Ron's Speaker, Turntable, Power and Room Treatment Upgrades

[Ron Resnick]

There happens to be a Wi-Fi access point right outside the listening room on an exterior wall. I just measured at the likely physical location of the streamer in the equipment room the internet download speed at about 400Mbit/s.

Is that fast enough for a good Wi-Fi signal for the streamer for Qobuz (I will not be using Roon), or do you still want me to use an ethernet cable?

 

[StreamFidelity]

Unfortunately I could not get past the connections diagram!

Sorry - alternatively on my homepage I have explained this in more detail: Audio PC Network.

Following on from this, I would always put an audiophile switch between the router and the streamer. This way interference can be effectively eleminated. A high quality clock in the switch provides a more analog playback to my ears. It's not without controversy, but that's my experience.

 

[brad225]

I used RG6 Belden cable and crimped ends as needed.

 

[StreamFidelity]

Is that fast enough for a good Wi-Fi signal for the streamer for Qobuz

400 Mbit/s is pretty fast.

Streaming in CD quality:
44.100 x 16 bits x 2 (stereo) = 1.411.200 Bits = 1,41 Mbit/s

Streaming in HiRes:
192.000 x 24 bits x 2 (stereo) = 9.216.000 bits = 9,22 Mbit/s.

So no problem at all.

 

[Ron Resnick]

I used RG6 Belden cable and crimped ends as needed.

For what part of the run? That’s a conventional coax cable, so where do I switch to ethernet cable?

 

[Ron Resnick]

400 Mbit/s is pretty fast.

Streaming in CD quality:
44.100 x 16 bits x 2 (stereo) = 1.411.200 Bits = 1,41 Mbit/s

Streaming in HiRes:
192.000 x 24 bits x 2 (stereo) = 9.216.000 bits = 9,22 Mbit/s.

So no problem at all.

Thank you. But as long as the drywall in the equipment room is partially open, I feel like I do want to take this opportunity to run some ethernet cable in the wall.

 

[brad225]

For what part of the run? That’s a conventional coax cable, so where do I switch to ethernet cable?

The coax cable came into my listening room from the box on the outside of the house where the fiber optic arrives underground from then Verizon now Frontier.
It connected to an ActionTec converter. There, it was changed to an ethernet connection. This eliminated the router being directly involved in the run to my room.
Other coax cables went directly to rooms with TV service and a cable to the Frontier Router.

That router is what would have sent an ethernet signal to my room along with anyplace in the house that needed it. Now most other appliances use WIFI.
That would have been the ethernet connection I would receive had I not chosen to run coax and eliminated going through the router.
It seemed to be one more location for corruption on the line.

I am sure there are probably better products than the ActionTec but that is what my HT/Automation guy uses. I have never had any thoughts about changing it.

 

[Ron Resnick]

The coax cable came into my listening room from the box on the outside of the house where the fiber optic arrives underground from then Verizon now Frontier.
It connected to an ActionTec converter. There, it was changed to an ethernet connection. This eliminated the router being directly involved in the run to my room.
Other coax cables went directly to rooms with TV service and a cable to the Frontier Router.

That router is what would have sent an ethernet signal to my room along with anyplace in the house that needed it. Now most other appliances use WIFI.
That would have been the ethernet connection I would receive had I not chosen to run coax and eliminated going through the router.
It seemed to be one more location for corruption on the line.

I am sure there are probably better products than the ActionTec but that is what my HT/Automation guy uses. I have never had any thoughts about changing it.

Did you attach a “Y” splitter to that incoming coax cable so one side of the splitter is for the DAC and the other side of the splitter feeds the signal to your router and cable TV boxes?

 

[brad225]

The simple answer is Yes.

The coax comes into my listening room and is converted to the ethernet signal via the ActionTec.

The path is Fiber - Coax - ActionTec converter - Ethernet - listening room network switch - Ethernet - Server - Ethernet -
UltraRendu - USB - Playback Designs Stream IF - Fiber - PBD MPS5.

There are no splitters in the room or along the path after the coax leaves the fiber optic box on the exterior of the house.

At the fiber box the signal is split with a good quality 2 way splitter. One coax is the Belden RG6 that goes to my music room. The other goes to a second 4-way splitter that feeds the router/WIFI and coax for the TV needs in the rest of the house. There are no coax TV requirements in my room.

Sorry if I repeated the same thing too many times.

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

Congratulations Ron,this is exciting!
For the record I personally never met a dimmer that didn't make noise however I dont remember hearing any from Mike and Steves room so check with them.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Congratulations Ron,this is exciting!
For the record I personally never met a dimmer that didn't make noise however I dont remember hearing any from Mike and Steves room so check with them.

Thank you!

