Pathos Classic One mk2 lovin Its just magnificent now all I need is the speakers and I'm good to go. Have some DH Labs T-14 biwire cables and BL-1 interconnects on their way from the states as we speak.
finished moving everything over to the new place over the weekend, it just looks like a bomb has hit it now
I hope that's genuine C37 lacquer on the wood. http://www.referenceaudiomods.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=NOB_C37_C
Just to make sure I didn't read it incorrectly... Thats $500 for a knob right? Theres no clever things inside it that I'm missing, I had to read it 3 times to make sure. Got the speakers the other day, Proac Response 1SC, I'll have to make sure theyre laquered with the right stuff too. xD Some audiophiles are so easy to dupe tbh. I recall recently someone (Will maybe?) pointed out on audiogon some (very expensive) little jars of crystals and pebbles your put in the corner to make it sound better. Apparently it was serious.
And then you need a mains lead, a snip at $2,100 (5') btw, "Electrolytic Tough Pitch Copper" is the ordinary stuff used for house wiring. OFHC is so yesterday.
Yeah, theres all sorts of rubbishy things like those, when I've done the 2 essays I've got due this week I'll post a thread of the most rediculous 'audiophile' products I can find... Here's a taster....Shatki Stones! Merely place them near your kit and it'll make it sound better, apparently. Dafter objects to improve sound quality that I've seen advertised include a sort of mobile thing you hang from the ceiling between your speakers, and tiny paper 'micro-dots' you stick on your speakers anda round your room to help focus and erradicate vibrations which degrade the sound. I have to say though, some things often dismissed by the sceptics as making no difference to the sound, such as mains cables or mains filters, and speaker cable/interconnects, I have found to make a significant difference to the sound in some cases (including my own system)....whether its worth the price some cable manufacturers charge though, I'm not always sure....
For Sale: N'Sync CD - Only $999.99 Will make all of your music sound better by comparison! Stereophile writes: "I was listening to a Fleetwood Mac CD. It was good, but the sound didn't really wow me. Then I popped in N'Sync, and by the time I got to track three, I was ready to kill myself. Then I put the Fleetwood Mac CD back in and it sounded SO GOOD."
Speaker cable construction can most definitely make a difference - there are many genuine incidents recorded where an 'audiophile' speaker cable has blown the amplifier. The two samples of snake-oil I posted came from here, plenty more. And at a site I saw recommended for audio components, 3.3uF 500V Audio Note Silver Foil Capacitor ... £796.65. Each.
now frustration is setting in... Currently running the new toys with the most cheap-ass cable superfi would give me (iirc £1/m) and video RCAs for interconnects waiting for the cables from the states (paid on the 7th, so figuring a week to make them and a week for them to get over here they should be here any day) For speaker stands, cheap ass (i mean cheap, £3 each) ikea stools. I was getting some Target R1 stands second hand from someone on zerogain but ive not heard from him for a bit, he's gone on holiday and hell knows when hes getting back . Getting impatient, if the cables arrive before I hear back im ordering some Target MR60 stands. Its a whole lot of stand for just over £200 new, but so are the R1s (especially second hand) bah /sulk
The only way that that would be remotely possible would be if the cable was 100% faulty, resulting in a short. I hope that's what you meant.
Not so, expensive Litz wire-style cables can kill Naim, Linn, et al amps. They're high capacitance and can cause a sensitive amplifier to oscillate at HF, burning out the output stage. This comes down to some high-end amplifier designs - simplify the circuit to improve the sound, but live on the knife-edge of stability. Naim's answer? Only use Naim speaker cables.
Thats a specific case though, due to those amps not having a 'zobel network' (whatever that might be, a filter circuit on the output stage or something) as part of their design...I believe only early Naim amps did without, the current range (NAP-500 etc) has it I think. It is wise to check with early Exposure/Naim/Linn though, as to whether they have specific cable tolerances, as you suggest - most people with Naim gear use Naim cables (NACA5 seems common as mud), indeed Naim-ees tend to like complete Naim systems (cdp, pro, power, supercaps/hicaps etc, Naim 'Fraim' for it to sit on etc).
Right, as I keep getting prodded by a few people to got for posh mains cables, I've given in for the sake of a few quid and got some toughplug and wattgate plugs and a big reel of a cable from farnell that was specifically reccommended by Zanash on ZeroGain (bit of a guru from what I understand). apparently its great stuff, that outperforms off the shelf cables that are sold for hundreds of quid. Anyway, as good as it is, I don't need 50m of the stuff. Its costing me about £1.70/m for a reel and you can pay £5/m for it by the single metre. So, Will who's adamant that mains cables make a difference, cpemma thats skeptical about it and anyone else that just fancies having a go... I've got a buttload of it that I'll get rid of for around £2/m to cover my costs and postage You'd just need however much cable, a good quality mains plug (£2-3 for toughplugs) and a good quality IEC plug for another few quid (wattgate ones are £15+, but there are certainly cheaper) and youll have a posh (and pretty) mains cable that beats out ones that are well into 3 digits supposedly Any takers?
Did you ever thought making an independent electric circuit from the main board to the audio and comp. plugs ?
I don't know whether you guys have a 440v line or whatnot in addition to the 220v, but on this side of the pond, we have the regular 110v line and a 220v line. The breakers are set up so that the 220v line comes into the house, then there's a few 220v breakers, then several 110v breakers. The 110v are arranged two in serial across the 220v line. What this means is that the hot for the first breaker is the same as the hot for the 220v line, the neutral for the first breaker is the same as the hot for the second breaker, and the neutral for the second breaker is the neutral of the 220v line. That means that if you have audio equipment from breakers on both sides of the box, some will be out of phase, and give you noise problems. Not sure how this applies to UK, but definetly be aware.
I'm adamant that mains cables *can* make a difference, yes - but it depends on your kit, and what environment you're using it. By fluke and/or design, some kit will have better or worse noise rejection, so will be more or less influenced by any mains cables/filters you use. Equally, it depends on where you're using it - in a house with modern wiring, and relatively few electrical items, you'll not notice as much difference, as, say, my old university accomodation - 2 fridges per flat, 12 flats per block, up to 8 computers per flat, loads of flourescent lighting, and circuit breakers shared between 4 rooms - a bloody noisy electrical environment, where my Trichord mains filter really came into its own. Without it, I could hear clicks through the speakers when the fridges came on, and the sound was much harsher and brighter, and generally more 'digital' sounding. For some combinations of kit though, in some environments, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference mains kit makes, be they cables, filter and/or transformer based.
Of course a good power cable make a difference. I usally use Supra LoRad. But, IMHO if you have an independent circuit ( in fase like Altron said and i concour ) and a good power cable, the difference in terms of sound, are huge.
