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Post by macca on Jun 25, 2021 15:46:58 GMT
They look like they might sound a bit flat
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Post by electronumpty on Jun 25, 2021 15:52:25 GMT
If C 3rd some chord thingy?
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Post by karma67 on Jun 25, 2021 15:53:17 GMT
At some point, I'm going to discuss these speaker cables I've made. Until then, you'll just have to let your imagination run wild. are they red by any chance??
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Jun 25, 2021 17:05:21 GMT
At some point, I'm going to discuss these speaker cables I've made. Until then, you'll just have to let your imagination run wild. are they red by any chance??
Nope
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Jun 25, 2021 17:17:21 GMT
If C 3rd some chord thingy? As I said, let your imagination run wild 😉
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Post by sq225917 on Jun 25, 2021 18:27:41 GMT
Fuzzy carbon sheathing
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Post by Deleted on Jun 25, 2021 19:02:43 GMT
Are these built for for etiquette and protocol? Or only half of it, as you are missing the PO.
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Post by antonio on Jun 26, 2021 1:57:27 GMT
Well if they don't sound any good at least they look nice
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Jun 26, 2021 9:28:40 GMT
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Jul 8, 2021 20:28:51 GMT
I seem to be applying some finishing touches to my system thee days, rather than making any wholesale changes. That can only be a good thing....right? As Part of the finishing touches, i have been investigating the power supply section, which existed of a DIY BMU, which features a dual RCB/MCB, insulated wiring and ventilation. Fantastic things they are, RCB's. If you accidentally overload the BMU, they trip. That way your BMU doesn't turn into a 70's style smouldering fondue set all over your lovely carpets or oak flooring. Better than that, if you do accidentally overload the BMU, all you have to do is open the lid, reset the RCB, and you are good to go. No damage at all. Makes me wonder why they don't make them all that way? Anyway, as it happens, i did overload mine a few weeks back and tripped it. I could not be bothered to open it up as i was just about to move the Piano. So i threw a Tacima Multi plug in. It's been there since through laziness. I decided to reinstall the BMU yesterday and set about it. One thing I had noticed with the Tacima was that HF seemed VERY extended. Sometimes maybe artificially so. I reset the RCB's in the BMU and put it in. To my utter shock, the BMU made the soundstage more compact. Fixed firmly between the speakers, and i lost quite a lot of scale. I checked the setup extensively and all cables were in place and firmly connected. But i couldn't get it to sound as expansive as with the Tacima, however it did sound a little more full bodied and bass particularly seem to deliver more heft. This is very unusual, as WP (With Piano) it never came across that way, but since NP (no piano) the difference in soundstage size is difficult to comprehend. I accept i may be hearing it's full effect properly for the first time. I have had to unlearn quite a lot about my system since the Piano was removed. All for the better though. As an experiment, i have just bought this: I have no idea what it will do differently to the other two pieces, but i am going to try it and then rewire it with Solid Core OCC. It may be a total waste of time, but i am not keen on the Buzzbar build quality of modern multiplugs and this one is wired with OFC to start off with, so i am hoping i land somewhere in the middle of the HF extension of the Tacima and the Fuller tone of the BMU. We shall see
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Post by antonio on Jul 8, 2021 23:47:29 GMT
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Jul 9, 2021 6:20:26 GMT
Hahaha, not at that price! That's scandalous
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optical
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Post by optical on Jul 9, 2021 7:43:45 GMT
I seem to be applying some finishing touches to my system thee days, rather than making any wholesale changes. That can only be a good thing....right? As Part of the finishing touches, i have been investigating the power supply section, which existed of a DIY BMU, which features a dual RCB/MCB, insulated wiring and ventilation. Fantastic things they are, RCB's. If you accidentally overload the BMU, they trip. That way your BMU doesn't turn into a 70's style smouldering fondue set all over your lovely carpets or oak flooring. Better than that, if you do accidentally overload the BMU, all you have to do is open the lid, reset the RCB, and you are good to go. No damage at all. Makes me wonder why they don't make them all that way? Anyway, as it happens, i did overload mine a few weeks back and tripped it. I could not be bothered to open it up as i was just about to move the Piano. So i threw a Tacima Multi plug in. It's been there since through laziness. I decided to reinstall the BMU yesterday and set about it. One thing I had noticed with the Tacima was that HF seemed VERY extended. Sometimes maybe artificially so. I reset the RCB's in the BMU and put it in. To my utter shock, the BMU made the soundstage