I have never read anything to suggest that Symphonie Fantastique is not AAA. It sure sounds AAA to me.
Ron’s New System
- Thread starter Ron Resnick
- Start date
current "alternative fantasy amp" plan: sell VTLs, order Wavac HE-833v2s
CABLES UPDATE:
I have been listening to Eva Cassidy "Fields of Gold" on pretty much every system I visit lately. I don't hear elsewhere a bit of edginess (beyond sibilance) that I hear on my system with the Belden 1192A.
With the Cardas Clear Reflection the edginess is gone. (I swapped amplifier tubes at the same time, so it is not a definitive conclusion.) I am happy with the Cardas Clear Reflection, and it is staying put.
And so the cable set-up now is Cardas Clear Beyond for sources and preamps; Cardas Clear Reflection single-ended for pre-amp to Jadis amps; Belden 1192A balanced for pre-amp to Gryphon woofer tower amps.
I have been listening to Eva Cassidy "Fields of Gold" on pretty much every system I visit lately. I don't hear elsewhere a bit of edginess (beyond sibilance) that I hear on my system with the Belden 1192A.
With the Cardas Clear Reflection the edginess is gone. (I swapped amplifier tubes at the same time, so it is not a definitive conclusion.) I am happy with the Cardas Clear Reflection, and it is staying put.
And so the cable set-up now is Cardas Clear Beyond for sources and preamps; Cardas Clear Reflection single-ended for pre-amp to Jadis amps; Belden 1192A balanced for pre-amp to Gryphon woofer tower amps.
I have no idea. I never had Golden Cross.
From reviewer reviews and consumer reviews it seems like Clear Beyond does not have that classic Cardas smoothness. Wherever Clear Beyond is on the spectrum (I suspect quite neutral) Clear Reflection is a step or two smoother -- according to Angela Cardas herself.
I was using a Cardas Clear for phono cable duties for a while. I found it to have a bit less of the classic Cardas flavor of that time.
Ron, have you tried switching the Cardas clear reflection with the Belden So that the Carlos goes to the woofer towers and the building goes to the amps? If so how would you describe to change and sound?
No; Gryphon likes balanced. The Clear Reflection is single-ended.
I believe in giving credit where credit is due. David Karmeli was one of the very few people who suggested that one cannot assume that one will have a noise problem running 50 feet of single-ended interconnect.
He was correct.
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This is awesome - I like this!!! You never know for sure before you actually try it. Great it worked out.
/ Jk
Yes, thank you, Johan. I, too, was skeptical of the skepticism about 50 feet of single-ended -- which, obviously, is why I tried it.
This is another instructive episode proving that too much dogma is harbored in this hobby by people who mistake subjective opinion for objective fact.
you mean the ones who try to straitjacket people into theories?
Really? I ran 35ft se interconnect without any issues for years.
The lies and bs regarding se vs balanced amps is one of the amusing facets of hiend.
It really depends on the quality of your preamp and its ability to drive it's output stage.
You are correct here. But the skepticism was not about preamp output impedance matching.
The skepticism was that 50 feet of single-ended interconnect was inherently asking for a noise problem.
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Sounds like people were trying to scare you thru bs as a well designed se preamp with 50ft se cable was never going to be an issue.
It's an urban myth.
It was "Pleasantville" in my system. I think the Audience i gave you to try will be more synergistic, but we shall see. Cables are so system dependent.
I sometimes say (facetiously) that in this subjective hobby I am "burdened" by actually knowing from my early amateur radio days something* (albeit stale, I readily concede) about basic electronics, basic grounding, basic EMI/RFI and basic RF antenna theory (all needed then, along with Morse Code at 13 words per minute, to pass the General Class FCC amateur radio license test).
EMI/RFI noise is not pervasive like gravity. If it's not there, then it's not there. RF operates on the inverse square law: if you double the distance you quarter the intensity. Even if EMI/RFI is there, it might not be propagated to something audible on the stereo.
In my view there was just no way to predict in advance whether or not 50 feet of single-ended interconnect in my particular environment would manifest a noise problem. So it was worth a try. I tried it with a very inexpensive ($100 for 50 feet) cable, the design of which even lifts the shield at one end. When I heard no noise issue, I felt very comfortable replacing it with a more expensive cable.
*I can imagine Ralph reading this and saying to himself "Something? That guy doesn't know anything."
EMI/RFI noise is not pervasive like gravity. If it's not there, then it's not there. RF operates on the inverse square law: if you double the distance you quarter the intensity. Even if EMI/RFI is there, it might not be propagated to something audible on the stereo.
In my view there was just no way to predict in advance whether or not 50 feet of single-ended interconnect in my particular environment would manifest a noise problem. So it was worth a try. I tried it with a very inexpensive ($100 for 50 feet) cable, the design of which even lifts the shield at one end. When I heard no noise issue, I felt very comfortable replacing it with a more expensive cable.
*I can imagine Ralph reading this and saying to himself "Something? That guy doesn't know anything."
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I am still looking forward to trying the Audience!
Also, as we both know, we have slightly different preferences. I generally enjoy my time in Pleasantville. It is Sleepyville that I don't like to hang out in.
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My theories are intended to be food-for thought attempts to understand and to explain a statistically significant amount of audiophile behavior. They are social science theories, inherently with many exceptions, not natural science theories with no exceptions.