An interesting day...

But just think how good the £7.5K system would sound with top cabling/mains:tempted:

 

were the IECs/Wattgates,whatever was on the the chords,the same on both the chords you swopped?

 

True but I can't stretch my wallet that far at the moment

My Eupens have silvered MK toughplugs one end and silvered M Kayser IECs the other end.

I didn't ask what the plugs and sockets were on the Omiga cables so Tone will have to jump in and tell us. They did have US style plugs. We used adaptors to connect them to the Trichord. Apparently the US style plugs sound better than UK 3-pin plugs. More contact area or somesuch. The IEC plugs were a very secure fit, I can tell you that much

 

hmmm,maybe its a secret ingredient he puts in? or maybe he is a hypnotist?

 

The ingredients are the same as any cable maker would use. The secret is in the mix of ingredients and how they are treated. The manufacturing process sounds quite involved.

It's like cooking. When I was a stoodent (many many years ago) I tried to learn how to make pastry. Now pastry is a fairly simple thing. It's flour, fat and water - and a pinch of salt. Simple. But could I make pastry? I followed the recipe books to the letter! All useless. In desperation, I went home for half term and asked my Mum to show me how to make pastry. And she did. It took all of ten minutes. And from that day on I have always made perfect pastry. It's not the ingredients, it's what you do with them

As for hypnotism, well it didn't work for the interconnects or speaker cables did it

:lol:

 

I'm glad to hear that the Technobear system was so improved by the addition of new mains cables. This raises two questions.

If the mains cable is that important, why do manufacturers usually supply a cheap mains lead.

Secondly, why is the lead from the equipment back to the mains socket so important, when the supply still has to go through the ring main, the fuse box and the cable back to the sub-station. I am assuming that Technobear Towers was not re-wired during the alterations.

I am not trying to question the validity of using fancy mains cables, just trying to understand it. If this subject has been covered in a previous thread, could somebody point me in the right direction. A quick search did not enlighten me.

 

Some specialist mains cables claim to attenuate rf and other grunge on the mains. Other cables are designed to provide a low impedance connection to the equipment, hence allowing instant current delivery. Then you have the mains mafia who use 10mm T&E separate spurs for each piece of equipment, remove all equipment fuses and use RCDs instead of fuseboxes.

All these methods have their proponents and IME, all have quite a measure of effectiveness.

Cheers

 

forgot, i also have one of those aswell

 

Hi all,

I must say I find myself in a similar postion to you here. I hear you guys saying what night and day differences this has made, but am clueless as to how - especially given the thousands or tens of thousands of metres of (presumably) rubbishy cabling between you and the substation.

If there is an effect (and it looks from this experience that there probably is) - has anyone wondered or experimented how it is affected by the amount of "special" cable you have between your kit and the mains? Does a very little have the same effect as a lot or is twice as much twice as nice ?

Is it the path all the way back to the substation that causes the problem or is it just the domestic circuit?

 

U/A,

Good thinking practices there
Valid questions too.
First you would need to look at the incoming mains signals,
In a ordinary domestic situation, untouched and standard.
This will then give a base reference point from which to work from.
Interfernce, where does it come from?, what effect does it have (if any), is there anything that can be done?, why would you do it?
Your mains power is at the heart of your system, no 230V no sounds (unless totally battery powered ), so as your system is dependent on what is supplied to you via 'The electric co.' you have no control on what comes down the line and enters your house/premises OR do you ?
Can other appliaces cause problems with your hifi?, fridges?/lighting?, kettle/shower/oven most of them are on the same mains ring/spur as you system?, when the kettle or oven is switched on ever notice a difference in sound?, does your system sound better at certain times of the day (maybe less load on the supply?)
A lot of guys, fit seperate consumer boxes, seperate wiring to dedicated sockets, and MCB's, bigger gauge wire.
All this helps isolate the hifi from 'Internal' interferance and can help greatly in the system sound.
The arguement of the last 2m of wire, why/how can it make a difference?, proberly the most asked and debated one.
First we have to go back to the start of the post, take the data we have amassed from the 'stock house' if you like, analylise it, and determin, If the incoming mains signal can be manipluated (for want of a better word) to serve the purpose of music reproduction better.
So, if it can then how can we go about doing this?
I will say, we have a fully PC controlled main regeneration unit which use for research purposes, not just in Audio but Instrumenation & areospeace, where power is oh so critical.
Slightest contamination of mains/power during a measurement process would be extremely detrimental to the end results.
Examining the effects of not just clean power, but re-organised power if you like, gives us a greater insight into the 'Life force' of hifi, which can shape a significant part of its end sound. (Good or bad)
Back to the question, how can a couple of feet of wire make a difference, depends on what the (cable) is designed to do, weather its a sheilding type, to try and remove certain parts of the interference that may cause a problem with certain reproductive equipment, or possible just delievering the juice in a way that other equipment prefers.
One other point, although you may have isolated your hifi from internal considerations, this still leaves the problem of 'what your given' by the power company.
Many devices are on the markets, Hf filters, isolation transformers, passive filters (caps, resistors etc), and the so called Voodoo products. Most claim a great reduction in electromeagnetic interferance, Shunyata 'Fesi Compound' AM's molecular stabisation treatment, Furtec's 303 treatment, ERS cloth.
Do them work?, if you haven't tried one out then I suspect, ultra sceptical you may well be
If you've had one in your system, you may well sing from a another Hymn sheet .