more compact. Fixed firmly between the speakers, and i lost quite a lot of scale. I checked the setup extensively and all cables were in place and firmly connected. But i couldn't get it to sound as expansive as with the Tacima, however it did sound a little more full bodied and bass particularly seem to deliver more heft. This is very unusual, as WP (With Piano) it never came across that way, but since NP (no piano) the difference in soundstage size is difficult to comprehend. I accept i may be hearing it's full effect properly for the first time. I have had to unlearn quite a lot about my system since the Piano was removed. All for the better though. As an experiment, i have just bought this: I have no idea what it will do differently to the other two pieces, but i am going to try it and then rewire it with Solid Core OCC. It may be a total waste of time, but i am not keen on the Buzzbar build quality of modern multiplugs and this one is wired with OFC to start off with, so i am hoping i land somewhere in the middle of the HF extension of the Tacima and the Fuller tone of the BMU. We shall see I had one of these for a while. First power strip I've used that made a real worthwhile difference. The 'star' grounding seems to be the real design difference between this and a few others. I had the Schuko version with EU plugs doing away with all the fuses going to my kit, this also makes a difference removing the 'bottlenecks' of the fuses. Have to say when I've used the Tacima ones the system became un-listenable, dynamics were destroyed and everything became very flat unexciting . . . . Any power 'filter' that doesn't reconstruct the sine-wave properly (big $$$'s) just don't bother . . . .
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Jul 9, 2021 7:54:54 GMT
I seem to be applying some finishing touches to my system thee days, rather than making any wholesale changes. That can only be a good thing....right? As Part of the finishing touches, i have been investigating the power supply section, which existed of a DIY BMU, which features a dual RCB/MCB, insulated wiring and ventilation. Fantastic things they are, RCB's. If you accidentally overload the BMU, they trip. That way your BMU doesn't turn into a 70's style smouldering fondue set all over your lovely carpets or oak flooring. Better than that, if you do accidentally overload the BMU, all you have to do is open the lid, reset the RCB, and you are good to go. No damage at all. Makes me wonder why they don't make them all that way? Anyway, as it happens, i did overload mine a few weeks back and tripped it. I could not be bothered to open it up as i was just about to move the Piano. So i threw a Tacima Multi plug in. It's been there since through laziness. I decided to reinstall the BMU yesterday and set about it. One thing I had noticed with the Tacima was that HF seemed VERY extended. Sometimes maybe artificially so. I reset the RCB's in the BMU and put it in. To my utter shock, the BMU made the soundstage more compact. Fixed firmly between the speakers, and i lost quite a lot of scale. I checked the setup extensively and all cables were in place and firmly connected. But i couldn't get it to sound as expansive as with the Tacima, however it did sound a little more full bodied and bass particularly seem to deliver more heft. This is very unusual, as WP (With Piano) it never came across that way, but since NP (no piano) the difference in soundstage size is difficult to comprehend. I accept i may be hearing it's full effect properly for the first time. I have had to unlearn quite a lot about my system since the Piano was removed. All for the better though. As an experiment, i have just bought this: I have no idea what it will do differently to the other two pieces, but i am going to try it and then rewire it with Solid Core OCC. It may be a total waste of time, but i am not keen on the Buzzbar build quality of modern multiplugs and this one is wired with OFC to start off with, so i am hoping i land somewhere in the middle of the HF extension of the Tacima and the Fuller tone of the BMU. We shall see I had one of these for a while. First power strip I've used that made a real worthwhile difference. The 'star' grounding seems to be the real design difference between this and a few others. I had the Schuko version with EU plugs doing away with all the fuses going to my kit, this also makes a difference removing the 'bottlenecks' of the fuses. Have to say when I've used the Tacima ones the system became un-listenable, dynamics were destroyed and everything became very flat unexciting . . . . Any power 'filter' that doesn't reconstruct the sine-wave properly (big $$$'s) just don't bother . . . . I did consider doing the EU conversion thing but my understanding is that it's illegal to not have a fuse in each appliance. Removing a fuse would probably be very beneficial, but until I am more up to date with what can be done, I'll try this out. The Tacima bthings aren't brilliant. When I used it before I felt it creates too much leading edge, made things sound lean and overall wasn't good as the BMU. However the difference in soundstage size is striking. I can't ignore that now
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Post by macca on Jul 9, 2021 8:03:35 GMT
I use a Russ Andrews mains block that is star quad etc... cost me a hundred squid. I must have been off my tits when I ordered it, I don't know, it was a long time ago.
