Ron’s New System

[PeterA]

Ron, what is that gold color metal piece between the headshell and Opus 1 cartridge? I don't remember that being on the Opus I had in my system a few years back.

We should expect the sound to change when leaving the listening room and entering the gear hallway. I am curious why the amps are sitting on the wood floor and not up on stands. Also, have you experimented with your different grounding schemes, switching back and forth to see if you hear a difference? As a dealer for Clarisys now, did you receive any training in speaker set up from the company?

 

[sbnx]

I am working on an app that allows speakers to be positioned remotely. The owner (aka Ron) would just put his speakers up on a set of motorized castors (sold separately) and then everyone on the forum can use the app to move them around until everyone is happy. I think I can make millions.

 

[tima]

Pin 1 : signal ground (zero volt)
Pin 2 : Signal + (X(t))
Pin 3 : Signal - (Invert X(t))

“Pin 3 is float” means the signal transfer is un-balance

Tim, is it right?

pin 1 = signal ground
pin 2 = signal output
pin 3 = not connected.

Lamm calls it psuedo balanced. He did it so you could use balanced cable between Lamm components - linestage and amps. I wasn't really keen on this myself. When I did my M1.2 Reference amp review I wanted to use an Atma-Sphere MP-1 true preamp as one ancillary in the review. Atma gears strictly follow the balanced wiring standard. There was an incapatibility between the two approaches and the combo did not work.

 

[Ron Resnick]

pin 1 = signal ground
pin 2 = signal output
pin 3 = not connected.

Lamm calls it psuedo balanced. He did it so you could use balanced cable between Lamm components - linestage and amps.

This is not my understanding of "pseudo-balanced." My understanding of pseudo-balanced is that the circuit uses an unbalanced to balancing transformer right at the output so an XLR connector with all three pins connected can be used to pull the signal out of a purely single-ended circuit. Perhaps I am incorrect.

Merely ignoring Pin 3 is not, I believe, pseudo-balanced; it is to me more like circuit fraud.

 

[Vinylshadow]

This is not my understanding of "pseudo-balanced." My understanding of pseudo-balanced is that the circuit uses an unbalanced to balancing transformer right at the output so an XLR connector with all three pins connected can be used to pull the signal out of a purely single-ended circuit. Perhaps I am incorrect.

Merely ignoring Pin 3 is not pseudo-balanced; it is to me more like circuit fraud.

I thought that pseudo balanced uses XLR connectors that are wired in parallel with the RCA connectors. The configuration is pseudo-balanced with pin 2 of the XLR signal and pin 3 ground. This avoids the use of an extra balancing transformer.

That is how Townshend Lab does it with their pseudo balanced Allegri Reference Passive preamp anyhow. Having pin 3 as ground seems much at odds with the standard pin 1 ground it seems and could lead to incompatability issues connected to a true balanced input.

 

[tima]

This is not my understanding of "pseudo-balanced." My understanding of pseudo-balanced is that the circuit uses an unbalanced to balancing transformer right at the output so an XLR connector with all three pins connected can be used to pull the signal out of a purely single-ended circuit. Perhaps I am incorrect.

Merely ignoring Pin 3 is not pseudo-balanced; it is to me more like circuit fraud.

There may be such. I've not heard of that or of a "balancing transformer". Ask Ralph, he's the balanced wiring expert.

I am describing what Lamm does, for which they use that description.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Ron, what is that gold color metal piece between the headshell and Opus 1 cartridge?

A brass shim fabricated by WAM Engineering to correct a slight SRA error. J.R. Boisclair analyzed this cartridge and found all parameters to be within acceptable ranges. Unfortunately this is very often not the case. Bravo Air Tight!

Also, have you experimented with your different grounding schemes, switching back and forth to see if you hear a difference?

No. The system is not nearly stable enough at this point to be ready for that particular experiment.

A few months ago J.R. measured an extremely low resistance to ground, especially for Southern California. That, combined with the fact that I am experiencing no ground hum or ground loops in the context of a complex system which should be extremely susceptible to ground hum and ground loops is a good sign.

As a dealer for Clarisys now, did you receive any training in speaker set up from the company?

1) No, not necessary. I have been setting up dipole planar loudspeakers since 1988.

Most people at California Audio Show 2024 -- including Brian Hunter of Part-Time Audiophile who awarded me Best of Show -- seemed to think the Clarisys speakers were set up pretty well.

2) There still is too much commotion around the speakers for them to be fine-tuned set up by me or by anybody else.

 

[PeterA]

A brass shim fabricated by WAM Engineering to correct a slight SRA error. J.R. Boisclair analyzed this cartridge and found all parameters to be within acceptable ranges. Unfortunately this is very often not the case. Bravo Air Tight!

I thought it was some kind of a shim so thanks for explaining, but I’m confused. If the cartridge is within specs for all parameters, why do you need the shim to correct for SRA?

No. The system is not nearly stable enough at this point to be ready for that particular experiment.

A few months ago J.R. measured an extremely low resistance to ground, especially for Southern California. That, combined with the fact that I am experiencing no ground hum or ground loops in the context of a complex system which should be extremely susceptible to ground hum and ground loops is a good sign.


1) No, not necessary. I have been setting up dipole planar loudspeakers since 1988.

Most people at California Audio Show 2024 -- including Brian Hunter of Part-Time Audiophile who awarded me Best of Show -- seemed to think the Clarisys speakers were set up pretty well.

