The true experimental tweak thread

[maty]

The article about DC Blocker: Blocking Mains DC Offset

http://sound.whsites.net/articles/xfmr-dc.htm

 

You do not need big capacitors to block the DC.

 

Ask him about the technical reason there was/is to use 2x15,000uF caps before and 2x33,000uF caps now

[maty]

To finish this very long off topic:

 

[Polish] https://audio.com.pl/testy/kino-domowe/amplitunery-av/2107-arcam-avr600

 

to English with Google:

 

https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=pl&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Faudio.com.pl%2Ftesty%2Fkino-domowe%2Famplitunery-av%2F2107-arcam-avr600&edit-text=

 

Quote

 

The extended device did not avoid problems with high noise: the S / N ratio is 82 dB, while the dynamics are already quite good 104 dB. The frequency response (Fig.1) extends from 10 Hz (with negligible decrease) up to 100 kHz at -1.7 dB (8 ohms) and -2.2 dB (4 ohms). The distortion spectrum (figure 2) is quite clean, the third harmonic reaches -87 dB, the others are much weaker.

 

The far reaching slopes of the power characteristics from figure 3. encourage louder play, however, even 1 W level is enough to achieve distortion below 0.1% at 8 ohms, for 4 ohms the power must reach slightly LAB (1.5 W) higher .

 

 

Maybe the AVR Arcam600 like preamp and a new poweramp with better SNR at 1 watt is more aproppiate to high sensitivity speakers like Altec, 97 dB. If you listen very good recordings and high DR, off course. With modern commercial music you do not to spend a lot of money in the audio hard.

 

Maybe by PM or a new thread is a good idea. Too much off topic.

[Cornan]

6 minutes ago, maty said:

Maybe by PM or a new thread is a good idea. Too much off topic.

 

No worries! In contrary to other threads almost anything is ON TOPIC on this thread!  

[Cornan]

Even music tip is on topic, so here is one that I like a lot right now! 

 

Sean Christopher - Yonder (track: Carry on)

https://tidal.com/album/84811535

 

 

[Cornan]

Yay, finally both Thom Yorke and Jack in Water are available on Tidal. It actually looks like Tidal actually listen to my suggestion to add them! 

 

Now I am enyoing these great albums!  

 

Thom Yorke - Spitting Feathers

https://tidal.com/album/86299819

 

 

 

 

Jack in Water - The Piano One

https://tidal.com/album/86218292

 

 

[drjimwillie]

@maty  thank you for the articles. I have read the one on the DC thank you. 

 As a fun FYI, the voice of the theater and the Arcam  are my B system. I have not done any conditioning on that at all.

My A  System, the one that I do all the tweeks on, is a Holo Spring DAC with a Rogue RP-1 preamp and a 250 W Conrad Johnson solid-state amp  feeding Snell C-IVs.   My brother described it as the voice of the theaters throw a sound field that envelops you and the Snells give you  surgical precision.  I have them both connected by an interconnect so at times I can just rock ( or The 9th) out the whole house. ?⚡️(They are on the same floor)

[maty]

https://www.stereophile.com/content/rogue-audio-rp-1-preamplifier-measurements

 

 

Fig.10 Rogue Audio RP-1, spectrum of 50Hz sinewave, DC–1kHz, at 1V into 100k ohms (left channel blue, right red) (linear frequency scale).

 

I like the H2 predominant (SE topology) but... imagine the same with only H2 and H3 and nothing else. And you can adjust the H2 level...

 

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/analog-line-level/314563-aksas-lender-preamp-40vpp-output.html

 

Off course, with less Vpp.

[maty]

https://www.stereophile.com/content/snell-type-civ-loudspeaker-measurements

 

Good graphs.

 

The major problem is the peak of the bass-reflex, only -20 dB. I would try with it closed. Minor problem because it is a 300 Hz << 1 kHz (voice).

 

 

Either you are very well advised or you know very well what you buy, I congratulate you!

 

[drjimwillie]

@maty  I have a Hum through my speakers.  I think the  Conrad Johnson solid-state amp might be the root of the problem.  I am doing all this power cleaning as diagnostics.  If I replace the amp, do you have any suggestions?

 Have you heard that the amp should be twice the wattage that the speakers can handle? So if the Snells can handle 250w, the amp should be 500w?

[Monge]

On 17/5/2018 at 3:36 PM, Cornan said:

 

I have JSSG on DC cables, ethernet cables and USB cables to all of my devices, but not on AC mains cables though. However, I know that @lmitche have dressed his AC mains cables with JSSG. I think that went quite well, but he might chim in to let you know exactly how good they where. 

All of my cables are also starquad wired, but you should keep an eye open here since there is coming in new reports that Supra Cat 8 with its differential pair twist (plus JSSG) is a better cable than Carare 4S6 (with JSSG). I have order 5m of the Supra Cat8 to give it a try. I will report back here how they improve upon Carare 4S6 with JSSG. I hope to get time to do it on saturday atleast.  

Did you try the Supra cat 8 Lan Cable as Ethernet Cable with JSSG?