Power amp plugs straight into the wall, you run the power to the amp through anything else it can kill the sound.
Although having said that the amp for the TV system is powered through three daisy chained mains blocks and that sounds fine. Depends on what channel you're watching as to the sound quality but it can sound astonishing.
I don't bother with any of this mains stuff at all, fuses are a bottleneck etc, they're really not. It's all foo.
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optical
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Post by optical on Jul 9, 2021 8:05:13 GMT
I had one of these for a while. First power strip I've used that made a real worthwhile difference. The 'star' grounding seems to be the real design difference between this and a few others. I had the Schuko version with EU plugs doing away with all the fuses going to my kit, this also makes a difference removing the 'bottlenecks' of the fuses. Have to say when I've used the Tacima ones the system became un-listenable, dynamics were destroyed and everything became very flat unexciting . . . . Any power 'filter' that doesn't reconstruct the sine-wave properly (big $$$'s) just don't bother . . . . I did consider doing the EU conversion thing but my understanding is that it's illegal to not have a fuse in each appliance. Removing a fuse would probably be very beneficial, but until I am more up to date with what can be done, I'll try this out. The Tacima bthings aren't brilliant. When I used it before I felt it creates too much leading edge, made things sound lean and overall wasn't good as the BMU. However the difference in soundstage size is striking. I can't ignore that now Hmmm . . . it may be that the Tacima was doing a job of filtering mains interference then as that is about all it is good for in my experience. Didn't notice any difference with sound-staging in my system with it, in fact it probably decreased it a bit because of the mains 'filtering'. Interesting that you have had that result. My hifi is on the top level (of the house) ring where there are no appliances (fridges, computers etc), I think without building it's own dedicated ring, it's about as 'clean' as it's going to get so 'filters' seem to make no difference what so ever. To be honest I'm not too up-to-date with the house/insurance requirements but I do have quality mains fuses (BSE standard & 'audiophile') in both the power strip itself and the UK mains plug it's all connected to. Circuit is also on a brand new RCD unit so I have no worries there. (It's a 1 and a half year old house), I've checked the wiring in some places and it's all over-spec'd. If this was my old house (100 years+ old!) it would certainly be a different story.
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optical
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Post by optical on Jul 9, 2021 8:18:12 GMT
I use a Russ Andrews mains block that is star quad etc... cost me a hundred squid. I must have been off my tits when I ordered it, I don't know, it was a long time ago. Power amp plugs straight into the wall, you run the power to the amp through anything else it can kill the sound. Although having said that the amp for the TV system is powered through three daisy chained mains blocks and that sounds fine. Depends on what channel you're watching as to the sound quality but it can sound astonishing. I don't bother with any of this mains stuff at all, fuses are a bottleneck etc, they're really not. It's all foo. Re: 'Foo' you could well be right Macca, however I think I read somewhere that there were measurable added distortion figures when comparing a fuse in the path to none . . . I think it was around . . . . . 0.0033% or something like that. Not audible but it's there and these little things 'can' add up. Certainly on things like Magnepan's it would make much more of a difference I suspect as it is directly in the audio signal path, same with other speakers actually as some use them as speaker protection. Certainly spending big money on fuses does seem a bit far fetched (I think mine were a tenner). But removing them for me just made sense, it was something to try. I think I paid about a tenner for ten Schuko plugs too so no biggie.
