Powerline dressing

My one Powerline going from wall to 250DR I have lying in hooks screwed into the skirting board running underneath the wall sockets behind my rack. It runs away from the wall socket and rack, does a 180 degree loop and then returns back to the rack and the 250DR. This keeps the cable away from other cables and off the floor. Not sure if this arrangements enhances SQ but it seems logical to me and I can't be bothered to fiddle around 'listening' to different arrangements.

I use homemade cable risers to keep my power lines away from speaker cables,and off the floor.

Mine are all on the floor.

Kevin Richardson posted:

Mine are all on the floor.

…and I am sure that is how the designers would have envisioned they would be used. Just keep them away (not touching) other cables to get the benefit from the outlay on a Powerline.

I have two coiled in a loop under the rack. You can just see them poking out of the front, which is not ideal. 

Having said that, my system is currently in storage while I do a fairly major refurb of the room. This includes a proper dedicated mains supply, and I have had the sockets put as high as possible on the wall in order to use up some of the excess cable. Looking in the System Pics thread, it seems that others do this too. In a separate room, I'm putting in another dedicated supply where the sockets are low, but off to one side of the rack (where they will he hidden behind a sofa.) I've positioned the sockets so that there will be no excess cable to deal with, and the speaker cable will go in the opposite direction.

I just have them on the floor, running in a loop, first away from a component, and than 180 degrees back to the component.

It's not pretty or tidy, but they are hidden away and run as far away as possible from other cables.

Found that dressing PowerLines is much, much easier than other audiophile-grade cables. 
Even use them now on the phono-stages of my turntables. I like this meaty, bass-enhancing impact they have.

I agree with that Adam,I originally made cable risers for my Naca5 to get them off the floor and away from power lines,but it is much easier to use the risers on the power lines than two 7 meter lengths of Naca5,so the speaker cables remain on the carpet.

It may not only be Powerlines but all the other cables as well. I used to (tediously) swap equipment as I have two Naim setups. Whenever the amps are moved around, the cable orientation will change. Most of the time there will be a slight change in sound presentation when the cables are fiddled with. Just recently I moved the equipment rack from the middle of speakers to the side. Again a change in sound though that may be a combination of the rack being moved to the side and a cable configuration that's different. 

Ideally all cables shall not touch each other though it's easier said than done. All the cables in my system are more or less touching each other, hanging and on the floor. The power cords, interconnects and speaker cables are all a jumbled mess though it's all hidden behind the rack.

ryder. posted:

The power cords, interconnects and speaker cables are all a jumbled mess though it's all hidden behind the rack.

I found that even dressed cables endup like that - I think whoever came up wiht a theory of chaos, had exactly our carefully dressed cables in mind 

I have an 8 socket mains block on my frain, and a shell on my rack for my poweramps used only for power cables. The 2 cables from the supercaps probably touch the floor in one place, but I think I have a ok cable dressing with a 3 rack active system.

Claus  

The sockets on the back of my XPS and 250 are only a foot from the wall sockets, which has meant that the Powerlines are coiled beneath the stand. It's a very loose coil, but there is little alternative. I did find that any coiling of the SL speaker leads needs to be avoided, so I have the one from the right hand speaker running away from the speaker then back again, as it says in the instructions. If I were to run the Powerlines in a similar fashion, they would get in the way of the speaker wire, so really it's a case of the lesser of two weevils, as they say in Master and Commander. 

I have made one small cable tweak today though: ever since getting an SL din to XLR it has just touched the top of the carpet pile, despite my getting longer legs for the rack. Today, while dusting, I thought I'd check whether I could raise the spikes on the SVT's bronze spikes, and was very pleased that it's indeed possible. There is now a clear gap between the cable and the carpet. It may or may not make a difference, but I find it reassuring that there is a clear gap when I know there 'should' be. 

My system is much less prone to slight setup shortcomings than the bigger system I used to have, but it still makes sense to get the best from it. 

I noted Ryder's comment above about everything being a mess behind the rack, and all I'd say is that it's an ideal time for Spring cleaning and a good tidy up. 

I had the same issue with my SL interconnect. My solution was to put a very loose knot in it. Very loose.

Does keeping the Powerline off the floor really make a difference. Not sure how I would achieve this...

elkman70 posted:

I had the same issue with my SL interconnect. My solution was to put a very loose knot in it. Very loose.

Does keeping the Powerline off the floor really make a difference. Not sure how I would achieve this...

I use a wall hook.

I wouldn't worry too much about the Powerline touching the floor - the design of the Powerline connectors helps to mechanically decouple them (and the equipment) from the cable itself. One of the main benefits comes from the care taken with the floating pin arrangement on the mains plug and the clamping pressure of the contacts in the IEC plug.

At the length Naim supply them, it would be difficult without some type of support arrangement to keep them off the floor in most domestic environments. 

Hook posted:

elkman70 posted:

I had the same issue with my SL interconnect. My solution was to put a very loose knot in it. Very loose.

Does keeping the Powerline off the floor really make a difference. Not sure how I would achieve this...

I use a wall hook.

