The true experimental tweak thread

[Ralf11]

do you have all components plugged into a single outlet strip?

[Cornan]

On 6/24/2018 at 3:44 AM, tims said:

Hi Micael

I've got a ISO Regen and Luckit bluewave board the same as you but am not using them at the moment but want to now. 

As I've only got one decent adjustable LPU available (output 3 amps), I'm going to use this to supply both the ISO Regen and the bluwave board at 5v.

Do you think this will compromise the galvanic isolation of the IR or adversely affect the SQ in any way using just one PS for both units?  

Thanks 

 

Hi tims!

Sorry for a late reply. Somehow I lost the notifications for my own thread. I just realized it today! ☺️

 

Yes, it will most likely compromise the galvanic isolation powering both the GI Spdif output of BluWave board and ISO Regen with the same LPSU using a DC Y-split cable. The galvanic isolated output of the BluWave board is extremely picky with clean power IME.  However, if you power the ISO Regen with that LPSU and let the ISO Regen power the USB input of the BW board you´re OK. I personally use my DIY LPSU to power ISO Regen which powers the BW USB input and LPS-1.2 that soley powers the BW Spdif output. 

 

 

[Cornan]

On 6/23/2018 at 3:48 PM, drjimwillie said:

I put in the ATL DC Blocker with the Mundorf caps.  I understand the caps take about 200 hours to burn in. 

 After a few hours   I put on Steely Dan, Asia. I can say that the sound is  rounder, a  more cohesive whole. 

 20 years ago my test tune was Jimi Hendrix Voodoo chile.   Now there is a motion, pulse/flow  that was not there before. 

 I wired in 16 gauge Romex and a wall switch to test lifting the ground.  I had been listening with the ground lifted from the secondary.  When I  reestablished the ground,  there was more energy.  The motion was more fearse.  There was More space in the concert hall and more air. 

 At this point in my system, there must be energy that needs some place to go. 

previously with the ground lifted on the secondary,  I thought the system sounded a bit congested.  Although it sounded faster.  I will test lifting the secondary ground again after that system has been playing for a while so that whatever  excess energy has dissipated, and then I left the ground. 

 

 But the big question, did the DC blocker get rid of the buzz in the speakers - no. 

 

 

Thanks for sharing! One question. Are you using active speakers? You could for example try to use XLR ground lifters at the speaker end. Theyre quite cheap and effective IME. I have used them a lot in the past. DC blocker trap filter does´nt neccessarily make the hum go away, but it surely makes the SQ better where ever I have tried them. Even pre my router.

 

This is the XLR ground lifter that I own https://www.ebay.com/itm/Hosa-GLT-255-Ground-Lifter-Adaptor-XLR3F-to-XLR3M/183183073489?epid=840829304&hash=item2aa68fe0d1:g:R5UAAOSw30JbBo~V

 

 

 

 

 

[drjimwillie]

23 hours ago, BigGuy said:

Maybe already reported but does the system/speakers buzz if IT is removed?

If I  remove the IT the buzz goes away. 

 

 Near the end of the AC maintenance isolation transformer thread, I have a very very long diagnostic that I did, to see what the cause of the buzz is. 

 This is a schematic of my system. Everything is plugged into the same  simple star ground power strip. 

 

 So, no one else uses something to reduce voltage except for the power walker? 

[Cornan]

3 hours ago, drjimwillie said:

If I  remove the IT the buzz goes away. 

 

 Near the end of the AC maintenance isolation transformer thread, I have a very very long diagnostic that I did, to see what the cause of the buzz is. 

 This is a schematic of my system. Everything is plugged into the same  simple star ground power strip. 

 

 So, no one else uses something to reduce voltage except for the power walker? 

 

You still have’nt told me if your speakers are active or passive. It will make all the difference IME. How are the speakers connected? AC mains?

[drjimwillie]

1 hour ago, Cornan said:

 

You still have’nt told me if your speakers are active or passive. It will make all the difference IME. How are the speakers connected? AC mains?

Sorry. 

 My speakers are passive. (Snell C-IV)

 Just by-wired from my amp. Connected with spades. 

By the way - the Voodoo Chile  I referred to earlier was not  Voodoo Chile "slight return "

[Cornan]

2 hours ago, drjimwillie said:

Sorry. 

 My speakers are passive. (Snell C-IV)

 Just by-wired from my amp. Connected with spades. 

By the way - the Voodoo Chile  I referred to earlier was not  Voodoo Chile "slight return "

 

I assume you mean Bi-wired passive speakers. Try to single wire the speakers and see what happens? Maybe you’ve got a ground loop?

[drjimwillie]

At the amp end it is one wire, black and red. At the speaker end of  The same cable, it splits and has four ends, two black, two red.  The passive crossover has four terminals. I detached two spades, and  The buzz is still there. 

