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Why my system becomes dull after sometime?


sbenyo

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I am using a very good stereo setup: Accuphase P-300 with C-200 pre (both restored). Yamaha NS-1000 speakers (Clearday cables). All connected by sablon power cables to a ISOL-8 conditioner.

The DAC is connected to a PC using the sablon usb elite cable.

 

When it is at best the sound is just wonderful!! Every single note is clear and vibrant with crystal clear highs, amazing mid and very tight accurate bass (not booming).

 

There are some situations where the system become dull, like it is under fog. The bass becomes exaggerated, highs are not crystal clear and everything loses the sparkle I am hearing now.

 

I am not sure what causes this. It can happen without doing any changes and with no specific reason. I turn off the all system components every day except the ISOL power. Initially I suspected there is a power issue, so I upgraded all power cables and added the ISOL but this still happens. For now when it happens I try to disconnect everything include the ISOL for a few minutes. I am still not sure this resolves the problem, but after playing with some components on and off I am able to get back to perfect sound. The sequence is not yet clear to me.

 

I wonder if anyone experienced similar issue. It is really annoying because I don't really know what is the root cause and if the voodoo of disconnecting everything is the right thing to do (not sure if it helped in all situations). I don't mind having this issue as long as I knew what is the right solution to immediately resolve it when it happens.

 

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Thanks for all the suggestions!

 

Just to know, this has been like this for long time (more than a year). I did replace many things that I suspected on the way and it is still happening. All the power cables replaced and power conditioner was added just because I suspected there is a power issue. It happened before and still happening now so I don't think they are the problem.

 

Once I get it working well, I works like this for a few days, sometimes a week or more and then it happens again until I unplug everything and connect everything again. Strangely, the problem is not always fixed when everything is disconnected. Maybe I have to wait a bit for everything to drain or I did not disconnect all cables properly (not just the main power). 

 

I do tend to think this is related to the either the amp, pre or DAC. Next time this happens I will try to disconnect (and wait enough) only one component at a time to try and pinpoint the problem. It may also be there is more than one component affected.

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There are some interesting insights. Heat can be an issue. I stack the amp and pre on top of the other so heat might be an issue.

I also believe that it may be relay switch and some cleaning may be needed. When this will happen again I will try to be very methodical on what I do to resolve it going component by component. Once I will be able to identify which component is problematic it may be easier to focus on the problem itself.

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I have to say that since this last happened a few days ago, I am having the best sound I had from the system. Everything opened up and sounds crystal clear now. I hope it will stay like this and I won't have to go back to search for the problem. My magic sequence for now is to shutdown everything every day and before starting take the main electricity out for short time and then plug it back in.

 

If anything will change I will update...

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I think I have enough ventilation. Currently the preamp is on top of the amp. This is not an unusual setup.

I don't have space to put them side by side. Maybe it will be better to switch so amp will be on top if this amp need more ventilation.

 

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@EvilTed, I was just looking for feet solutions to increase the space between amp and preamp. I think this can help.

 

@Davide256, The system is not in a cabinet so I think it's quite ventilated, maybe except for the components on top of each other.

 

setup-s1.jpg.fea1fbd68ac6698050f9c1f2f51441ba.jpg

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