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Jul 9, 2021 8:25:34 GMT
I did consider doing the EU conversion thing but my understanding is that it's illegal to not have a fuse in each appliance. Removing a fuse would probably be very beneficial, but until I am more up to date with what can be done, I'll try this out. The Tacima bthings aren't brilliant. When I used it before I felt it creates too much leading edge, made things sound lean and overall wasn't good as the BMU. However the difference in soundstage size is striking. I can't ignore that now Hmmm . . . it may be that the Tacima was doing a job of filtering mains interference then as that is about all it is good for in my experience. Didn't notice any difference with sound-staging in my system with it, in fact it probably decreased it a bit because of the mains 'filtering'. Interesting that you have had that result. My hifi is on the top level (of the house) ring where there are no appliances (fridges, computers etc), I think without building it's own dedicated ring, it's about as 'clean' as it's going to get so 'filters' seem to make no difference what so ever. To be honest I'm not too up-to-date with the house/insurance requirements but I do have quality mains fuses (BSE standard & 'audiophile') in both the power strip itself and the UK mains plug it's all connected to. Circuit is also on a brand new RCD unit so I have no worries there. (It's a 1 and a half year old house), I've checked the wiring in some places and it's all over-spec'd. If this was my old house (100 years+ old!) it would certainly be a different story. Well that's the bit that I want to look into, whether "technically" the powerstrip would be sufficient as the fused device, and therefore I could use the shuko on the appliances/devices plugged into it. I mean, the best way around the whole thing is to make a hardwired junction box and use that instead ...... Which is what I think I'm gonna do!
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optical
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Post by optical on Jul 9, 2021 8:30:00 GMT
I use a Russ Andrews mains block that is star quad etc... cost me a hundred squid. I must have been off my tits when I ordered it, I don't know, it was a long time ago. Haha, you could probably sell it for 4 fold that to someone now . . . . Russ has worked his (PR) magic again . . . If it's a mains block with star grounding it's probably doing 'some' good (compared to a Maplin plastic job). However material cost can't be more than £20 maximum I suspect.
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Bigman80
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Post by Bigman80 on Jul 9, 2021 8:45:54 GMT
macca You must have been mullered 🤣🤣 I'm not convinced that fuses are totally an issue, but Chris is right, their influence can be measured albeit it's hardly devastating figures! It's more about getting the right bit of kit in the system and making sure it's doing the best job it can. I've been a big advocate for BMUs but something has obviously changed in my system where it's overkill
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Post by macca on Jul 9, 2021 8:48:05 GMT
I recall I did a comparison of the various blocks I had lying around and thought I could perceive a slight difference between them so that's why I decided to order a 'good' one. I don't compare them blind though which is fatal.
maybe it really does make a slight difference, it's not impossible I suppose.
When Ollie was last round here and we used his amplifiers we had a stunning sound, and that's with no mains treatments, no fancy mains cables, no power regen, no balanced mains, no fancy fuses etc. My house has not been re-wired since 1973, I don't even have a modern consumer unit, just the old-fashioned fuse box with fuse wires.
yes there is heavy industry nearby (big pottery factory with electric kilns about 500 yards away).
The Topping E30 DAC was powered from a mobile phone charger but even then it was barely distinguishable - probably indistinguishable in fact - from the other two DACs that use linear power supplies (the Soncoz DAC has two, one for each channel).
can you blame me if I think none of those things matter?
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Post by misterc on Jul 9, 2021 9:15:03 GMT
Recently I visited a customer who used a PS audio P20 with an well regarded US BP unit, nicely constructed, all the right safety hardware fitted it had more than the Nyquist theory for headroom for this particular system.
To be honest I was a little underwhelmed with the noise floor ad textural depth of the end result.
Looking at this in depth a couple of weeks ago, the basic premise is to generate a virtual earth and with the improved common mode rejection remove a significant amount of the 'grunge' that the UK has sitting on it's national grid and supply lines. Some applications BP is widely used, very few companies seem to actually grasp its benefits for certain uses imho.
Now traditionally design a/c filters for a great many domestic appliances use a 'x' / 'y' caps and some inductor(s) to remove the various rubbish. Medical devices and worn IoT tech have to have a much higher standard of filtration.
X caps are used between 'live' and 'neutral' and 'y' caps are used between earth and live, they have different properties and effects.
On a traditional UK mains supply the 'Y' caps is set between '0' Vac and the full live rail voltage. Will a balanced power set up the 'y' cap is looking at 120V to max rail voltage as the 'earth' if you like is shared with the Neutral line.
