Cable dressing, stands and tweaking...

After a break from the forum (a month, give or take, due mainly to my lack of internet access), I'm back, and my system is finally getting to where I want it to be. I finally upgraded from the Mana supports to a QS Reference ensemble, which I will come onto later. Suffice to say that it has brought some tangible improvements over Mana Phase 8, although I feel there is still room for improvement.

However, the biggest change in my system of late has been finally getting some decent wire - replacing the fine-at-the-price- but-ultimately-a-bit-limiting DNM solid core with some Nordost stuff. Whether you personally love or hate it, I have to say that the Nordost wire certainly makes a difference, more so than either the Mana or the QS Reference racks did. In my system, it has resulted in a MUCH faster but also more musical sound - but then, I would expect it of a pricy wire. Whether additional improvement may be wrought by careful dressing is difficult to say, so I thought I'd see if anyone has any tips on cable dressing, such as:

* can I group interconnects from difference components together (e.g. with, say, an Ikea cable-tidy) or should I keep them apart?
* does having a cable rest against the rack or another cable or bit of equipment really matter?
* if an interconnect has to pass over a power cable, do I assume that right-angles are the best solution?

...and so on. I've tried a few things, but ultimately it is pretty tricky getting the cables routed in the right way due to space and kit-location.

Next up: Nordost Pulsar Points. I borrowed a set but they didn't do much for any of my kit - has anyone else here had any luck with them? I mean, I think they're very well made and all, but surely if I can't hear any benefit then they're just cosmetic distraction and nothing more?

QS Ref versus Mana. Don't want to ignite the debate, but I can confirm that QS Ref suits my kind of system better than Mana did, and at lower cost, but YMMV. Under the speakers, the custom Mana bases are very good indeed, although they make an already tall speaker that bit taller. I will keep the custom stands and sell my pair of soundbases (actually flattops with boards on them) - anyone want them for £180 including courier to your neck of the woods?). I also have a PSU table should anyone be interested.

Tweaking: I was delighted to find out that Naim-wired DIN plugs work just fine on a DNM preamp - my question now is, if they work just fine in this way, what benefit would having them wired up in a DNM manner (i.e. ++00u (left to right, as compared to Naim's ++0uu, where u is unused)?
Obviously comparison is going to be a bit tricky, so has anyone ever tried (for instance) the reverse, i.e. a split ground DIN on a Naim) - did this work?

Ah well, I'm delighted to be back - just had the boys from Telewest install my cable modem and it's great! Surf away!!!

TC '..'
"Girl, you thought he was a man, but he was a Muffin..."