Mandatory upkeep tweak for Burndy users
Posted by: Ron Toolsie on 26 May 2003
As vigilant readers of this forum will know I have made some significant upgrades in the last few months.... one pair of the NAP135s in the sixpack was replaced with a NAP300 and the XPS1 gave way to the XPS2. The CDS3 is on order and hopefully should be delivered in the next couple weeks. The cumulative result was a much more unforced, relaxed and insightful presentation. The one fly in the ointment was that I could hear the LF very well, but could never quite feel it in my gut... something I could do in spades in my previous room and when I had the 552 here a few months ago.
Residents of the US know that this is a holiday weekend- Memorial day, which found me with sod-all to do except listen to music and watch paint dry (yes, I am having the outside of the house painted this weekend to the tune of almost 2xSupercaps worth
)
So today I decided to turn attention to the setuup of the system...the hardware I know can provide the visceral heft, and the room/Mana soundbases should only support that ability. Maybe, just maybe it was some set up anomaly.
I walked into the walk-in closet that houses the almost-too-many-to-count black boxes and surveyed it with a critical eye. The two rather flexible Burndies that go from the NAP300 to the NAP300PS made a delicate arc supported by one of the closet walls...walls that even after stuffing with cellulose insulation still resonate quite effectively causing the Burndies to sympathetically buzz along. So a quick exercise in topology later I had the Burndies in a free standing arc, not quite as aesthetic as the hyperbolic St. Louis monument, but still, no longer in physical contact with the wall.
Well, dammit if that doesnt sound sweeter yet, cleaner, breathier.... an improvement well worth the $0.00 cost and about 60 seconds of effort. BUT...there wasn't any more LF extension or tune than before. Encouraged by the Burndy dressing I ventured to look at the spider web of cable behind my rack and the back wall. Three Burndies (52, CDS2, Snaxo)in Gordian knots with interconnects, Snaic4s, Snaic5s etc etc. NOT a pretty sight.
Gently moving around the Burndies with all the equipment turned on and plugged in showed an alarming amount of rotational give where the Burndy entered the back of the 52. The remaining Burndies seemed rather more secure. So out it came and the two strain-relief screws (in this particular Burndy slot head screws, in other Burndies cross headed Phillips #2 types) turned about 1/2-2/3 turn. This resulted in a cable/plug interface that was far less rotationally yielding.
The Burndy was plugged into the back of the 52 and again gentle manipulated, confirming the strain relief was now strain relieving. Supercap turned on, and yours truly headed downstairs to open a can of Boddingtons best.
Twenty minutes later I dared to play the first track.
What I heard bore only a faint similarity to the sound I had become familiar to. Whiplash dynamics, a floating (yes floating) soundstage between the DBLs and glorious bass...deep, tuneful, visceral. Oddly enough the volume at 10-11 o'clock was now as loud as it had been at 12-1 o'clock before.
Dare I say this effected as large an improvment if not larger than the XPS1-XPS2,remembering that comparison was compromised by the disintegral Burndy. Now I would expect the differences between them to be much larger, and believe me they were already large enough for me to go and get one.
And to think I still have 5 other Burndy plugs to play with!
Ron
Dum spiro audio
Dum audio vivo
Residents of the US know that this is a holiday weekend- Memorial day, which found me with sod-all to do except listen to music and watch paint dry (yes, I am having the outside of the house painted this weekend to the tune of almost 2xSupercaps worth
)So today I decided to turn attention to the setuup of the system...the hardware I know can provide the visceral heft, and the room/Mana soundbases should only support that ability. Maybe, just maybe it was some set up anomaly.
I walked into the walk-in closet that houses the almost-too-many-to-count black boxes and surveyed it with a critical eye. The two rather flexible Burndies that go from the NAP300 to the NAP300PS made a delicate arc supported by one of the closet walls...walls that even after stuffing with cellulose insulation still resonate quite effectively causing the Burndies to sympathetically buzz along. So a quick exercise in topology later I had the Burndies in a free standing arc, not quite as aesthetic as the hyperbolic St. Louis monument, but still, no longer in physical contact with the wall.
Well, dammit if that doesnt sound sweeter yet, cleaner, breathier.... an improvement well worth the $0.00 cost and about 60 seconds of effort. BUT...there wasn't any more LF extension or tune than before. Encouraged by the Burndy dressing I ventured to look at the spider web of cable behind my rack and the back wall. Three Burndies (52, CDS2, Snaxo)in Gordian knots with interconnects, Snaic4s, Snaic5s etc etc. NOT a pretty sight.
Gently moving around the Burndies with all the equipment turned on and plugged in showed an alarming amount of rotational give where the Burndy entered the back of the 52. The remaining Burndies seemed rather more secure. So out it came and the two strain-relief screws (in this particular Burndy slot head screws, in other Burndies cross headed Phillips #2 types) turned about 1/2-2/3 turn. This resulted in a cable/plug interface that was far less rotationally yielding.
The Burndy was plugged into the back of the 52 and again gentle manipulated, confirming the strain relief was now strain relieving. Supercap turned on, and yours truly headed downstairs to open a can of Boddingtons best.
Twenty minutes later I dared to play the first track.
What I heard bore only a faint similarity to the sound I had become familiar to. Whiplash dynamics, a floating (yes floating) soundstage between the DBLs and glorious bass...deep, tuneful, visceral. Oddly enough the volume at 10-11 o'clock was now as loud as it had been at 12-1 o'clock before.
Dare I say this effected as large an improvment if not larger than the XPS1-XPS2,remembering that comparison was compromised by the disintegral Burndy. Now I would expect the differences between them to be much larger, and believe me they were already large enough for me to go and get one.
And to think I still have 5 other Burndy plugs to play with!
Ron
Dum spiro audio
Dum audio vivo