 As part of my diagnostic process I changed out all of the cables one by one. Disconnected all the gear and put it back one by one. 

 I have isolated the buzz to the IT.  If I unplug the IT and plug my power strip directly into the wall there is no buzz. 

 The IT is putting out 126V.  I think 126 is at the very top end of what is acceptable.  Do you agree?  

 The only voltage regulator I know about is the APC, here in the states. 

[Cornan]

4 hours ago, drjimwillie said:

At the amp end it is one wire, black and red. At the speaker end of  The same cable, it splits and has four ends, two black, two red.  The passive crossover has four terminals. I detached two spades, and  The buzz is still there. 

 As part of my diagnostic process I changed out all of the cables one by one. Disconnected all the gear and put it back one by one. 

 I have isolated the buzz to the IT.  If I unplug the IT and plug my power strip directly into the wall there is no buzz. 

 The IT is putting out 126V.  I think 126 is at the very top end of what is acceptable.  Do you agree?  

 The only voltage regulator I know about is the APC, here in the states. 

 

OK, so then you´ve already found out than it is the IT. Mechanical hum perhaps? Have you tried to tighten the bolts of the transformer to the enclosure?

 

126V do seem a bit too high to me as well. APC is a good voltage regulator according to others. Could be worth a try pre the IT (post DC blocker trap filter) but I am not confident if it will remove the hum or not though. AC mains voltage regulators can make noises as well IME. Not always beneficial to SQ, but could do wonders in the right spot.

 

Here is some tips & trix http://www.dfliq.net/electrical-transformer-noise-happens-avoid/

 

[obsydian]

In terms of cable tweaks, the Ghent is recommended which i have and is a shielded design, but another cable in my setup Meicord is un-sheided, is that and issue.

 

I would have though un shielded is better or does it become and antenna ?

[Cornan]

42 minutes ago, obsydian said:

In terms of cable tweaks, the Ghent is recommended which i have and is a shielded design, but another cable in my setup Meicord is un-sheided, is that and issue.

 

I would have though un shielded is better or does it become and antenna ?

 

Yes, I agree that unshielded cables is better as you can read here!   

 

However, it all comes down to the actual lenght of the DC cable if you´ll need shielded or not shielded. Shorter= no shielding. Longer= shieldeing (why not try JSSG360 for example?). It also comes down to isolation/decoupling. That´s where the Kemet A750 (at both ends) comes in. A great connection is also very important. Soldering beats screw terminal of course. Finally wire gauge that many claims is very important for DC cables. Personally I am not that sure. With the Kemet A750 inline the wire gauge does´nt seem to matter that much IME. I will however continue to put the gauge theory to the test before hitting the big drum!  

[obsydian]

Missed that, thanks will re read it

[charlesphoto]

57 minutes ago, Cornan said:

 

Yes, I agree that unshielded cables is better as you can read here!   

 

However, it all comes down to the actual lenght of the DC cable if you´ll need shielded or not shielded. Shorter= no shielding. Longer= shieldeing (why not try JSSG360 for example?). It also comes down to isolation/decoupling. That´s where the Kemet A750 (at both ends) comes in. A great connection is also very important. Soldering beats screw terminal of course. Finally wire gauge that many claims is very important for DC cables. Personally I am not that sure. With the Kemet A750 inline the wire gauge does´nt seem to matter that much IME. I will however continue to put the gauge theory to the test before hitting the big drum!  

 

I think Obysidian was talking about ethernet cables. I have 1the Ghent JSSG and the Meicord. I prefer the Ghent. Either may sound slightly different and it depends on where you use in the network chain. 

[Cornan]

27 minutes ago, charlesphoto said:

 

I think Obysidian was talking about ethernet cables. I have 1the Ghent JSSG and the Meicord. I prefer the Ghent. Either may sound slightly different and it depends on where you use in the network chain. 

 

Yes, you´re probably right Charles! ? Sorry @obsydian! ?  I instantly assumed it was about DC cables. In my setup Ghent ET-02 still beats Supra Cat 8 and all other ethernet cables that I have tried in the past. I have never tried Meicord though.

[Cornan]

Today, I decided just to add capacitors to my Gophert>LT3045 1A>LS-HPULN (5A) PSU powering Aries Mini in my setup. Gophert already have a Panasonic FC type A at the output. I simply added one Panasonic FC at LT3045 input and a Kemet at the last DC plug closest to Aries Mini. Same cables as before, ie Ghent DC JSSG plus Canare 4S6 in the short DC cables.

 

In total 4 pcs Kemet’s and 2 pcs Panasonic is used. Looking like this!

