If QBase did any filtering I wouldn't be interested. Nordost does claim it provides star grounding but I'm not sure how many recepticles that applies to. I'm currently using an anitque, a PS Audio Juice Bar 2. It's a basic power strip with good quality recepticles which are bolted to a copper bus bar so no soldering or welding. I'll probably stay with that.
Visit to Marc C.'s (SpiritOfMusic's) House in England
- Thread starter Ron Resnick
- Start date
The Juice Bar 2 looks like a very nice power strip. If you wanted to screw with it, you might be able to change the duplex to Furutech NCF. People I trust say that is a very good duplex. I have 1 to install when I get back to my room. Or, leave the Juice Bar alone and enjoy the music.
Nine months on from the removal of balanced power transformer and install of specialist breakers, I remain amazed by the improvements wrought.
Several orders of magnitude on what went on before.
Not a single parameter that hasn't been boosted, often dramatically.
Critically lower noise leading to way clearer transparency, much more life-like dynamics and tonality.
Fascinatingly I've made three changes since their install, all have been easily perceived as beneficial, in all three cases very much so.
Firstly a small but very special change, an Alphason Audio Cartridge Stabiliser.
These are ceramics-based/special sauce (patent pending) pieces that fit between the cartridge and armwand/hardshell.
Variety of weights, from 2g to 12g, ability to use combinations.
After some trial and error, I ended up using 3x2g.
These were demoed versus Funk Firm Houdini Cartridge De-Coupler, ebony and carbon fibre shims to the same thickness.
Despite my liking the Houdini to start, the Alphason trounced it in the end, bringing a massive amount of bass control and high end energy and inclusiveness to the party.
Then a highly modded version of my Eera Tentation CDP, incl three new power supplies, and a slew of internal wiring changes.
Again, has breathed new life into my appreciation of CDs.
Last but not least, Paul Stratton UK Paul/Z:Axis Audio has fabricated new copper and silver armwires, using Zavfino 1877 76-Litz/WBT-1861 Nextgen RCAs/Alphason Pin-Jacks.
Currently using the copper armwire, and the combination of sublime copper tonality and a more precise, stable install of this wire compared to what I had been using, has resulted together with the Alphason Cartridge Stabiliser, plus the Acoustic Revive RTS-30 platter mat already installed, in a step change in LP playback.
A persistent grey harshness that I'd never genuinely got on top of, is mainly banished, lower noise floor in my power grid, better vibration management via platter mat and cartridge isolator, better tonal attributes of the armwire, have combined to get me to a point of huge contentment with my LP sound, manifested especially in great pressings like the Mahler 6th Symphony DG Original Source vinyl I'm currently listening to, and a big shout out to improved CD playback as well.
Several orders of magnitude on what went on before.
Not a single parameter that hasn't been boosted, often dramatically.
Critically lower noise leading to way clearer transparency, much more life-like dynamics and tonality.
Fascinatingly I've made three changes since their install, all have been easily perceived as beneficial, in all three cases very much so.
Firstly a small but very special change, an Alphason Audio Cartridge Stabiliser.
These are ceramics-based/special sauce (patent pending) pieces that fit between the cartridge and armwand/hardshell.
Variety of weights, from 2g to 12g, ability to use combinations.
After some trial and error, I ended up using 3x2g.
These were demoed versus Funk Firm Houdini Cartridge De-Coupler, ebony and carbon fibre shims to the same thickness.
Despite my liking the Houdini to start, the Alphason trounced it in the end, bringing a massive amount of bass control and high end energy and inclusiveness to the party.
Then a highly modded version of my Eera Tentation CDP, incl three new power supplies, and a slew of internal wiring changes.
Again, has breathed new life into my appreciation of CDs.
Last but not least, Paul Stratton UK Paul/Z:Axis Audio has fabricated new copper and silver armwires, using Zavfino 1877 76-Litz/WBT-1861 Nextgen RCAs/Alphason Pin-Jacks.
Currently using the copper armwire, and the combination of sublime copper tonality and a more precise, stable install of this wire compared to what I had been using, has resulted together with the Alphason Cartridge Stabiliser, plus the Acoustic Revive RTS-30 platter mat already installed, in a step change in LP playback.
A persistent grey harshness that I'd never genuinely got on top of, is mainly banished, lower noise floor in my power grid, better vibration management via platter mat and cartridge isolator, better tonal attributes of the armwire, have combined to get me to a point of huge contentment with my LP sound, manifested especially in great pressings like the Mahler 6th Symphony DG Original Source vinyl I'm currently listening to, and a big shout out to improved CD playback as well.
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Congratulations on all of your progress!
Typically we hear that balanced power provides unambiguous improvements in sound and in lower noise floor. Do you have a hypothesis why this was not the case in your system?
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Just playing catch up - so what breakers did you have installed and what balanced power supply did this replaced?
A Westwick 8kVA unit.
I'm really not sure why the setup proved to be such a failure.
The unit was physically noisy, chassis and transformer core vibration.
However I was assured by the designer that this was irrelevant to SQ outcomes.
My unit was installed in a way necessitating an extra consumer unit (daisy chained), I can only think this was "lossy" and with the noise of the unit introduced some negatives.
I'm not sure I'll ever get to the bottom of it.
You can imagine how reluctant I was to remove a unit that had cost me £5k+ to buy and install, an 85kg paperweight resulted.
But hands down the single best thing I've ever done in this hobby.
Replaced by a single consumer unit and four, Doepke-based breakers, keeping my six dedicated lines.
100A main domestic fuse > RCCD > three MCBs > six Oyaide lines > six Furutech duplexes.
I'm really not sure why the setup proved to be such a failure.
The unit was physically noisy, chassis and transformer core vibration.
However I was assured by the designer that this was irrelevant to SQ outcomes.
My unit was installed in a way necessitating an extra consumer unit (daisy chained), I can only think this was "lossy" and with the noise of the unit introduced some negatives.
I'm not sure I'll ever get to the bottom of it.
You can imagine how reluctant I was to remove a unit that had cost me £5k+ to buy and install, an 85kg paperweight resulted.
But hands down the single best thing I've ever done in this hobby.
Replaced by a single consumer unit and four, Doepke-based breakers, keeping my six dedicated lines.
100A main domestic fuse > RCCD > three MCBs > six Oyaide lines > six Furutech duplexes.
Pleased to hear the tonearm wiring conundrum is solved now Marc; of course any losses at this early stage will never be recovered so it made sense to focus on this and do the best job possible; you now hear what I meant early on in the discussions..
Enjoy it!
Best rgds,
Paul
Enjoy it!
Best rgds,
Paul
Indeed Paul. As luck would have it, the way you've constructed the armwire means I have a more stable setup (my air bearing LT arm design is particularly sensitive to drag on the armwire).
That, plus the inherent sonic excellence of the armwire itself, giving me a SQ outcome way superior to my previous situation.
I'd always been wary of copper over silver (resolution/detail v tone/warmth), but right now with copper wire installed, have zero compulsion to move to silver.
That, plus the inherent sonic excellence of the armwire itself, giving me a SQ outcome way superior to my previous situation.
I'd always been wary of copper over silver (resolution/detail v tone/warmth), but right now with copper wire installed, have zero compulsion to move to silver.
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