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Post by MikeMusic on Jan 3, 2015 14:13:21 GMT
The boss was away last night so I thought I'd have a serious listen, IE - LOUD to something good, I chose a real favourite, 11/10 on the Mikeometer. Jan Hammer - Oh Yeah ! Chair into the receiving position, 5-6 feet closer to the speakers, over to the right a bit so central in the speakers/me triangle We begin. Superb - but odd. I've not heard this sort of detail before. Didn't rate the production that highly even though the music is wonderful. Volume up a bit and a bit more and a lot more. Check the DB meter, averaging 90 and not a trace of distortion or overload, a peak of 103  Start of one track and the drums kick in <expletive deleted> What was that !!! That has never had that *punch* before. Some very nice thumps to the head Where did the detail and clarity come from ? There was no hint of it before. I have found another type of album. One you think was made fairly well, that, at a certain point in upgrading kit, reveals so much more. What changed ? Not that much, so far as I know only ... RDC cones under all kit, some with bases, granite placemats on everything Dead cheap in hifi figures. Result : Wonderful and a terrific surprise. I thought there would be incremental improvement but this really took me by surprise. I was already delighted with the sound the system made. This bit of tinkering has taken it a few more steps up. What else is to come ............. ? You don't know until you upgrade a bit more This was CD by the way. Will try the LP soon |
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Post by MikeMusic on Jan 3, 2015 21:17:18 GMT
Management summary if it wasn't clear (it's the way I tell 'em) :
Keep upgrading as you don't know when the big jumps will come.
Tonight Wolfgang Press - Funky Little Demons - just amazed me.
Are the big jumps from the latest round of simple upgrades with RDCs and placements or the cumulative effect of everything from the new fusebox in 2009 onwards ?
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Post by BilliumB on Jan 3, 2015 22:28:09 GMT
Mike, as you look back, what 'cheapish' tweaks do you think have had the most beneficial results?
Cheers. Bill
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Post by MartinT on Jan 4, 2015 13:21:12 GMT
Start of one track and the drums kick in <expletive deleted> What was that !!! That has never had that *punch* before. Some very nice thumps to the head The Chord, in the context of a good system, does that!
To answer Bill's question, for me it was the sum of adding footers/platforms carefully to everything that caused a step change in insight into the music.
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Post by MikeMusic on Jan 4, 2015 15:54:22 GMT
Mike, as you look back, what 'cheapish' tweaks do you think have had the most beneficial results? Cheers. Bill Bill Difficult to answer as I think the recent cheap ones added to what was already there I'll try, starting at the front. Getting a sparky in to 1. Change my earth rod from dangerous and barely connected, or even in the ground, to solid. I had not even looked at it. 2. Put in a bank of unswitched sockets to replace a single switched socket and 2 lots of cheap 4 way adaptors. Changed the system sound from rubbish to good. Plugging the main use item into the *left* hand socket on the double, being the earth connection - really, you can hear the difference. Changing the standard unswitched socket to a Missing Link, less than £40 (This was after buying a mains regenerator to serve everything from there on) Cheap Kimber mains leads and interconnects. They make a VFM difference for more than they cost. Say £20 low end up to as high as you want to go or switching to others as I did (not cheap !) Depending on what is cheap ..... Mana racks and soundbases. From £100 up. Oak cones to support any piece of kit - so so cheap at less than a fiver, or make them yourself RDC cones cost more but deliver better sound and better VFM to my mind Granite placemats Various CD mats, Russ Andrews and Marigo What I think happened recently was the coming together of all to give me a sound greater than the sum of the parts Almost certainly you can look at a cheap record deck weight. I jumped straight to a Stillpoints at a bargain price |
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Post by MikeMusic on Jan 4, 2015 15:55:08 GMT
Start of one track and the drums kick in <expletive deleted> What was that !!! That has never had that *punch* before. Some very nice thumps to the head The Chord, in the context of a good system, does that!
To answer Bill's question, for me it was the sum of adding footers/platforms carefully to everything that caused a step change in insight into the music.
I wonder if the Chord has been freed from its shackles .... |
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Post by MartinT on Jan 4, 2015 15:56:33 GMT
It doesn't have any shackles. It simply reveals what it's fed with in the most untainted way I know.
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Post by MikeMusic on Jan 4, 2015 16:01:14 GMT
I think the RDC cones and carefully placed granite coasters help the Chord nicely
With the P10 and Isis on RDCs, Pass on Stillpoints and PSU on Black ravioli they deliver better signal and power.
