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Post by MartinT on Oct 23, 2014 21:17:15 GMT
You should hear what it does with the Lorde album, John!!
I'll put the Finnish CD on tomorrow.
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Post by MartinT on Oct 24, 2014 7:59:20 GMT
System Status Checklist I thought I'd do a system status checklist, for those who are interested and because I'm waiting for a particularly long server defrag to finish. It's a good exercise to do occasionally.
Sources Technics SL-1210 turntable: it's already highly modified with triple stage regulation and is pretty much at the end of the road for upgrades. The Dynavector arm is a keeper. Perhaps I'll try a Shelter cartridge from higher up the range one day, like a 9000. One idea I still have left is to improve the crystal oscillator, perhaps in a temperature controlled oven, on the main PCB. I've spoken with a couple of people about it and await further ideas.
Ayre SACD player: this is a keeper and unlikely to be replaced unless something extraordinary comes along.
Streaming: plenty of scope for improvement, with both the Raspberry Pi and the Pioneer BDP-LX55 Blu-ray player in USB playback mode showing great promise, and the Caiman-II DAC corralling it all.
Phono amp The Aurorasound VIDA is everything I wanted from a phono stage, and is flexible enough to keep me happy with future cartridges.
Preamp Unless an even more transparent preamp comes along (like a used XP-30) then the Pass Labs XP-20 is a keeper.
Power amp The Chord SPM-1200E remains the best power amp I've ever used. No reason to change it.
Speakers The Usher Be-20s are almost certainly my final speakers.
Interconnects There is lots of scope but how much do I want to spend? The Yannis 223.5 PhonoLitz / ConnectLitz silver cables are exceptional. Only the Coherent interconnects sound better in my system, but not by much.
Speaker cable The TQ Ultra Blacks are the best speaker cables I've tried in my system. I don't want to spend more.
Power I'm stuck with a ring main but have replaced the double socket with a Missing Link unswitched silver contact one. The PS Audio P10 generates superb quality power for the entire system, and never breaks into a sweat. I've never tried balanced power and that may be something to try in my next house. The contact breaker feeding the ring is another item for future attention.
Power cables The new Coherent 6D cables for regenerator and power amp are superb. I'll stay with the MCRU No. 9 cables feeding all the other components, upgrading them to Mk. III status. The SR Red fuses in the 6D cables and AMR Gold fuses in the No. 9 cables have given everything a useful lift. I've played enough with power cables for now.
Rack I've reworked and converted the Solid Tech from a sprung rack to an RDC isolated rack, with great sound quality improvement. I'll be leaving it alone now.
Footers & Supports Everything has changed, with RDC Cones being used under every component. The improvement in SQ is very pleasing, especially with the Ayre. I am left with further work under the turntable, with a granite slab arriving soon and some Chinese neodymium magnets to come.
Room Treatment I've done all I can with the room, with the four TubeTraps, SubTrap and three PicturePanels all helping to minimise flutter echo and dampen things down. It's fairly dead now, which is the way I like it with more direct sound from the system and less reflective compared with many rooms. Port stuffing of my speakers has helped to reduce the room mode peak at 40Hz by a useful amount. No more to do in this room.
Collection All CDs are housed in 16 Ikea Benno racks (which now appear to be called the even more ridiculous Gnedby), linked together in groups. The records are in a combination of older HFW and newer iCube black record cubes. |
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Post by Sovereign on Oct 24, 2014 10:05:05 GMT
Hi Martin
What's your reasoning for not having a dedicated supply, via a dedicated radial, straight from the incoming mains before it reaches the house consumer unit? Makes a good improvement to the sound.