2) There still is too much commotion around the speakers for them to be fine-tuned set up by me or by anybody else.

I didn’t have any issues with hum, but after I redid my grounding scheme, the bass quality and overall energy improved pretty dramatically. A classic case of not knowing what you’re missing until you hear it.

Regarding speaker set up, I had thought you were thinking about hiring someone like Jim Smith or Sterling Trayle? My mistake.

 

[Folsom]

Any video with proper music? Just the fact that you think such random noise clips can be used to demonstrate a system makes me go the same temperature as a tube amp struggling to drive your speakers

It is not the best clip. Voices sound right in a manner but the overall sounds is kinda thin/sterile to me.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Nice choice Ron! I look forward to seeing how this cleans up your beautiful set-up.

We will see (ah, hear)!

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I saw it today! It looks great!

I recently visited a client that was a top-notch commercial contractor. He used a sizeable commercial-grade isolation transformer at the power inlet to his listening room and ten-gauge solid core wire housed in steel conduit. The power delivery to his room was exceptional.

I chose originally not to put the whole new electrical system on an isolation transformer. I am curious to see if I hear any difference on the digital side with the upcoming Torus.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Try Stack Audio eq’s and speaker footers.

Why?

I’ve replaced isoacustics

What sonic problem were you trying to solve with the IsoAcoustics?

with these.

How do these change the sound from how the IsoAcoustics made your components sound?

Start with the dac

My DAC is in another room. I'd be pretty disappointed in my DAC if it were so sensitive that it is disturbed by acoustic vibrations from another room.

 

[morricab]

We will see (ah, hear)!


I saw it today! It looks great!


I chose originally not to put the whole new electrical system on an isolation transformer. I am curious to see if I hear any difference on the digital side with the upcoming Torus.

Have you analyzed the power coming into your room? If the quality of the power is poor this can make an enormous difference in the sound quality and it will fluctuate throughout the day. If it is really poor then regeneration is probably the only option that will really help...filters and grounding can only do so much.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Have you analyzed the power coming into your room? If the quality of the power is poor this can make an enormous difference in the sound quality and it will fluctuate throughout the day. If it is really poor then regeneration is probably the only option that will really help...filters and grounding can only do so much.

Did I complain about the power coming into the room? The power here is good. The voltage regulation is satisfactory. I keep a digital volt meter plugged into the wall in the equipment room to monitor this.

I am very happy with the electrical infrastructure. It is difficult to achieve a low resistance to ground in the desert of Southern California. A high resistance to ground can cause a variety of problems.

Again, all I wanted was an outlet extension box. I made it a isolation transformer for OCD audiophile peace of mind of isolating (presumed) digital nasties from the analog side of things.

 

[Synaxis]

for OCD audiophile peace of mind ....

As a fellow OCD audiophile I ask....is our OCD ever fully at rest?

 

[Ron Resnick]

As a fellow OCD audiophile I ask....is our OCD ever fully at rest?

Each of us can do our best to attempt to resist the infection!

 

[morricab]

Did I complain about the power coming into the room? The power here is good. The voltage regulation is satisfactory. I keep a digital volt meter plugged into the wall in the equipment room to monitor this.

I am very happy with the electrical infrastructure. It is difficult to achieve a low resistance to ground in the desert of Southern California. A high resistance to ground can cause a variety of problems.

Again, all I wanted was an outlet extension box. I made it a isolation transformer for OCD audiophile peace of mind of isolating (presumed) digital nasties from the analog side of things.

My point is somewhat different. It has more to do with the perceived harshness and somewhat congested sound on the video. My experience is that if the power is really clean those issues are greatly ameliorated.

 

[Ron Resnick]

It has more to do with the perceived harshness and somewhat congested sound on the video. My experience is that if the power is really clean those issues are greatly ameliorated.

I'm glad you are not in the professional detective business. A lot of innocent people would stand accused.

Don't you know by now that you cannot understand the sound of an unfamiliar analog recording in an unfamiliar system in an unfamiliar room through a digital YouTube video recorded on a telephone?

If you want to actually hear the system you are welcome to visit in person.

 

[bonzo75]

I'm glad you are not in the professional detective business. A lot of innocent people would stand accused.

I'm glad you are not in the professional detective business. A lot of accused would go scot free, because you wouldn't trust footage from the CCTV camera that was backing other evidence.

 

[morricab]

I'm glad you are not in the professional detective business. A lot of innocent people would stand accused.

Don't you know by now that you cannot understand the sound of an unfamiliar analog recording in an unfamiliar system in an unfamiliar room through a digital YouTube video recorded on a telephone?

If you want to actually hear the system you are welcome to visit in person.

Well, we will have to agree to disagree...however, I would love to hear it in person and have you prove me wrong!

 

[morricab]

I'm glad you are not in the professional detective business. A lot of innocent people would stand accused.

Don't you know by now that you cannot understand the sound of an unfamiliar analog recording in an unfamiliar system in an unfamiliar room through a digital YouTube video recorded on a telephone?

If you want to actually hear the system you are welcome to visit in person.

I will only point out further that I have heard better sound from your unfamiliar room and unfamiliar system through youTube and recorded on a telephone. This tells me that the phone and YouTube are probably removable from the equation (assuming your phone didn't change recently). It could be the room, it could be the system (at least the amps and speakers) or it could be the power (time of day dependence is a real thing). It could also be combination of these things.