excellent stuff.
Russ Andrews Mains distrbution blocks
- Thread starter goose
- Start date
excellent stuff.
Be open minded (I know, open minded on a HiFi forum??? It'll never happen) try it and see.
As I have said many times before (and have been flamed for) if it sounds better to you, then it is better.
No matter if its a TT, amp, speakers, or cable. What it is is immaterial, what it does is.
And No I do not need research papers to prove that I am right. I am happy, thats all thats important.
(and SWMBO can hear the improvements I can, is equally pleased, and most of the time hasnt a clue what I have done to make it sound better)
As I have said many times before (and have been flamed for) if it sounds better to you, then it is better.
No matter if its a TT, amp, speakers, or cable. What it is is immaterial, what it does is.
And No I do not need research papers to prove that I am right. I am happy, thats all thats important.
(and SWMBO can hear the improvements I can, is equally pleased, and most of the time hasnt a clue what I have done to make it sound better)
My only caveat to that is any alteration 'test' needs to be blind. As alas otehrwise is completely pointless as your mind will tell you it has to be better as its more expensice/flash/necessary.
But that said, you are right, if it sounds better to you, thats all that matters.
It is amazing that Russ Andrews after 20 years of research was unable to produce listeners such as you and your wife who could demonstrate their ability to hear these differences under sufficiently rigorous conditions to satisfy the ASA.
It is absolutely not the case that 'if it sounds better to you, then it is better'. All you can say is that 'if it sounds better to you, it sounds better to you'.
As far as I am concerned, its the same thing isnt it?
If it were that easy then there would be only one HiFi product at each price level. And one car. and one TV, etc etc
Whats important to me may or may not be important to you.
Sounds like you've already made up your mind!
For a start , making a statement that "Building Hi Fi that simulates the senses...." is in itself pretentious , empty of real meaning and mere theorizing for the sake of theorizing. And you state you speak "from experience".
Of 'what' exactly? You speak of having "observed the benefits from a cable"....yet the type of cable, its particular use and in what context, you leave unstated. I would rather suggest: you enjoy presenting firing off unsound conundrums - loaded up of course with various cop- out provisions , as sheer wisdom. That is the only transparency I can see, about your cabling thoughts.
Engels
pfm Member
"If I have observed a benefit from a cable that is not shown up by another conponent I conclude that the component in question is insufficiently transparent to show up the cable"
Can you not see that its equally possible from this statement (and IMHO more likely) that the equipment that derives benefit from said mains lead is actually inferior to the one that shows no benefit. Why does it need the mains lead to improve its performance?
Can you not see that its equally possible from this statement (and IMHO more likely) that the equipment that derives benefit from said mains lead is actually inferior to the one that shows no benefit. Why does it need the mains lead to improve its performance?
Mike Reed
pfm Member
I thoght RFI interference was air-borne rather than embedded in the mains supply. Certainly, i.m. experience, it is the amplification of the tiny signals produced by moving coil cart's which induce RFI to become such a nuisance.
Sure, RFI is picked up by mains supply cabling, and it is the weaving of individual strands to counteract this which forms the foundation of the original R.A./Kimber philosophy. No idea how effective this is, but I'm happy enough with my many Ref. leads.
Mike Reed
pfm Member
...nor how much it cost, which may be more apposite.
Steven Toy
Accuphase newbie
Some folks are incredibly obtuse. The GIGO principle is lost on some folk. I go by my oen experience not the bullshit of people with an opinion but no such experience.
I have tried different mains cables in many different system combinations.
I have tried different mains cables in many different system combinations.
Wrong actually. She knows exactly what I spend on the HiFi, though she doesnt always understand what I am spending it on
This is developing into a case of forget the music...listen instead , to cable noise. A savage test....( to be done very carefully!)...dead of night....at the lowest level of any possible background ambient atmospheric noise:
Turn on your Hi Fi and switch between silent circuits (forget 24 hour radio) and then take the volume control up to near or at MAX for a moment
If you hear only the very slightest hint of noise or best, virtually none at all, up close to your speakers in the room .................forget the whole business about fancy 'dry cleaning' power cables. I happen to be in that happy domain as well as suffering no 'clicks or thumps' in the sound chain - when ever operating my Hi Fi's day or night..
We forget that besides the normal refrigerators and microwave ovens people mention.. a lot of houses are now also getting cluttered with other convenient computer -centric radio transmission emitting devices , adding to further possible interference.
Creating now: whole new territories for evangelistic ' sound cult' gurus to seek out gullible disciples: who they expertly tend to 'smell out' anyway..Those, that have misplaced areas of insecurity in their lives and are openly prone to 'suggestibility' from others' florid imagination. And yet. we laugh at stories how people have been sold the Eiffel Tower and London Bridge!!!
Turn on your Hi Fi and switch between silent circuits (forget 24 hour radio) and then take the volume control up to near or at MAX for a moment
If you hear only the very slightest hint of noise or best, virtually none at all, up close to your speakers in the room .................forget the whole business about fancy 'dry cleaning' power cables. I happen to be in that happy domain as well as suffering no 'clicks or thumps' in the sound chain - when ever operating my Hi Fi's day or night..
We forget that besides the normal refrigerators and microwave ovens people mention.. a lot of houses are now also getting cluttered with other convenient computer -centric radio transmission emitting devices , adding to further possible interference.
