So, this mains business

Why thanks Robbo, can't think who could be skin bashing, although his technique needs a little brushing up

 

Those blue ones look as though they are hanging themselves.

Is it deep purple playing?

I'll have to sort you out with some more band members.

What are the replacements then? Or are you remaining secretive?
I want a Eupen!

 

Dino, we need a bad-ass bass player that can do more than 4/4 licks and a silver throated screamer, with time honoured maine,.
Dino if you want em, you got em' I have 3 available (note all with the Marinco wattgate plugs) 1 1m, 2 .5 m's PM if interested.
Replacements, well that would be telling :v: :v: :v: , but if you good and promise not to buy any more bubbaliciously fruit amps from Sevenspokes, I'll bring them round to our little swaray, along with the Densen and maybe some 'Interesting Blue peter specials' Tone

 

I think it's fair to say that Tone's replacement mains cables are just a tad more expensive than the Eupens (and I know what they are so nah-nah-na-nah-nah :banana: )

Michael.

 

Aye, fill up the dump truck with lots of tweaky specials and polish for my turds.

BTW - i'm all RCA except XLR option on the cdp output just FYI.

I'll sort a full outfit tomorrow including some hardcore bass - might chuck in a few orchestral dudes too for the culture club.
Just hope Michael doesn't notice my smilie fetish

You have PM incoming

 

I'm sure Robbo modeled that Smilie on Mike, it thats' Shake you booty thing, that gives it away I reckon Tone

 

As you know I have a modest system based around a PM6010OSE and I can clearly tell the difference in sound quality at difference times of day, it actualy seems to sound better around 6:00pm as I assume the power stations increase their output, I have measured the voltage at this time and on average it is higher than say in the afternoon.

This is not audiphile fantesy, its common sence the more stable the mains the better the HIFI will sound, as less reguluation will be required in the compoments them selves, and even the best HIFI stuff can't reguluate the mains perfectly. As AC is a sine wave, the voltage is constantly changing, and I would imagine DC (though not sure about this) is a square wave, and its the job of the power supply to convert the sine wave into a square wave. Ok I may be talking crap there, if somebody can tell me different I would welcome it.

All I know is that moving my CDP to a dfiferent shelve, building speakers stands, and using a cheap £10 distrubution block instead of my old £1 one have done wonders to my system. so a lot upgrades could probably be achieved for a lot less than the price of new kit if people look further than the HIFI magazines hype.

 

Yepp!

DC is not a square wave. In fact it is ideally not a wave at all. It is a constant voltage with no variations whatsoever. Hard to achieve in practice. Even DC voltage from a battery will be modulated to some extent by the load as it draws a varying amount of current.

Chris

 

I'm half asleep today, I have just realised if it was a square wave it would switch itself on and off! I feel daft now.

 

Care to share that with us Michael?

I do hope he has gone the way of the snakes and fairy dust

 

I also had harsh and thin sound towards late afternoon, just a pair of Van Den Hul Mainsstream on my DVd and AV cured that problem...

 

Bottleneck......

I'll see you on saturday, nad see if we can dispell a few myths.

A lot though will depend on the state of the incoming mains, and the level of hash they carry.
If you've got relatively clean mains you ain't going to hear a deal !

On of the most intresting demos I did recently was at NAK's from the old place. He had a rotel pre power comb with living voice speakers. THe images were good but the sound was locked down between the speakers, added one mains cable to the CDP. The effect was like taking a magnifying glass and looking at the sound image. Every thing increased in scale, bigger and better images, wider soundstage, not louder in volume though. The differences were plain but not night and day.

 

Well, I can't go betraying Tone's confidence now can I... :007:

But he hasn't gone the way of the Viper or Shunyata (or whatever they're called).

Michael.

 

Should be good fun mate. Im stocked up with pizza and crisps and alcohol and pop. One less bag of dorritos as we speak...munch munch munch....

Id like to be proved wrong, If I experience the differences others have for just changing power leads around I'll be a happy bunny! (its an improvement in my system, and they are always weclome).

Till then, I'll remain a non-convert with an open mind..