For myself the removal of the incoming Common mode noise, harmonics and DC offset are first critical stages of any good clean power system? imho.
Interestingly the chap with the above items I have mentioned uses the P20 conditioner first and can set the outgoing voltage to a respectable range from the PS audio unit. His best results are obtain with an output voltage of 230Vac even though the BP transformers is of a very high specification and can easily accommodate 244Vac
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optical
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Post by optical on Jul 9, 2021 10:18:17 GMT
When Ollie was last round here and we used his amplifiers we had a stunning sound, and that's with no mains treatments, no fancy mains cables, no power regen, no balanced mains, no fancy fuses etc. My house has not been re-wired since 1973, I don't even have a modern consumer unit, just the old-fashioned fuse box with fuse wires. can you blame me if I think none of those things matter? I'll bet you did, and no can't blame you one bit! However I see mains 'upgrades' as 'icing on cake' tweaks. Who's to say it wouldn't have elevated it even further with appropriate kit (although by the sounds your block is fine). I don't think it will be night and day for you as you already have great sound, but it could serve as a way to get another 5%, who knows. Due to the fact I'm using Schuko plugs going into an unfiltered extension block that goes into the wall, I'm sure I'd get the same results if I just plugged every box into the mains directly but I don't have enough individual sockets in the wall, otherwise I would! Someone told me that digital bits of kit (streamers/CD players etc) should be plugged into filtered sockets and everything else in unfiltered, I tried this and it killed dynamics, my extension block does have 4 filtered sockets but I don't use them. Unfiltered mains always sounds best to me, assuming there is nothing 'gunging' up the rest of your mains.
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Post by macca on Jul 9, 2021 11:08:48 GMT
I use a Russ Andrews mains block that is star quad etc... cost me a hundred squid. I must have been off my tits when I ordered it, I don't know, it was a long time ago. Power amp plugs straight into the wall, you run the power to the amp through anything else it can kill the sound. Although having said that the amp for the TV system is powered through three daisy chained mains blocks and that sounds fine. Depends on what channel you're watching as to the sound quality but it can sound astonishing. I don't bother with any of this mains stuff at all, fuses are a bottleneck etc, they're really not. It's all foo. Re: 'Foo' you could well be right Macca, however I think I read somewhere that there were measurable added distortion figures when comparing a fuse in the path to none . . . I think it was around . . . . . 0.0033% or something like that. Not audible but it's there and these little things 'can' add up. Certainly on things like Magnepan's it would make much more of a difference I suspect as it is directly in the audio signal path, same with other speakers actually as some use them as speaker protection. Certainly spending big money on fuses does seem a bit far fetched (I think mine were a tenner). But removing them for me just made sense, it was something to try. I think I paid about a tenner for ten Schuko plugs too so no biggie. I agree fuses for protection on speakers is not a great idea.
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Post by macca on Jul 9, 2021 11:28:54 GMT
When Ollie was last round here and we used his amplifiers we had a stunning sound, and that's with no mains treatments, no fancy mains cables, no power regen, no balanced mains, no fancy fuses etc. My house has not been re-wired since 1973, I don't even have a modern consumer unit, just the old-fashioned fuse box with fuse wires. can you blame me if I think none of those things matter? I'll bet you did, and no can't blame you one bit! However I see mains 'upgrades' as 'icing on cake' tweaks. Who's to say it wouldn't have elevated it even further with appropriate kit (although by the sounds your block is fine). I don't think it will be night and day for you as you already have great sound, but it could serve as a way to get another 5%, who knows. Due to the fact I'm using Schuko plugs going into an unfiltered extension block that goes into the wall, I'm sure I'd get the same results if I just plugged every box into the mains directly but I don't have enough individual sockets in the wall, otherwise I would! Someone told me that digital bits of kit (streamers/CD players etc) should be plugged into filtered sockets and everything else in unfiltered, I tried this and it killed dynamics, my extension block does have 4 filtered sockets but I don't use them. Unfiltered mains always sounds best to me, assuming there is nothing 'gunging' up the rest of your mains. Yes there is always the possibility of making a great sound even better, maybe a couple of percent, personally I don't have that mindset, if it sounds great I just get on with the point of the whole exercise which is listening to music. I only tinker if there is something about the sound that is bugging me. Even then I wouldn't bother looking at mains treatments to fix it since that won't/can't be the cause. We hear a lot these days about 'gunk', 'rubbish' and so on 'on the mains'. None of this is ever qualified, you've only got to look at the indeterminate adjectives used to describe it for alarm bells to ring. Yes