers and power supplies I had previously purchased and he was a hugely helpful resource throughout.
Not only do the preamps and amps sound fantastic, and are a huge reason to head down the 286 route, but Tom is utterly deserving of respect and admiration for the amount of post purchase support he provides. Anyone considering purchasing should have no doubt when it comes to to the caliber of the building documentation, the amp performance and the post purchasing support.
Thanks very much Tom!