 

 

One word that comes to mind. PRESENCE! A lot of it! All these additional caps get me closer and closer to a here-with-me-feeling. The very same feeling this time. Maybe not as big difference as when I use the 1mm silver plated Vanguard wires soldered to the cap pins, but a very distinctive improvment in presence, dynamics and room air and depht! Also Kemet A750 is clearly better than Panasonic FC 

type A. Panasonic soften the sound a bit wich is sometimes good and sometimes not as good. 

 

In short. Soldering the pins of the caps and wires on a distance make a bigger impact, but additional inline caps still improves SQ very noticable. So far where ever I put them in the DC path! ?

 

 

[mozes]

Hi Cornan

I like the look of your speakers and I am sure they sound great as well. Can you pls share the brand and model?

 

[Cornan]

18 minutes ago, mozes said:

Hi Cornan

I like the look of your speakers and I am sure they sound great as well. Can you pls share the brand and model?

 

 

Hi Moussa! Sure, the speakers are Gibson Les Paul 8 active reference monitors. ?

[mozes]

Just now, Cornan said:

 

Hi Moussa! Sure, the speakers are Gibson Les Paul 8 active reference monitors. ?

Thanks!

[Cornan]

I thought it was about time that my Aquox switch-8 got a PSU upgrade. I bought a second hand MD-HPULN (3A) from a DIY member who upgraded to a LS-HPULN (5A). I removed the 5V LT3045 0.5A and added the MD-HPULN directly at Aqvox DC input with an additional Kemet A750 cap. Before it the 6V LT3045 0.5A I had before plus another Kemet A750 at the input of the MD-HPULN. Like this! 

 

 

I sat down and had a listen to Mike Dawe’s album Era. Yay! Just as I suspected it was an improvement right away! Right from the first note! Natural heaven, more adult sound and louder before I felt the need to turn the music down. Very natural acoustic guitarr. Very natural electric guitarr. Very natural and dynamic guitarr drumming. Very musical atmosphere. Very deep sound. Very full sound. Very very good! I love Stammheim, but please do not tell him. I have a GF! ?

[Cornan]

I think I have found the toe-tapping-paradise! I have quite a problem to control my feets. They keep on tapping despite me feeling aqward about it! ?

[Cornan]

I received this little beauty today!

 

The brand new SD-HPULN (12V out) which is just a little bit bigger than the LT3045 from Alexey, but is a 2 x 1.5A board that is possible to bridge to single 3A. This is exactly what I’m going to do. I will use it post my main router instead of the LT3045 12V/1A I use there now. Perhaps using it in series with a 14.3V/1A, but the problem there is that I’ll need to change out the 11-14V Voltcraft floating LPSU to Gophert for that to work. Not sure I want to do that right now. Maybe later. Anyway, now I only want to make sure I bridge it correctly before giving it a new home! ?

 

Here is a picture to give you an idea of the size.

 

[Cornan]

Today it was time to add the SD-HPULN. Powering my main router instead of this LT3045 1A/12v from Alexey with Voltcraft floating LPSU as feeder supply.

 

 

I realized that this amazing board is possible to bridge in series so instead of making it parallel I decided to make it 1.5A in series. Soldering Acoustic Revive tripple CCC wires as both bridge cables and I/O wires. Adding the Kemet A750 at input and output just to upset Alex C, RB2013 (Tubelover2 and good knows how many other under cover profiles that guy have got), Sandyk, mansr among others. I could’nt care less! This is my setup not theirs. I know it works for me. I might not be able to work out why, but I am 100% sure it works IRL if you continue to add them and do not stop at the initial trial. My sound is all that counts for me! 

 

Anyway, back to business.

 

 

Immediately there was air injected into the music. It feels fresher. More alive & kicking. More guts. A more crispy treble and more music glow listening to Mike Dawes album Era on TIDAL (never Spotify Rob the Magnificent!).

Really nice! ?? A definate step-up from the single LT3045. Make sense to me, but maybe not to the disbeleivers in the former Uptone thread. Over & out! ?

 

 

 

 

[sandyk]

5 hours ago, Cornan said:

A definate step-up from the single LT3045. Make sense to me, but maybe not to the disbeleivers in the former Uptone thread. Over & out! ?

 

 

 It would be interesting to loop your analogue out from this setup into a PC soundcard, record a few tracks and then provide links to he recording for others to compare with the original.

 

[Cornan]

5 hours ago, sandyk said:

 

 It would be interesting to loop your analogue out from this setup into a PC soundcard, record a few tracks and then provide links to he recording for others to compare with the original.

 

 

That would be interesting if I knew how to do it reliable. We could compare your setup to mine playing the same tracks from the same source.

[Cornan]

Here is the SD-HPULN how-to, so you can see how it is done and understand how versitail this little board is.

 

HowTo SD-HPULN.pdf

 

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