Last Night Music Sounded ****, Tonight It Sounds Great. Why ??

Posted by: markjp on 19 April 2002

Last night I was playing Sheryl Crows latest CD and it sounded crap. Very flat sound and not much bass. Tonight I play it and it sounds great, much more alive, good bass and soundstage.

Has anyone got any suggestions as to why. This happens quite frequently with various CD's. Could this be explained by the Mains supply, would I notice such a big change in the music or could my CD3.5 be at fault, maybe the CD's don't always locate properly in the CDP, mind you re siting a CD doesn't seem to make any difference at the time.

One night I think my system is great and well worth the investment and on other nights I get disappointed.

Any Ideas?

P.S apologies if my description of the sound of my system is not up to standard, I find it difficult to explain using HiFi speak terminology.
Posted on: 19 April 2002 by Eric Gilliand
In NZ (Dunedin) we have found that the sound varies greatly over different times of the day and night. Best time? 9 to midnight during the week. We have put it down to power fluctuations due to use...Heavy use early in the evening..meals, heaters etc etc. Often during peak usage the sound can be appalling, thin, spitty and ill defined...give up in disgust...come back to it a few hours later and...voila, great again. Applying the usage thing to the equation, it follows that the weather can have a major effect...high usage of heating and electric blankets etc.
Of course it goes without saying that our house supply has been sorted out with dedicated spur, good earthing and so on.
This may not be the problem in your case but hope that the above has at least stirred the grey matter. Unlikely that the 3.5 is the problem.
Regards
Posted on: 22 April 2002 by markjp
I spoke to a Naim dealer on Saturday and he suggested that Maybe the variable performance I have been experiencing is down to my Nap140 needing a recap (it's 9 years old). I haven't heard this mentioned on the forum before. Could this be true?

Mark

[This message was edited by markjp on MONDAY 22 April 2002 at 13:21.]
Posted on: 22 April 2002 by greeny
Could be. Or Naim Dealer could be after some comission.

I suspect Mains supply and your general well being could be bigger effects.

Sometimes I think things sound great, other times just average, sometimes poor. What mood you're in and how well you ears are working could have the biggest effect.
Posted on: 23 April 2002 by J.N.
The state of the Caps should still give you a repeatable level of performance from day to day.

Mains quality does have an effect, but having been at this silly game for 30 years, I am firmly convinced that the biggest differences come from YOU and how you're feeling.

We all have those sessions where things sound blindingly good and look forward to a repeat, next time. Does it happen? Does it hell!