After reading and adding my 2 cents to some of the "live" and low level distortion threads. I thought I would tell you what I have learned or experienced over 40+ years in audio.
The key to great sound is getting rid of as much electrical hash as possible.
What does that mean? Well it can become as involved or simple as you want.
Now I am not a technical engineer so my conclusions can be dismissed out of hand or embraced in some measure. If you do,do some of the things mentioned,please vet everything.
By far the biggest improvement in sound in my system has been to ground it correctly. That is creating a earth ground for the preamp,amplifiers,source and whatever is tied to the preamp. I created a super highway back to ground so all or most of the "crap" noise can be given a exit from my system.
There is just alot of RFI &EMI pollution and just plain low level noise created and is inherent in the current that we call "power".
Now some equipment is just fine as the grounding scheme is done correctly, but in my experience that is not always the case.
Has all the money spent on cables,capacitors, and better equipment been a waste? No! that is part of the solution if those items reduce the low level noise in your system.
The solution is cumualtive in my experience. As each step is taken it will effect everything, right down to the type of circuit,capacitors used,cabling, ground scheme of the equipment and so forth.
I have had the same preamp for 35 years. I recapped it 3 years ago with low noise electrolytics,it did make a difference.
I have upgraded my cables to better ones that reduce EMI &RFI contamination. It did make a difference,but I do use pro audio style cables that are "cheap" in my long runs and they sound fine. They are after the main body of cables I have in place.
I stiil tweak things,for example I found a 10 ga roll of multi strand automotive wire the other day. So I cut some 2 ft pieces and put spade connectors on them. I added these to the already in place 14 ga wire connecting from my monoblocks to me preamp. Eash 10 gauge wire was connected to a large screw on the back corner of the metal case of the amplifier to the case screws on my Accuphase C200. The Accuphase has many screws on the case.
I powered up the system and there was greater clarity right off the bat with more tonal saturation also. The soundstage also became more life like. But the big surprise was the next day after about 12 hours. while listening everything in the electrical chain must have re-equalised because the sound morphed into a spectacular reproducton of what was recorded. About as close to in house 'live" music as I have ever experienced.
Can it get better? Probably so. Do you think it is possible? That's up to you. Do your homework,talk to your manufacturer about his grounding design if possible. My equipment is not expensive except for my SS monoblocks. I would not want to be responsible for someone's equipment failure.
I'm just giving you some meat and potatoes to chew on.
http://www.mikfielding.com/grounding_systems.shtml
The key to great sound is getting rid of as much electrical hash as possible.
What does that mean? Well it can become as involved or simple as you want.
Now I am not a technical engineer so my conclusions can be dismissed out of hand or embraced in some measure. If you do,do some of the things mentioned,please vet everything.
By far the biggest improvement in sound in my system has been to ground it correctly. That is creating a earth ground for the preamp,amplifiers,source and whatever is tied to the preamp. I created a super highway back to ground so all or most of the "crap" noise can be given a exit from my system.
There is just alot of RFI &EMI pollution and just plain low level noise created and is inherent in the current that we call "power".
Now some equipment is just fine as the grounding scheme is done correctly, but in my experience that is not always the case.
Has all the money spent on cables,capacitors, and better equipment been a waste? No! that is part of the solution if those items reduce the low level noise in your system.
The solution is cumualtive in my experience. As each step is taken it will effect everything, right down to the type of circuit,capacitors used,cabling, ground scheme of the equipment and so forth.
I have had the same preamp for 35 years. I recapped it 3 years ago with low noise electrolytics,it did make a difference.
I have upgraded my cables to better ones that reduce EMI &RFI contamination. It did make a difference,but I do use pro audio style cables that are "cheap" in my long runs and they sound fine. They are after the main body of cables I have in place.
I stiil tweak things,for example I found a 10 ga roll of multi strand automotive wire the other day. So I cut some 2 ft pieces and put spade connectors on them. I added these to the already in place 14 ga wire connecting from my monoblocks to me preamp. Eash 10 gauge wire was connected to a large screw on the back corner of the metal case of the amplifier to the case screws on my Accuphase C200. The Accuphase has many screws on the case.
I powered up the system and there was greater clarity right off the bat with more tonal saturation also. The soundstage also became more life like. But the big surprise was the next day after about 12 hours. while listening everything in the electrical chain must have re-equalised because the sound morphed into a spectacular reproducton of what was recorded. About as close to in house 'live" music as I have ever experienced.
Can it get better? Probably so. Do you think it is possible? That's up to you. Do your homework,talk to your manufacturer about his grounding design if possible. My equipment is not expensive except for my SS monoblocks. I would not want to be responsible for someone's equipment failure.
I'm just giving you some meat and potatoes to chew on.
http://www.mikfielding.com/grounding_systems.shtml
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