the mains has distortion, no question, and if that really survived conversion from A/C to D/C, and passed through the transformer and the capacitors in the equipment and came out through the speakers, all systems without treatments would sound terrible. I mean positively unlistenable with 25% plus distortion, and not the good kind either, the kind that sounds harsh and nasty. But it doesn't so they don't. The same is true of RFI which we are told is floating around everywhere, sneaking inside the equipment and 'contracting the soundstage' (it's almost always 'soundstage' that is affected with these things) or some other ephemeral effect that can't really be quantified. Yes there's shitloads of it, and again if it really had any effect on what comes out of the speakers then you'd hear it and hear it big-time. The reality is that it has no effect whatsoever. However I accept that with some people tweaking these things gives a sort of pleasure/gratification/satisfaction that's really entirely unconnected with the original point of owning a hi-fi system and who am I to deny them that? I'd just rather anyone getting into the game is aware that this is not something they should be worrying about/spending money on until they have maxxed out everything that does matter (and they'd have to be very wealthy to get to that point) but still want another rabbit to chase down a hole.
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optical
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Post by optical on Jul 9, 2021 12:05:31 GMT
I'll bet you did, and no can't blame you one bit! However I see mains 'upgrades' as 'icing on cake' tweaks. Who's to say it wouldn't have elevated it even further with appropriate kit (although by the sounds your block is fine). I don't think it will be night and day for you as you already have great sound, but it could serve as a way to get another 5%, who knows. Due to the fact I'm using Schuko plugs going into an unfiltered extension block that goes into the wall, I'm sure I'd get the same results if I just plugged every box into the mains directly but I don't have enough individual sockets in the wall, otherwise I would! Someone told me that digital bits of kit (streamers/CD players etc) should be plugged into filtered sockets and everything else in unfiltered, I tried this and it killed dynamics, my extension block does have 4 filtered sockets but I don't use them. Unfiltered mains always sounds best to me, assuming there is nothing 'gunging' up the rest of your mains. Yes there is always the possibility of making a great sound even better, maybe a couple of percent, personally I don't have that mindset, if it sounds great I just get on with the point of the whole exercise which is listening to music. I only tinker if there is something about the sound that is bugging me. Even then I wouldn't bother looking at mains treatments to fix it since that won't/can't be the cause. We hear a lot these days about 'gunk', 'rubbish' and so on 'on the mains'. None of this is ever qualified, you've only got to look at the indeterminate adjectives used to describe it for alarm bells to ring. Yes the mains has distortion, no question, and if that really survived conversion from A/C to D/C, and passed through the transformer and the capacitors in the equipment and came out through the speakers, all systems without treatments would sound terrible. I mean positively unlistenable with 25% plus distortion, and not the good kind either, the kind that sounds harsh and nasty. But it doesn't so they don't. The same is true of RFI which we are told is floating around everywhere, sneaking inside the equipment and 'contracting the soundstage' (it's almost always 'soundstage' that is affected with these things) or some other ephemeral effect that can't really be quantified. Yes there's shitloads of it, and again if it really had any effect on what comes out of the speakers then you'd hear it and hear it big-time. The reality is that it has no effect whatsoever. However I accept that with some people tweaking these things gives a sort of pleasure/gratification/satisfaction that's really entirely unconnected with the original point of owning a hi-fi system and who am I to deny them that? I'd just rather anyone getting into the game is aware that this is not something they should be worrying about/spending money on until they have maxxed out everything that does matter (and they'd have to be very wealthy to get to that point) but still want another rabbit to chase down a hole. As I said 'icing on cake' tweaks, implying last to do once you are satisfied with everything else. It's necessary if the listener wants 'more', You have to try, or you won't know. I don't claim it will work for anyone. As you've said you're not unhappy with the sound and don't really believe it will make a difference so you don't share the curiosity of some, be that due to skepticism, a reached level of satisfaction, not wishing to appropriate funds towards something you deem 'unnecessary' etc etc . . . That's cool and genuinely great for you (and your bank balance!). In my old setup which was on the same ring as a fridge/washing machine if I was listening to vinyl I could hear significant increased hum if they were on. If that's not 'gunk' on the mains I don't know what is. I'm not alone in these kind of findings. Normal house mains (which aren't on a dedicated spur) have 'gunk'/dirty mains/switching supply noise, whatever you want to call it, it just does. Your system might not show it and therefore you don't hear it (great!) but it's there, facts.
