I would like to share some general thoughts about my experience with three specific groups of audio items. These impressions were primarily formed by listening to these products in my own system, but I have heard similar effects with some of them in other familiar systems. I do not want to proclaim a value or imply that I think something is good or bad. I simply want to describe what I hear in my system, how the sound changes to my ears, with these specific products. What I find interesting is that their sonic effect is surprisingly similar to my ears.
1. Room Treatments: ASC Tube Traps, Acoustic Revive RWL-3 Acoustic Conditioner (
https://www.highfidelityreview.com/acoustic-revive-rwl-3.html)
For years I have been listening to my system with an assortment of acoustic room treatments. My listening room has a fireplace which protrudes out into the room by about five feet. This creates a chamber behind each speaker at the front of the room which I had found problematic acoustically. At the time, I owned Eggleston Rosa speakers. They had two 6” woofer and two 6” mid range drivers. The extension was specified as 30 Hz or so. In my room, there was a lot of bass energy. The bass was uneven and boomy. A friend suggested I try some Tube Traps. I bought four units and installed one in each front corner of the room. The bass was instantly smoother, everything sounded clearer, and I thought I heard greater resolution. This was a success.
A while later a friend ordered some Acoustic Revive diffusion panels and as he was on vacation, they arrived at my house. I tried them in my system on the front wall between the Tube Traps. I was surprised and impressed how the sound became more lively and the room more energized. The soundstage seemed to expand in depth and width. I ordered two panels for myself and reluctantly gave my friend his two samples.
The resulting sound was clearer, more contrasty, higher resolution with more detail. The only downside I noticed with all of these items is that they made my listing room look like an audio store.
2. Pneumatic isolation platforms: Townshend Seismic Sink, Vibraplane
Perhaps it was a review I read somewhere or something I picked up from a friend, but I was able to audition a small Townshend Seismic Sink in my system under my one box preamp. Backgrounds became blacker, bass tightened up, resolution increased. “Wow”, I remember thinking. This really made a difference, so I tried it under my CD player. Same effect. I eventually ordered five units, two for my two- box preamp, two for my two-box phono stage, and one for my power distribution box.
Given their effect in my system, I started researching Vibraplane platforms and started talking to a guy on Audiogon about how he had one under his fancy Micro Seiki turntable and another two under his heavy Lamm mono block tube amps. I found one used on Audiogon, and bought two new ones from the distributor who was local. Just as with the Townshend Sinks, the effect was obvious, immediate, and consistent. Blacker backgrounds, more articulate and extended bass, cleaner sound, more resolution.
3. Power cords: 4 audiophile brands, Ching Cheng, manufacturer stock
This category is interesting. I started out with stock power cords years ago until I could afford some audiophile cables and matching power cords. My first brand was Harmonic Technology. They seemed to offer good value for the money. I later upgraded to a full suite of Transparent Audio cables and cords.
I lived with the Transparent products for years, through component upgrades and generally improving sound. Then someone suggested trying stock power cords. I pulled out my SME and Pass Labs power cords and tried them all at once. The sound became less vivid, a bit less focused. I thought I heard more noise in the system obscuring details. I reinserted my Transparent power cords. Blacker backgrounds, more defined images, more focus, more resolution, and perhaps better dynamics.
I then went to visit a good audiophile friend who has a system with which I am very familiar. He swore by his stock cords for $6 each or something. His system sounded excellent, and he encouraged my to try my stock cords again. About this time, I also started reading comments on WBF about stock cords, so I gave them another try in my own system.
The sound became a bit less focused, but it also sounded more alive, more involving. It lost the black background and focused images and “detail”, but it actually sounded a bit more natural. What was going on here? I went back and forth in a somewhat casual way for months, always preferring the sound of the cords in the system. I was conflicted, because the Transparent cords did some things better, while the stock cords did other things better.
Then about a year ago, one manufacturer who was also a member of WBF contacted me and asked if I would be willing to try his power cord in my system. It was under development and I think he was genuinely interested in my listening impressions and those of others in the field, so to speak. I tried the cord in the system. Sure enough, it did some things really well, and reminded me of the sound of the Transparent cord. The resolution might have actually been even better than the audiophile cord I owned, but I did not quite feel as though I could justify spending money on this when it was so similar to what I already had, and I would need three of them. I shared some feedback off line, and the designer appreciated my input.
Then another audiophile cord found its way into my system. This was going around my friends’ systems, so I thought I would give it a try too. Wow, it was really well made, super expensive connectors, etc. etc. I inserted it in my system and it sounded similar to the other two fancy cords. I contacted the designer and shared some feedback but was told the cable was extremely sensitive to being moved around and needed to settle more in my system to sound its best. I had already given it to a friend, so I auditioned the same cord again in his system where it had remained for over a week. I heard the same basic sonic attributes in my friend’s system as I heard in mine, despite the longer break-in or settling time. We then switched back to his stock cords, and we both clearly heard the differences, and they were quite similar to what we had both heard in my system.
What the audiophile cords seem to do in my system, and in my friend’s system, is add a sense of clarity, blacker background, lower noise, and improved resolution. However, they also sounded a bit less lively and less natural. I have since replaced my stock power cords with three Ching Cheng cords which really seem to add nothing to the sound.
In the past few weeks, after fine-tuning my new tonearm and repositioning my speakers to face straight ahead, I have reinstalled all three of these products categories in my system to see if my impresses held. Sure enough, the sonic effects or attributes remain consistent and are repeatable.
These three products all move the sound of my system, individually, and cumulatively, in the same direction: They create a bolder, more defined sound with decreasing noise and blacker backgrounds. The result is the perception of more resolution and detail. Starker, more outlined images in a more defined soundstage. This is the sound I had been chasing for years. I loved the holographic, palpable image of Johnny Hartman singing in my living room or hearing all the detail from a large jazz ensemble. I liked “seeing” the four instruments in a string quartet or picking out specific instruments in larger orchestras. I really dug the defined, articulate bass, emphasized on stage with a spotlight.
However, my tastes are now changing. The more live music I hear, the more I slowly realize that these attributes which sound so impressive and used to confirm for me that I was on the right upgrade path, no longer sound natural to me. They sound like the super expensive systems I heard at dealerships or some shows. It was a hifi sound, so well described in magazine reviews. My friend wrote me that you can not break up music into bits and pieces. The real thing is a more holistic experience. It is experienced as a whole, not as individual elements of sounds. I now understand what he means.
Removing these acoustic treatments, air isolation platforms, and fancy power cords from my system has increased the sense of liveliness and engagement I experience when listening to my records. The sound is less hyper-focused and hifi sounding. Flow, rhythm, life, color, hall acoustics; they all work together now to form a more realistic impression of the actual sound of music. The sound is more open, the room is more energized, and the experience is more enveloping.
For me, in this system, at this time, these changes sound more convincing or believable and more natural. And the system is now simpler. Others may well prefer the more detailed, more defined, and more "high-end sound" I had before. I look forward to hearing what visitors will think.