Maybe the Supra Cat8 could be used as RCA interconnect as the IBM token ring cables can. Or maybe speakercables. Who knows.

After I recieved my Supra Sword-ISL RCA cable I have become a Supra fan. So much that I bought another Sword-ISL set.

Regards Monge

[Cornan]

37 minutes ago, Monge said:

Did you try the Supra cat 8 Lan Cable as Ethernet Cable with JSSG?

Maybe the Supra Cat8 could be used as RCA interconnect as the IBM token ring cables can. Or maybe speakercables. Who knows.

After I recieved my Supra Sword-ISL RCA cable I have become a Supra fan. So much that I bought another Sword-ISL set.

Regards Monge

 

Not yet! I have’nt got it. The post is delayed. I got a delivery note on my doorstep today that I will pickup tomorrow, but I am not sure if it is the Supra or any of the other things that I’ve ordered online lately? The delivery notes does’nt include sender in Sweden anymore.

Supra make great stuff and their Sword range is their top tier. No wonder you like it! The biggest hifi magazine in Sweden use them as their reference.

 

Due to earlier experiences with coaxial cables I will not try the Cat 8 on those. A JSSG could however be interesting to try around my QED used on the turntable! ? Speaker cables should be worth a try, but since mine are XLRs it is unfortunately a no go.

[Cornan]

I don’t know how to put this, but lately every time I put music on I feel touched by the music soul in a way that I have’nt felt before when I had a brake from music listening for a while. I feel amazed every single time I put music on, no matter if it is FLAC, MQA, bad recording, good recording or even Spotify. Something have happen and I am damned to know what? Kemet A750 or Panasonic FC type A? Both in combination!?  Something feels very right now I can tell you. The music is free. All around me. Near and far, but close. Impossible to describe really. I’m just amazed. I cannot even tell what  was the final spell that did it...but the combo did created magic. Magic that lasts. I guess it is like @steklo said in another thread (approx). The symmetry is like love!  Ones you find the combo you know it! ?

[look&listen]

36 minutes ago, Cornan said:

lately every time I put music on I feel touched by the music soul in a way that I have’nt felt before when I had a brake from music listening for a while. I feel amazed every single time I put music on, no matter if it is FLAC, MQA, bad recording, good recording or even Spotify. Something have happen and I am damned to know what?

Enjoy   Soon time to remove pieces little to little to discover essential parts. Not done with journey yet, editing needed.

[Cornan]

8 minutes ago, look&listen said:

Enjoy   Soon time to remove pieces little to little to discover essential parts. Not done with journey yet, editing needed.

Infact, that is what I have done all the time but not felt the need to post. What’s here is what’s needed fair and square! ?

[Cornan]

Remember that I will just report of the very good and obviously bad changes. Not the changes that I personally think that I will change with some additional experiments. Those changes is what I beleive is similar to a love affair. They need to be perfect to be optimal. Every part of the chain needs to be optimized to give you that perfect result. Why do you think I change all my voltage regs to LT3045s in one go , the KEMETs all in one go and the Panasonic FC all in one go? Just because I know that changing just one means nothing! ?

The trye challenge is to understand when a bad change is not just bad and when a bad change will turn in to something great.

[chauphuong]

Hi folks, JSSG wise, should I remove the foil (see photo)?

[Cornan]

21 minutes ago, chauphuong said:

Hi folks, JSSG wise, should I remove the foil (see photo)?

 

The foil should not be in contact with the RJ45 plug, but it is good if it covers as much as possible of the actual cable.

[Solid-State]

Jenving Audio has spent several years researching and testing this cat8 cable ,,,,,,
and the first thing you do is to remove the special screen they created,
Why then buy this cable ...
just wondering

 

 

[John769]

18 hours ago, Cornan said:

Something have happen and I am damned to know what? Kemet A750 or Panasonic FC type A? Both in combination!?  Something feels very right now I can tell you.

+1.  Listening today, the SQ is fantastic! 

 

I'm not sure what is most responsible or if it's more a combination of several things, but what I have recently changed is: 

 

1. Two Kemets in all my four serial 3045 boards (always the input and output of the second board). 

2. Panasonics in my four Gopherts. 

3. Sbooster Vbus2 between USB cable and PC

4. Changed to W10 from Server 2016, and prefer it's airier presentation. 

5. Changed to final AO 2.20 from beta 5. 

6. Connected the chassis of my active JBL's to a Silver Minimus via silver cable.

7. Using avconv libraries instead of ffmpeg for transcoding in minimserver.  

 

Think I've officially joined the 'goosebumps' club.  Is there a medal to collect or a ceremony to attend? 

 

 

 

 

[drjimwillie]

 I have an ultra isolation transformer, and I'm going to wire it balanced,  which means essentially, as far as I understand it, that the hot and the neutral wire are both live. I have the ground lifted on my amp and my preamp. I thought it was probably a good idea to reattach the grounds before I attach a balanced power supply  to these pieces of equipment. Because I am thinking that with two live wires then the ground is going to be required as a return for the current. Is that correct? 