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Post by optical on Jul 9, 2021 12:12:56 GMT
Sorry for clogging up your thread a bit here Oli!!
Spring clean if you feel the need!
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Post by macca on Jul 9, 2021 12:29:33 GMT
Hum is actually a real thing though isn't it? Not disputing that you can get interference from other appliances but if you do you will hear it as interference, not as a reduced soundstage or less resolution on second violin. It will be hum, clicks, pops.
I don't listen to music when the washing machine is on, but it's only on for about 30 minutes a week. There's nothing special about my system or the electrical set up in my house.
I do have the money to pursue these things and I would if I thought there were genuine gains to be had. I have actually tried balanced mains, purely out of curiosity. I didn't know then what I know now though, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered.
I'm sure none of this is going to sway you or anyone else who is already convinced, indeed I've found that those people think that I'm the one who knows nothing. Such is life . As long as we're all happy doing what we're doing what does it matter?
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optical
Moderator
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Be Excellent To Eachother
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Post by optical on Jul 9, 2021 12:55:36 GMT
Hum is actually a real thing though isn't it? Not disputing that you can get interference from other appliances but if you do you will hear it as interference, not as a reduced soundstage or less resolution on second violin. It will be hum, clicks, pops. I don't listen to music when the washing machine is on, but it's only on for about 30 minutes a week. There's nothing special about my system or the electrical set up in my house. I do have the money to pursue these things and I would if I thought there were genuine gains to be had. I have actually tried balanced mains, purely out of curiosity. I didn't know then what I know now though, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered. I'm sure none of this is going to sway you or anyone else who is already convinced, indeed I've found that those people think that I'm the one who knows nothing. Such is life . As long as we're all happy doing what we're doing what does it matter? Agreed, although I wouldn't say you're in the minority, it's split fairly evenly in my experience. Exactly, that's why said "not wishing to appropriate funds towards something you deem 'unnecessary'", I'm sure you could, but you don't, that's sensible given your experience. I wonder if we're perhaps slightly on the same page then, I haven't referenced any mains tweaks increasing soundstage or anything like that, just that the filtered types (Tacima) quashed all dynamics in my system. So I only use completely unfiltered mains blocks and connections. I do feel that the removal of the fuses from all the plugs feeding my system 'should' have a positive effect. Because it takes so long to swap all the necessary cabling etc, there's no way to properly A/B test them but as the difference is unlikely to be VERY noticeable, it may not be audible even if there was a measurable (slight) difference. I think there is some mileage in sorting out correct grounding to the system (hence why I think the Wireworld Matrix block works and likely yours too), it should lower the noise floor. Audible, maybe, but possibly only under certain conditions. I wouldn't change how your system is setup either as you have no filters and a sorted mains block, amps directly into wall - job's a good'un. My earlier points regarding 'regenerative' mains conditioners are purely theoretical but they 'should' provide the equipment with a perfect sine-wave of power and therefore should yield improvement. However I certainly don't have enough disposable income for the type we're talking about.
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Bigman80
Grandmaster
AA Founding Member & Bigbottle Audio Creator
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Post by Bigman80 on Jul 9, 2021 14:48:34 GMT
My house has not been re-wired since 1973, I don't even have a modern consumer unit, just the old-fashioned fuse box with fuse wires. I reckon thats why you are ok. Those old Fuseboards usually had ceramic holders, some had Copper contacts (my garage one has brass, but the REALLY old ones had copper) and you have a proper piece of wire for the fuse. You have got a fancy distribution block, only yours does the entire house! lol
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