Good idea. I could use some spare Elk Antlers that I have lying around.

Thanks for all your input so far.

I think it would be very difficult to keep the Powerline off the floor, as it thankfully is among the two most flexible aftermarket power cords I know. And this is one of the two reasons why I like it as much as I do.

Has anyone noticed negative effects from running several Powerlines close together?

Hook and Elkman: you do honor your nicknames .

I do keep my cables apart from each other as much as possible and interconnects, burdys and snaics off the floor. Speaker cables are inevitably on the floor but are arranged to avoid loops. I swore this is as far as I would go with cable dressing.

But after reading this thread I have just caught myself snipping up a piece of old wash sponge and placing it under my Witch Hat DIN/XLR cable to raise it off the carpet and listening for a difference!

I guess I am a hopeless case. 

nigelb posted:

 

I guess I am a hopeless case. 

Obi-Wan - you are our only hope...

nigelb posted:

I do keep my cables apart from each other as much as possible and interconnects, burdys and snaics off the floor. Speaker cables are inevitably on the floor but are arranged to avoid loops. I swore this is as far as I would go with cable dressing.

But after reading this thread I have just caught myself snipping up a piece of old wash sponge and placing it under my Witch Hat DIN/XLR cable to raise it off the carpet and listening for a difference!

I guess I am a hopeless case. 

How do you avoid loops with speaker cables? A single run of speaker cable in my system is arranged in a loop as the rack is on the side of the speaker with the amp located very close to the speaker. Does a loop arrangement of speaker cable affect the sound in a malicious way? Interconnects are hanging freely though the power cables in my system are in a mess, either touching each other or criss-crossing over speaker cables and/or interconnects due to the tight space between shelves. The Virtual Dynamics Nite II power cord which connects to the source is stiff as a board and needs to be pre-bent to fit into the socket of both power block and equipment.

it is not good to loop any power cables.   concentrate on the signal cable route and forget the mains cables.  power cables from units go vertically down to socket .phono cables --horizontally

The crux of the problem to me is that Naim offers Powerlines in only a single length, same as their ICs. One size doesn't fit all so the user is left without options when a shorter cord might be more practical. Hence these questions arise.

One option is to cut the Powerline to a suitable size (readily done at the plug end) but that devalues the resale where that's a concern. Another option is to look at alternative mains cords available in varying lengths, many far less expensive that may yield better results.

Another option is to use a Powerline as is and not get too hung up on how it's "dressed". If you're worried about how a Powerline is laying, what it's touching, or how it's coiled, you may have bigger issues with your system. There's only so much oil to be squeezed from a snake.

No comfort for MULBERRY but with my 1 metre stiff Nordost power cables - I have them " flying" from wall socket to IEC input. No floor involved.

joerand posted:

The crux of the problem to me is that Naim offers Powerlines in only a single length, same as their ICs. One size doesn't fit all so the user is left without options when a shorter cord might be more practical. Hence these questions arise.

One option is to cut the Powerline to a suitable size (readily done at the plug end) but that devalues the resale where that's a concern. Another option is to look at alternative mains cords available in varying lengths, many far less expensive that may yield better results.

Another option is to use a Powerline as is and not get too hung up on how it's "dressed". If you're worried about how a Powerline is laying, what it's touching, or how it's coiled, you may have bigger issues with your system. There's only so much oil to be squeezed from a snake.

I think you may have hit the nail on the head! If this cable dressing really is so very important, would not Naim be offering different lengths of their power and interconnect cables, or at the very least a custom build service? The fact that they seem content to offer just a standard length seems to suggest to me that it really doesn't matter a jot whether a cable touches the floor or not!

ryder. posted:

nigelb posted:

I do keep my cables apart from each other as much as possible and interconnects, burdys and snaics off the floor. Speaker cables are inevitably on the floor but are arranged to avoid loops. I swore this is as far as I would go with cable dressing.

But after reading this thread I have just caught myself snipping up a piece of old wash sponge and placing it under my Witch Hat DIN/XLR cable to raise it off the carpet and listening for a difference!

I guess I am a hopeless case. 

How do you avoid loops with speaker cables? A single run of speaker cable in my system is arranged in a loop as the rack is on the side of the speaker with the amp located very close to the speaker. Does a loop arrangement of speaker cable affect the sound in a malicious way? Interconnects are hanging freely though the power cables in my system are in a mess, either touching each other or criss-crossing over speaker cables and/or interconnects due to the tight space between shelves. The Virtual Dynamics Nite II power cord which connects to the source is stiff as a board and needs to be pre-bent to fit into the socket of both power block and equipment.

Sorry, by loops I mean single or multiple 360 degree loops. I have several 180 degree 'bends' in my speaker cables. It is the 360 degree loops that are best avoided, even though they clear up the mess caused by surplus lengths of cable.

Where cables need to cross each other then try to arrange crossing at 90 degrees (without touching if possible) and not running parallel/close to each other.

A degree of pragmatism is required and in certain environments where space is limited and cables lying neatly spaced becomes an eyesore, intricate cable dressing is not possible. Best not to sweat it and enjoy the music.