 

 Does it affect anything that here in the USA the ground and the neutral are both bonded together at the panel? 

 

 I have two dedicated circuits. One has my amp the other has everything else.  I am building a  Power strip where  each type of wire is terminated in a star type configuration.  I am waiting for a part for each of the transformer and the power strip so I was thinking in the meantime I would try and experiment. I am thinking to reduce ground loops, because both of my circuits, although they are in separate boxes are on opposite sides of a stud so right next to each other. I was thinking to abandon the ground in the amp  amp circuit and extend a ground from the other circuit over to my amp receptacle.  This way both circuits share one ground so less chance of a ground loop.   What do you think? 

 

 And then I thought well, I could bond the grounds of  both circuits together?  And use that now common, double, ground to feed my receptacles.  I was thinking this would increase the capacity of the grounds, but I don't know if it's a good idea?

 

PS I looked up the electrical code in my area and they do say in some circumstances that you can share a ground between two circuits.

[maty]

On 18/5/2018 at 5:47 PM, drjimwillie said:

@maty  I have a Hum through my speakers.  I think the  Conrad Johnson solid-state amp might be the root of the problem.  I am doing all this power cleaning as diagnostics.  If I replace the amp, do you have any suggestions?

 Have you heard that the amp should be twice the wattage that the speakers can handle? So if the Snells can handle 250w, the amp should be 500w?

 

Tomorrow, by PM. Last week I answered the same question with: class D, class AB and  Hybrid. And midfield active speakers. 3+1 options to a (very) expensive electrostatic speakers.

 

Hum or buzz? DC on mains, earth... Since when do you have the problem?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_hum

[Abtr]

25 minutes ago, drjimwillie said:

I have an ultra isolation transformer, and I'm going to wire it balanced,  which means essentially, as far as I understand it, that the hot and the neutral wire are both live. I have the ground lifted on my amp and my preamp. I thought it was probably a good idea to reattach the grounds before I attach a balanced power supply  to these pieces of equipment. Because I am thinking that with two live wires then the ground is going to be required as a return for the current. Is that correct? 

No.

 

25 minutes ago, drjimwillie said:

Does it affect anything that here in the USA the ground and the neutral are both bonded together at the panel? 

No.

 

25 minutes ago, drjimwillie said:

I have two dedicated circuits. One has my amp the other has everything else.  I am building a  Power strip where  each type of wire is terminated in a star type configuration.  I am waiting for a part for each of the transformer and the power strip so I was thinking in the meantime I would try and experiment. I am thinking to reduce ground loops, because both of my circuits, although they are in separate boxes are on opposite sides of a stud so right next to each other. I was thinking to abandon the ground in the amp  amp circuit and extend a ground from the other circuit over to my amp receptacle.  This way both circuits share one ground so less chance of a ground loop.   What do you think? 

Try it.

 

25 minutes ago, drjimwillie said:

And then I thought well, I could bond the grounds of  both circuits together?  And use that now common, double, ground to feed my receptacles.  I was thinking this would increase the capacity of the grounds, but I don't know if it's a good idea?

Again, try it.

 

[Cornan]

5 hours ago, John769 said:

+1.  Listening today, the SQ is fantastic! 

 

I'm not sure what is most responsible or if it's more a combination of several things, but what I have recently changed is: 

 

1. Two Kemets in all my four serial 3045 boards (always the input and output of the second board). 

2. Panasonics in my four Gopherts. 

3. Sbooster Vbus2 between USB cable and PC

4. Changed to W10 from Server 2016, and prefer it's airier presentation. 

5. Changed to final AO 2.20 from beta 5. 

6. Connected the chassis of my active JBL's to a Silver Minimus via silver cable.

7. Using avconv libraries instead of ffmpeg for transcoding in minimserver.  

 

Think I've officially joined the 'goosebumps' club.  Is there a medal to collect or a ceremony to attend? 

 

 

 

 

 

Great to hear John! ?

Your officially dubbed in the goosebump club.

 

Dub, dub & dub! ? ??

[Cornan]

My new DC cable arrived today! ?

I will hopefully have time to butcher it tomorrow and report back how it turns out compared to canare 4S6 and Ghent JSSG.

 

 

If you missed what it is all about here is the food for thoughts thread 

 

[drjimwillie]

1 hour ago, maty said:

 

Tomorrow, by PM. Last week I answered the same question with: class D, class AB and  Hybrid. And midfield active speakers. 3+1 options to a (very) expensive electrostatic speakers.

 

Hum or buzz? DC on mains, earth... Since when do you have the problem?

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mains_hum

Hi @matywhere did you post about amps?

 I noticed the hum when I first got the rogue RP-1.  I did 1 million diagnostics, and then sent the RP-1  back to rogue. They checked it out and said that it was fine.    Previously I had a Conrad Johnson solid-state preamp. 

 

@Abtr  I am going to try using one ground first. They are 10 gauge wires, so I'm assuming it should be sufficient. I'll let you know when I get it all hooked back up.