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Congratulations Ron,this is exciting!
For the record I personally never met a dimmer that didn't make noise however I dont remember hearing any from Mike and Steves room so check with them.

they make noise in your power grid. and broadcast noise. but can you hear it?

my lights are on a different circuit from my system and Equi=tech. yet they can still have an effect.

the only time i had any noise from my dimmers was when i had an unshielded ground wire on the Thoress Phono i owned for a short time. i think some phono's are doing so much attenuation they can find noise that normal gear won't. so you might go along for a time and not have any issues, but then something changes and you pick it up. sometimes Mu-metal shielding can fix it.

especially if your cartridge gain<->phono gain is at a marginal point where you are pushing to the limit, then you are pushing the noise floor and maybe uncover an interaction going on.

maybe horns with crazy high efficiency numbers also can find noise where conventional speakers won't.

if you are digital only/cones and boxes then it's much less of a potential issue.

Ron will have his Aesthetix Io Eclipse phono so that's lots of potential attenuation going on. he will need to be cautious.

 

[Ron Resnick]

On digital videos of digital recordings of analog playback systems: I continue to believe very firmly that literally nothing intellectually honest can be learned from comparing videos of different systems recorded different ways with different smartphones. Listening to digital videos of digital recordings of different analog playback systems to learn the sound of those high-end audio systems and to compare the sound of different high-end audio systems makes no sense to me whatsoever. (Why don’t we just play other peoples’ videos through our big stereo systems? That way each of us can experience accurately each other’s systems and never have to leave the comfort of our own listening room. We could save a lot of money on airplane tickets and gasoline.)

However, if somebody wants me to record the playback sound of my future system I will do it. Of course the resulting comments will be meaningless (except, possibly, when changing only one thing in the system, and comparing the before video and the after video), but if it gives somebody fun, I am happy to oblige. Why would I care what the comments are, positive or negative?

 

[morricab]

On digital videos of digital recordings of analog playback systems: I continue to believe very firmly that literally nothing intellectually honest can be learned from comparing videos of different systems recorded different ways with different smartphones. Listening to digital videos of digital recordings of different analog playback systems to learn the sound of those high-end audio systems and to compare the sound of different high-end audio systems makes no sense to me whatsoever. (Why don’t we just play other peoples’ videos through our big stereo systems? That way each of us can experience accurately each other’s systems and never have to leave the comfort of our own listening room. We could save a lot of money on airplane tickets and gasoline.)

However, if somebody wants me to record the playback sound of my future system I will do it. Of course the resulting comments will be meaningless (except, possibly, when changing only one thing in the system, and comparing the before video and the after video), but if it gives somebody fun, I am happy to oblige. Why would I care what the comments are, positive or negative?

What do you think of recordings made by someone like Moiz who has a consistent recording setup and of quite high quality? IMO, this tells you at least how good that system was in that context.

 

[Ron Resnick]

What do you think of recordings made by someone like Moiz who has a consistent recording setup and of quite high quality?

To understand what the stereo sounds like? Very little (sorry!).

 

[morricab]

To understand what the stereo sounds like? Very little (sorry!).

Disagree. For example, the excellent sonics of some of the recent Aries Cerat videos shot in Munich this year reflect quite well what was heard in the room...I should know as I spent quite a lot of time in that room. The gestalt of the sound in that room was captured quite well and you get a real sense of just how alive and dynamic it was in that room. I am a little surprised about your response because you bothered to buy decent microphones to better capture the sound of systems...why would you bother if you don't think there is anything to be gained with regard to better understanding what a stereo sounds like?

 

[Ron Resnick]

. . . you bothered to buy decent microphones to better capture the sound of systems...why would you bother if you don't think there is anything to be gained with regard to better understanding what a stereo sounds like?

Only because people like you find it interesting, and I am happy to cater to my audience.

 

[morricab]

Only because people like you find it interesting, and I am happy to cater to my audience.

And you don’t find comparing systems either live or through video interesting?? Come on man!

 

[Ron Resnick]

And you don’t find comparing systems either live or through video interesting?? Come on man!

Live — of course!

Video — not one bit (see Post #2,753 above).

 

[bonzo75]

On digital videos of digital recordings of analog playback systems: I continue to believe very firmly that literally nothing intellectually honest can be learned from comparing videos of different systems recorded different ways with different smartphones. Listening to digital videos of digital recordings of different analog playback systems to learn the sound of those high-end audio systems and to compare the sound of different high-end audio systems makes no sense to me whatsoever. (Why don’t we just play other peoples’ videos through our big stereo systems? That way each of us can experience accurately each other’s systems and never have to leave the comfort of our own listening room. We could save a lot of money on airplane tickets and gasoline.)

However, if somebody wants me to record the playback sound of my future system I will do it. Of course the resulting comments will be meaningless (except, possibly, when changing only one thing in the system, and comparing the before video and the after video), but if it gives somebody fun, I am happy to oblige. Why would I care what the comments are, positive or negative?

Thanks Ron, you had me at you will record your future system