Creating now: whole new territories for evangelistic ' sound cult' gurus to seek out gullible disciples: who they expertly tend to 'smell out' anyway..Those, that have misplaced areas of insecurity in their lives and are openly prone to 'suggestibility' from others' florid imagination. And yet. we laugh at stories how people have been sold the Eiffel Tower and London Bridge!!!
sq225917
Bit of this, bit of that
Steven your perception is skewed somewhat. If a cable sounds better with one piece of gear than the cable it replaces, it doesn't mean that the new cable has magic properties that should show up when used with any piece of equipment- it means only that in this specific instance it renders an improvement, you need to hunt down why and understand it. it is not 'a good cable' it's a cable with a specific property that in beneficial in one set of circumstances.
eg, if you replace the weedy little IC between your phonostage and the only truly grounded component in your hifi with a new one with much lower impedance GND you'll likely hear the difference, but it may not make a difference between two components that have an equal GND potential.
Similarly a very highly shielded cable with excellent low impedance GND and very low capacitance is ideal for a tonearm lead, but that shield will make no difference between your cd player and pre-amp because the signal level is 1500 greater.
There's no magic accessories in hifi, they all perform a quantifiable purpose, just most of the time many people choose not to learn why preferring instead to trust in fairies and magic..
eg, if you replace the weedy little IC between your phonostage and the only truly grounded component in your hifi with a new one with much lower impedance GND you'll likely hear the difference, but it may not make a difference between two components that have an equal GND potential.
Similarly a very highly shielded cable with excellent low impedance GND and very low capacitance is ideal for a tonearm lead, but that shield will make no difference between your cd player and pre-amp because the signal level is 1500 greater.
There's no magic accessories in hifi, they all perform a quantifiable purpose, just most of the time many people choose not to learn why preferring instead to trust in fairies and magic..
It is said of Psychology: it consists of only two basic mechanisms at work,,,,.'that of some people wanting to tie others up in knots .... OR those wishing to be tied up' .
Now I realize there is a third possibility... Oh! That some want to be tied up in knots, with electric cables INSTEAD Well fine if that's what some want??!!...Even if they insist (as a matter of personal style) : it is, to shield them better from wicked interfering invisible forces bending their musical appreciation perception, they must be mega expensive kinky ones.
Tigerjones
Bagpuss
Some say, Russ Andrews can Cryogenically treat plugs using only the power of his mind. Now that's showbizness.
Dodging the OP's question for a moment, I recall many years ago buying one of RA's relatively inexpensive Switch Mode PSUs for my Naim 32.5 as a replacement for a Naim analogue PSU (a unit which I thought outperformed my old Naim supply). I even had a chat with Naim about it and they were quick to point out that any comparisons should be done with any Switch Mode PSUs removed from the Mains lest they pollute and affect the results from the Naim supply under evaluation....(So a few manufacturers clearly took RFI a bit more seriously than we'd like to think...)
One of my bugbears with RA are the claims concerning the use of exotic materials and precious metals to achieve a superior result to copper. The difference between pure copper and pure silver is quite small (even assuming the purity of the silver is as good as claimed) and the marketing concerning the silver variants involve the liberal use of over-descriptive English portraying the precious metal version as vastly higher performance.
This of course is in keeping with the entire (dubious) high end cable manufacturing industry. Whether this is due to over-enthusiastic marketing staff possessing a natural tendency to glorify the Product or a conspiracy theory specific directive from the MD we will never know.
All I will say is that RAs marketing does not have exclusive rights on "glowing" product descriptors. "Perfect Sound Forever" is one of my longstanding favourites which turned most of the domestic hifi universe into Audiophools - even people who up to that point had never bought anything more hifi than a washing machine
(It also meant I was vilified as a social outcast for over 15 years for using "antique outdated analogue gear" and refusing to buy a CD player....heh, heh!)
I'll wind up by saying poor old Russ has taken some serious stick on PFM. My recollection of him is as a fully time served journeyman who has designed quite a few (highly regarded!!!) speakers/receivers etc while working for other manufacturers. For what it's worth I seriously doubt when he formed his accessories business that his primary forethought was to mercilessly con the buying public out of their hard-earned. I'm sure his original intent was to distribute stuff which he thought customers would benefit from.
Better stop now as there's something good on the TV...and I'm beginning to feel nauseous....
One of my bugbears with RA are the claims concerning the use of exotic materials and precious metals to achieve a superior result to copper. The difference between pure copper and pure silver is quite small (even assuming the purity of the silver is as good as claimed) and the marketing concerning the silver variants involve the liberal use of over-descriptive English portraying the precious metal version as vastly higher performance.
This of course is in keeping with the entire (dubious) high end cable manufacturing industry. Whether this is due to over-enthusiastic marketing staff possessing a natural tendency to glorify the Product or a conspiracy theory specific directive from the MD we will never know.
All I will say is that RAs marketing does not have exclusive rights on "glowing" product descriptors. "Perfect Sound Forever" is one of my longstanding favourites which turned most of the domestic hifi universe into Audiophools - even people who up to that point had never bought anything more hifi than a washing machine
(It also meant I was vilified as a social outcast for over 15 years for using "antique outdated analogue gear" and refusing to buy a CD player....heh, heh!)
I'll wind up by saying poor old Russ has taken some serious stick on PFM. My recollection of him is as a fully time served journeyman who has designed quite a few (highly regarded!!!) speakers/receivers etc while working for other manufacturers. For what it's worth I seriously doubt when he formed his accessories business that his primary forethought was to mercilessly con the buying public out of their hard-earned. I'm sure his original intent was to distribute stuff which he thought customers would benefit from.
Better stop now as there's something good on the TV...and I'm beginning to feel nauseous....