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Post by MartinT on Oct 24, 2014 10:24:22 GMT
What's your reasoning for not having a dedicated supply, via a dedicated radial, straight from the incoming mains before it reaches the house consumer unit? Makes a good improvement to the sound. No reasoning at all except I never got around to it! It's a new house and I'll be moving in about two years' time, so that's reserved for the next one. |
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 24, 2014 12:10:55 GMT
My reasoning was I didn't know  I could have had anything I wanted as the house was gutted and rebuilt internally |
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Post by Sovereign on Oct 24, 2014 12:22:25 GMT
What's your reasoning for not having a dedicated supply, via a dedicated radial, straight from the incoming mains before it reaches the house consumer unit? Makes a good improvement to the sound. No reasoning at all except I never got around to it! It's a new house and I'll be moving in about two years' time, so that's reserved for the next one. A nice upgrade to look forward to then ;-) |
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Post by Sovereign on Oct 24, 2014 12:25:52 GMT
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Post by MartinT on Oct 24, 2014 12:43:52 GMT
Very nice! I'll definitely do that in my next house. What rating breaker are you using for the system? Standard one or contact treated?
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Post by Sovereign on Oct 24, 2014 13:04:14 GMT
No, just a standard 16A one, sounds like a possible upgrade there ;-)
My electrician thinks I'm bonkers. I'm often calling him with all sorts of random questions. The best bit is he carried out all the work, supplied ALL the materials and registered it with NIC EIC for free!
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Post by MartinT on Oct 24, 2014 13:15:14 GMT
Did you do anything about a dedicated earth, as in a spike or grid?
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Post by Sovereign on Oct 24, 2014 13:30:08 GMT
No, in my old house I used to have five earth rods in a star formation that I would water before a hifi session, again bonkers, but I've not got that far with this house yet. but I do have a 10mm earth going back to the tails in the ground.
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Post by John on Oct 24, 2014 14:13:33 GMT
There always more that can be done Lol
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Post by MartinT on Oct 27, 2014 18:08:35 GMT
The Solution (Proper)
This is it - a configuration that is immune to bass feedback (up to 62dB on my volume setting) and yet still sounds good. The turntable is strongly coupled to the heavy granite slab and the slab in turn is decoupled from the rest of the system rack. This is the detail:
Turntable > RDC 1 Cones > RDC Cone Cups > RDC Combi Bases > 460 x 360 x 30 mm granite slab > 38 mm Audio Grade Sorbothane Feet
If anyone wants a bespoke granite slab cut to size and nicely finished for a bargain price, the supplier that ChrisB pointed me to is excellent. My slab cost me £34 + £13 shipping! Bosh, done! |
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Post by ChrisB on Oct 27, 2014 18:25:35 GMT
It's great that it works Martin. Looks good too!
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 28, 2014 8:25:57 GMT
Since last weekend I have
Technics/RDC Cones/RDC cups/Glass shelf on Mana Reference top/Mana rack
No feedback heard
I wonder about the difference between granite and glass and similar bases
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Post by MartinT on Oct 28, 2014 13:03:54 GMT
Hard to say, especially as glass shelves don't have the thickness/weight to be an 'immovable ground' like a granite slab. I suspect they work differently.
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Post by MikeMusic on Oct 28, 2014 13:14:02 GMT
I assume they do, I wonder how.
Assume my thick Mana glass shelves will be too big to try, even sideways through the rack.
I'll check
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Post by Sovereign on Oct 28, 2014 20:51:00 GMT
Hi Martin, I don't suppose you have tried your Torlyte rack to rid the vibration problems you had with your TT? The granite plinth you have would be an acoustic sink and 'store it' where as the Torlyte would aim to disperse that acoustic energy as fast as possible. Well thats the theory anyway, did you get a chance to see if the theory works?
Thanks
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Post by MartinT on Oct 28, 2014 22:47:14 GMT
I did try but the Torlyte just let it through like a wide open window. I guess the bass feedback was around 25Hz or so, as much vibration as sound. The heavier butcher's block was better but not perfect. The granite slab the best of all. Every time I tried lighter it didn't work too well. Also, coupling to the shelf and decoupling that to the rack works best.
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Post by Sovereign on Oct 28, 2014 22:58:58 GMT
I did try but the Torlyte just let it through like a wide open window. I guess the bass feedback was around 25Hz or so, as much vibration as sound. The heavier butcher's block was better but not perfect. The granite slab the best of all. Every time I tried lighter it didn't work too well. Also, coupling to the shelf and decoupling that to the rack works best. Really interesting thanks. I have loads of bass from my system, and the speakers are about two feet away either from my Torlyte rack. Food for thought ! |
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