 

A US style plug has far less contact area. Their live and neutral pins are thin and flimsy (sometimes they even have a hole in them) whereas UK style plugs have possibly the chunkiest pins I've yet seen on a mains plug.

The more likely reason for improved sound (if indeed there is any difference) is that UK plugs are fused and US (and European) ones aren't. I would say that European "Schuko" plugs are better than US ones - not fused and a larger, more securely made, contact area

Michael.

 

Micheal, its to do with the connection in the socket more than the plug pins themselves.
UK sockets have 2 opposed bent parts that the pin slides between, so the contact is only at the bends in the pinds (if that makes sense).

 

...sorry :shame:

 

OK Pete,

In my defence I'm not Alvin Gold and don't get paid by the word
I could have layed it out better, but hey Now and again
Some equipment has far better internal power suppiles, regulation etc, others have uprated external power suppiles, one type of designed lead, may not work as well on that piece of equipment as one designed to do another specific piece of shite removal/and or *other* trait.
Prehaps what I trying to say is, some equipment 'Looks' for a different critearia in its power supply 'mapping' while others work of a different set of rules.

 

This may be utter bollox, but my understanding is that SOME mains cables work by preventing interference from example cdp entering the mains through the lead and causing interference for other components, this is not all they do but can be one of the properties

 

Thats what I think too...

 

Thanks W-M for the taking the trouble to explain the importance of the power supply . I even understood most of it (apart from Shunyata 'Fesi Compound' AM's molecular stabisation treatment, Furtec's 303 treatment, ERS cloth). In order to try and reduce the effect of interference from other appliances in my house, one of my planned upgrades is a dedicated spur for the hifi from the consumer box with its own MCB.

The part I am having trouble understanding is how a power lead made such a dramatic difference to Technobear's system. Am I correct in saying that said lead comprises of a standard fused plug, trick cable and kettle socket without any form of electrical component? Are the leads 'one size fits all' or do they vary depending upon the application?

I can see that a specially shielded cable can reduce interference, but how does it 'deliver the juice in the way that the equipment requires', when the juice has to travel through the same grotty ring main and 3 amp fuse as before?

Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to rubbish your leads or even question the results; I am just curious.

 

They vary. We used one kind on the CD player and a different kind on the amp according to the needs of each. Different combinations gave quite different results. Some combinations were sensitive to interconnect changes. Others weren't. One combination reminded me of a holographic Naim/Dynaudio setup I heard at Bristol. Makes me smile when I think what *that* system costs. That was too flat earth for me though. I like to have my cake and eat it too. Round in a flat sort of way

 

I wouldn't be too fussed if you were!!!!
I've just lost the reply and I can't arse to write it again computers are shite on occations.

 

My power leads are all slighty different depending on component, (can't comment on Omiga Audio stuff), My CDP lead has electronics (passive filtration?) built into both plugs, the one for pre is similar but slightly different electronics, the cable for the powerlead is different as it's construction is what gives it,it's particular properties.

Most of the leads at the lower end of the price band, tend to be more of "one size fits all", they offer improved construction and possibly better plugs, but you could probably make something just about as good for a lot less, ie braiding cables, or using higher quality cable.

I suppose same could be said for more expensive cable but your DIY skills would need to be almost electronic engineer level, best leave these to klivar peepul lik WM