Component selection is engineering.
Listening is the final validation of the engineering
Pretty much what I said.
Component selection is engineering.
Listening is the final validation of the engineering
In which case why dont they hear these problems allegedly caused by the mains and either re design to eliminate or supply a funky mains cable?
Every piece of equipment is flawed to some degree, there is no such thing as the perfect amp or speaker or .....they will all dilute the sound to some degree from the original recording & performance. The good one's allow through the original intent of the musician, this is the where the great designers differ from the average.
Over the years I (and others) have heard changes with mains cables with this equipment.
Plinius, Perreaux, Naim (various) Ming DA, Cambridge (CD) ARCAM (cd)
VTL, Line Magnetic, MF, among others.
Which, if any of these are poorly designed?
Mr ED
Manufacturers do listening tests on the stock mains leads they supply.
Naim for example preferred Crabtree. Unable to explain the difference they set their engineers on it. They worked out it was the loose coupling of the pins. This led them to develop their powerline upgrade.
Source
"The old Crabtree UK plugs are no longer made - the new ones labelled as "Crabtree" are nothing like the old ones. If you have found NOS then good for you!
Naim switched to MK as the next best thing, and indeed had used them nay times before when supply of the Crabtree plugs had been intermittent. Out of interest, it was some modifications made to the Crabtree plug by some at Naim that eventually led to development of the Powerline plug, albeit the latter went much, much further. It was found that by allowing the pins a small amount of movement it let them align better with the contacts within the UK sockets, giving a larger and more secure contact and commensurately better performance. "
When you did the listening/comparing, did you use controlled testing methods to eliminate bias due to psycho-acoustics?
Well there we are, perhaps it's the higher quality plugs that come with the better quality cable that makes for differences to the sound
Better engineered than the "kettle lead" so they sound different'
Mr ED
So it would stand to reason that soldering the internal plug to wire connections including soldering the fuse in place would add to making a larger contact area.
So it would stand to reason that soldering the internal plug to wire connections including soldering the fuse in place would add to making a larger contact area.
Do you own a regenerator
The listeners, suffering a form of pathetic fallacy. I have written a complaint to the designerOver the years I (and others) have heard changes with mains cables with this equipment.
Plinius, Perreaux, Naim (various) Ming DA, Cambridge (CD) ARCAM (cd)
VTL, Line Magnetic, MF, among others.
Which, if any of these are poorly designed?
Mr ED
The listeners, suffering a form of pathetic fallacy. I have written a complaint to the designer
Manufacturers do listening tests on the stock mains leads they supply.
Naim for example preferred Crabtree. Unable to explain the difference they set their engineers on it. They worked out it was the loose coupling of the pins. This led them to develop their powerline upgrade.
Source
"The old Crabtree UK plugs are no longer made - the new ones labelled as "Crabtree" are nothing like the old ones. If you have found NOS then good for you!
Naim switched to MK as the next best thing, and indeed had used them nay times before when supply of the Crabtree plugs had been intermittent. Out of interest, it was some modifications made to the Crabtree plug by some at Naim that eventually led to development of the Powerline plug, albeit the latter went much, much further. It was found that by allowing the pins a small amount of movement it let them align better with the contacts within the UK sockets, giving a larger and more secure contact and commensurately better performance. "
I think there is quite a difference between improving a poor quality plug with loose pins and some of the foo that's sold.
Why were the results presented to you Jim for the Russ Andrews test, I must have missed something somewhere here, save me going back over this. Who sent them to you.
Naim does pay specific attention to dealing with external vibration. This extends to the loose coupling on inputs, including the mains, and bayonet mount of the pcb.
I remember their approach to mounting a DAC chip on a felt pad because of it's susceptibility to vibration quite some years ago. So at least they are consistent.
This, however, is *not* the premise being put forward here, which is RFI affecting the performance of the audio system.
It's important not to wander off the hypothesis as to what causes any deterioration in sound.
...
I stated I have listened to amps costing into the thousands that have under performed against some costing a few hundred blind, the Rega brio 3 being one such amp. You would be better off asking Rega regarding the specific design of this amp & the sacrifices made along the way, it sounds superb though, whatever was compromised, it wasn't the sound quality, but that's just my personal view on it, many agree it is a great little budget amp that sounds way above it's price.
*Wrong* - The main discussion point is that mains cables have a discernible effect in some environments / conditions for experienced listeners.
Suggestions for possible causes include RFI, vibration, earthing etc etc. That is all - just suggestions.