Bear in mind this all happened with CD !
Even the original Mott the Hoople album delivered more than ever before today
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Post by MartinT on Jan 4, 2015 17:18:03 GMT
I think the RDC cones and carefully placed granite coasters help the Chord nicely With the P10 and Isis on RDCs, Pass on Stillpoints and PSU on Black ravioli they deliver better signal and power. Yes, I agree with all of that.
I've tentatively tried a granite placemat on the Chord seeing as it's not summer, pending buying some more coasters. There isn't a component left in my system that hasn't been given the RDC and granite treatment. In each case, the improvement has been subtle but positive. The sum effect is more than subtle. |
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Post by MikeMusic on Jan 4, 2015 21:12:32 GMT
Yes. It's the cumulative total that I think is the knockout.
One of the few advantages of having so many boxes !
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Post by BilliumB on Jan 5, 2015 1:58:54 GMT
Thanks Mike, that's interesting. I'm planning to start on the mains later this year - probably new consumer unit, radial supply etc. Also looking at balanced power.
Cheers. Bill
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Post by BilliumB on Jan 5, 2015 2:01:53 GMT
Hi Martin - do you feel that the footers/platforms had more effect than mains, cables etc - or just that the cost/benefit ratio was great?
Cheers. Bill
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Post by MartinT on Jan 5, 2015 2:17:17 GMT
That's a tricky one, Bill. I worked on them at different times. Certainly the combined cost of them were different, with the cables costing more, but then I think that mains treatment gave me more returns. Fixing the footers/platforms was well worth doing, too, for less overall outlay. The benefit in doing it all over time is the marked improvement in transparency and insight the individual improvements add up to.
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Post by MikeMusic on Jan 5, 2015 8:32:25 GMT
Go for what you can easily and cheaply now Bill.
I have kept or upgraded further everything I bought.
It's nice to hear the improvements starting at the cheaper end as I did and moving up
With the mains being sorted later perhaps a bash at the supports, interconnects and mains cables......
I have loads of upgraded stuff I need to sell so let me know if you are interested
(I'm concentrating on selling the big bits of kit for now)
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Post by BilliumB on Jan 5, 2015 17:29:09 GMT
I see that you both have power regenerators - have you compared these with balanced mains in arriving at your current setups (I guess balanced mains is likely to be cheaper)?
I've already done a bit with cables - Jerry sold me a set of RFC Pluto Mk II, I've got some Oreton mains cables, and an oldish Ben Dumcan isolation transformer. As you'll see from the footer, I decided on a 'digital source' setup and plan to stick with this for the foreseeable future, ripping and playing music (+ spotify) using a Vortexbox on an Intel Nuc currently - sounds great, but it's difficult to know how good it all could sound until you get there!
Cheers. Bill
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Post by MartinT on Jan 5, 2015 17:35:02 GMT
I see that you both have power regenerators - have you compared these with balanced mains in arriving at your current setups (I guess balanced mains is likely to be cheaper)? No, I was going to trial RD's NVA balanced transformer but unfortunately politics got in the way and I doubt that he would entertain the idea now. Shame as I remain intrigued, but not overly so as the PS Audio really delivers in the SQ department. |
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Post by MikeMusic on Jan 5, 2015 19:18:16 GMT
Being efficient (hey who said lazy ?!) ........ I heard Martin's system. Was horribly depressed about mine so went and bought some of the things he recommended. I know he researches hard so he was doing my due diligence ! |
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Post by MartinT on Jan 5, 2015 19:43:03 GMT
I should charge a fee, you know...
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Post by MikeMusic on Jan 5, 2015 21:30:19 GMT
The alternatives I explored looked like the Labours of Hercules (ish) with not enough years to go all over the place listening and who knows how to assemble competing kit, long winded, frustrating, massively time consuming
I thought about
Patience
-not having any when it comes to increasing my musical enjoyment and remembering the prices of the top end Naim kit v's what you spent, significantly less, rather nailed it
I can take a bit of kit comparing when there is a chance of a step up in music, investment if you like, but I find it tiring and eventually boring after more than 2-3 hours
So I started buying kit
I is a happy bunny
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Post by MartinT on Jan 5, 2015 22:15:21 GMT
And isn't that the end goal? Reckon you've nailed it |
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