Rack order in the room

Posted by: graphoman on 14 February 2002

Maybe my query is not that special... who knows. The point is that the outlet for HiFi in my room happens to be at one of the corners and this very corner is in a distance of not more than 1.5m to the main electric meter of the flat.

I got two racks, one for the “soft” electronics and the other for the amp, Hi-Cap etc. as usual.
Placing of the racks is defined by two cut-outs in a long bookcase. One of these “holes” is relatively near the corner mentioned above (distance: 0.6-0.7m), the other one is 0.5m farther. Very recently I realized that changing the place of the two racks changes the sound character of the whole set. Not yet clear which is better...

...someone wants to take part in this game and foresee the result?

graphoman

Posted on: 14 February 2002 by Thomas K

Hi Grapho,

Peter Scott will be here in a minute to tell you there can't be a difference, but in the meantime ...

It might have nothing to do with the outlet. The transformers in Naim boxes are always on the right, I think, so if you put source and pre to the left and PSUs and amps to the right, you should get less interference from the trannies. In theory. Trust me - I'm not an engineer, you know ...

Thomas

Posted on: 14 February 2002 by Steve Toy

Go with the non-engineer.

Thomas K is right, but you could experiment youself and tell us of your findings as a result.

My dealer advised me to give the preamp as much air around it as possible by placing it towards the top.

I also noticed that on his two side-by-side racks that he always places the source component on the top of the left stand.

When I experimented with placing my preamp on the top shelf - before I bought Qs Ref with its dedicated top shelf to the source component, this made a big difference.

Suck it and see.

The problem with "engineers" is that they don't trust their ears, IMHO.

Cheers,

Steve.

Posted on: 14 February 2002 by Peter Stockwell

Steve,

quote:
The problem with "engineers" is that they don't trust their ears, IMHO.

But they can get a barbecue going in less than 3 seconds ...

Peter

Posted on: 15 February 2002 by Paul Ranson

quote:
The problem with "engineers" is that they don't trust their ears, IMHO.

I think you will have the credibility to say that when you start establishing differences by just using your ears.

Paul

Posted on: 15 February 2002 by graphoman

thanks for your explanation and guessing – that’s the correct way.

Unfirtunately, I fear that the phenomenon does do something with the outlet’s magnetic field or similar. In that case the effect would be much disturbing on the power equipment than on the “soft” pieces. This would mean in the present configuration: amp left, cdp right. (The outlet is in the right corner.) However, I’m still not sure. Very soon I’ll have some better racks. I hope the effect then would be more pronounced and my judgement more trusty.

graphoman

Posted on: 15 February 2002 by Steve Toy

quote:
I think you will have the credibility to say that when you start establishing differences by just using your ears.
Paul

I was just using my ears.

Only the ears matter.

What cannot be heard, but can be measured does not.

Cheers,

Steve.

Posted on: 15 February 2002 by Steve Toy

quote:
But they can get a barbecue going in less than 3 seconds ...

So can petrol.

Cheers,

Steve.

Posted on: 16 February 2002 by Paul Ranson

quote:
I was just using my ears.

You had your eyes open. You knew what you were listening to. That's not a 'listening test'.

The issue of 'measurement' is a straw man, although it would be nice to have some theory and measurement regarding some of the stand claims being made nowadays.

FWIW there are good engineering reasons for a particular layout of components on a rack. Phono and line level components need to be away from transformers, turntables need to be away from wobbles, stuff like that.

Paul