Interesting the feedback on ferrite rings. I wish we had some more scientists on here.

Ive said before - I can see no way in which they could do anything other than take away RFI, its just a lump of ferrite.... how could it effect anything else?

My pseudo science bullships theory, is that RFI high frequency hiss is heard as a detraction in treble when removed by a ferrite ring..

Never heard anyone say ferrite does anything other than remove RFI, so I admit Im fascinated by the removing dynamics thing. It would help me to know how this could happen (if its true) (genuine non-piss taking BTW)

Cheers everyone
Chris

 

May I quote from someone who should know, judging from the results:

"Many people believe in inductively filtering power with coils or ferrites. Inductors act as low-pass filters and work brilliantly at preventing HF noise from entering the system. As long as you believe in the power company as the Evil Empire, that approach will look appealing indeed. The fact remains that your components are the primary culprit. You see, in-line filters also prevent high-frequency noise from moving away from the component that generates it. Putting an inductor in series with your AC simply acts as a reflector. All the dreaded haze, blur and grain you wanted to get rid of remains in the system. In fact, it's now shared between the components in ping-pong fashion and hence multiplied.


Another fallacy is the belief that power is a low frequency phenomenon: 50 or 60 cycles. If that's what you believe, installing a low-pass filter is a good idea. It's an excellent approach as long as you power light bulbs or fans. Those appliances pull current across the full AC-power sine wave. However, electronic components pull power in high-frequency pulses, at the crest of the AC wave form. When the AC wave reaches a level in excess of the stored voltage in the power supply capacitors, the rectifier switches on. This drops the impedance of the power transformer windings to virtually zero causing an instantaneous and hard current pull that has very high frequency harmonics. The low-pass coil naturally resists the HF current change, limiting the amount of instantaneous current that can be delivered to the storage capacitors during that cycle. As the AC wave drops, the rectifier reverses and shuts off so you can't pull current until the wave form comes around again. So you wait for these 50-60 cycle time intervals to recharge the caps."

So the theory is that inductors are acting as a kind of rev limiter, thereby reducing perceived system dynamics.

I thank you

 

Interesting that.

First time Ive heard that RFI is generated more BY the components than BY the mains supply. He seems to be suggesting that if the latter were to be the case, then ferrite rings would be an excellent idea.

Whats perplexing, is that the blurb of pretty much most mains kit manufacturers talks about RFI being generated from mains, not the component.

Somebody must be wrong!


Think I'll try taking them off when I get a bit of time, and have another play.



Chris

NB Merlin
Thanks for the info - who was the author?

 

Chris,

Its from a Q&A session with Caelin Gabriel, the founder of Shunyata Research and former "techy" for the NSA.

You will also find that this is the thinking behind he Isotek Substation, which uses Isolation transformers to decouple different components from one another.

All I can say is that it's difficult to argue with the results achieved by the products I have used that apply this thinking.

I thank you

 

I believe there's something to that theory too. My Eupen cables are as much to filter grunge coming from components as going into them. One of the reasons I have one on every component, even my cheap DVD player.

It's also IMO why use of multiple Eupens (or similar) has a cumulative effect that's greater than the sum of the parts - if you see what I mean

BTW Merlin - it seems the cables I thought that Tone went for (now I can say it, Z-Squared AU/AU) are now not what he's decided to use! :banghead:

Michael.

 

CDP's and Transports are spraying RF all over the place.....clock circuitry works from about 11Mhz up to 45 Mhz and a couple of volts P-P.... this is then piped around the PCB by up to 500mm of track!!!! SEE the RF bathe the rest of the circuitry....with crud....WATCH as it radiates all over the rest of your equipment!!!

L8TER

JC

 

Hi Guys

There is a very interesting article in this month's Sound on Sound magazine (pro-audio recording) that was sparked from a thread on the SOS forum that I linked to in Groovehandle. It is interesting reading and written by an 'expert' You will have to read the article in paper format as i do not think that you will be able to read it online without an e-subscription. I would have done a summary but have been far too busy, sorry. I think that he says some of it is rubbish and some of it will make some difference.

DominicT