All in the details.
Posted by: Peter Stockwell on 18 March 2002
On the forum, Steven harps on about the tune. On the face of it, we ask ourselves "well who doesn't care about the tune" ? It turns out me for one. I was missing out on a lot of tune in favour of a big sound. The little touches that he suggested I make to my system paid off big dividends and for almost no effort.
I run a Garrard 401/At 1007/Grado prestige gold TT with a Martin Bastin Wave Mechanic power supply in to a Stageline as a phono source. For CD, it's a micromega Stage 6 CD player, which turns out to be a surpisingly capable CD player. These run into a hicapped Nait 5 driving B&W CDM 1 Se speakers on sandfilled Atacama BD724 stands.
Since moving to our new appartment in November I've had a 2 dedicated mains lines installed, one line for the power amp section of the Nait, and the rest on the other lines.
On my hifi journey I've gradually reduced the cones and shockabsorbers and what have you in the system. But, I'd become accustomed to the big sound I was getting from the CD player using vibrapods ( squidgy things made in various strengths). Prior to Steve's arrival Evelyne, my wife, had complained about certain recordings being boomy and I answered well it's because there's a lot of bass energy on the recording and it's meant to sound that way(brrrrkkkk, wrong answer 
). To try to reduce the boominess I'd pulled the speakers even further out from the corners to reduce bass reinforcement.
The first thing our upstart guest 
says to me what about dumping the vibrapods ? Well that's easily reversible I say to myself, so I take them out from under the CD player. Immediately I noticed "Where's my big sound gone?" because from a purely sonic point of view the sound had collapsed. But, as I was drawn into the music I became more conscious of the vocal inflections of, say, Sophie von Otter on the disc where she collaborates with Elvis Costello. There is a song called 'Baby fools around', a very simple recording voice and guitar, with a trumpet coda. Aahhh , that trumpet coda was so lyrical, that if I hadn't have been already melted by the delightful voice of S von O, I was totally done in by the coda.
Evidentally, vibrapods and the ilk can mask problems generated by nasty mains and such. With a more focused picture of what was going on musically in place, I decided to adjust the speakers, i.e. 1 cm back and to the right for the right speaker, 2cm back and to the left for left speaker. This brought gains in slam and scale, that I would have been happy to pay for in an amp upgrade, Steve will probably tell you how much I'm exagerrating when he gets home.
I also moved the turntable power supply one shelf down, it's sharing the shelf with Stageline. This doesn't appear to have perceivably adversely affect the vinyl replay, and certainly did no harm for CD playback, but to eveluate the full effect of this on CD playback, I'm going to have to restore it to it's orginal position on the rack. In reference to the order on the rack thread, I had previously experimented with power supply positions and have found the further away from sources the better.
To finish of the weekend, I had wanted to impress Steve with the 'stonking bass' that you can get from a Nait + B&Ws. I put on the first cut of a CD called 'The Border' from Lila Downs, this song has a sythesiser bass line that could rumble pretty much everything in our lounge. .... It had dissapeared, yikes, no bass. Instead what I could here was clearly the tune being played in the bass by that synthesiser... no more rumbling.
In conclusion, tweaks that are put in place to mask setup effects have to be reevalued from time to time, and I'm happy to say that my system has never sounded better. What's more it plays beautifully at low volumes, much better than before.
Peter
BTW, your Johnny Cash CD is stonking at ****** House where the christening took place.
My system is still there in that massive room, and I've now been informed that my hi-fi system is the only thing plugged into that particular mains spur. 
I don't want to bring my hi-fi home - I just want my own key to that room! 
Regards,
Steve.
The proof of the pudding...
quote:
Originally posted by Steven Toy:
I am glad that you enjoyed the benefits of a few of my "suggestions," if not my crappy taste in music.BTW, your Johnny Cash CD is stonking at ****** House where the christening took place.
My system is still there in that massive room, and I've now been informed that my hi-fi system is the only thing plugged into that particular mains spur.
I don't want to bring my hi-fi home - I just want my own key to that room!
Regards,
Steve.
Glad I could turn you to something that can be called music, but to be fair the there was some good stuff in the CDs that you brought with you, I have developed a new appreciation for the The Corrs. The Fun Loving Criminals wasn't bad either. While I like Mary Chapin Carpenter, but didn't feel that the recording from 1996 was worth buying as already have one Mary Chapin Carpenter CD. Couldn't get on with Techno stuff or the electronic music ... but then I played you a Zappa classic
Peter
As it happens, Steve was chez nous from Friday night to Monday morning and the the anoraks didn't really fly in earnest but for saturday morning. We still had time to buys some CDs have some beer and eat lunch, sleep for a while in Steven's case, and then go to a Corsican bistro for some roasted goat, and more wine and beer.
However while we were adjusting, Evelyne was showering/getting dressed and from the bathroom she could tell that it was sounding better.
You know I can remember when I really wanted an anorak, I think I must have been 10 or so. I used to collect the numbers of steam locomotives in the early 60s. As a preteen, my biggest thrill was to travel to main line railway stations and watch the big ones roar through! Oh yeah, and the other thing I can remember is the Stereo demo discs my Dad used to have with .... Steam locomotive noises
Peter
Mind you, all that fine wine, the veal, the roasted goat, the home-made quiche, the hake, and that whisky, are hardly the pleaures of anoraks!
Regards,
Steve.
The proof of the pudding...
quote:
Originally posted by Steven Toy:Mind you, all that fine wine, the veal, the roasted goat, the home-made quiche, the hake, and that whisky, are hardly the pleaures of anoraks!
Regards,
Steve.
You forgot the Angelus & the Pietra, not to mention the Bombardier. .... it's true you didn't get any tea or biscuits.
Peter
(It's a French beer, btw)
Regards,
Steve.
The proof of the pudding...
quote:
Originally posted by Steven Toy:
Yes!!!! That _ was _ an orgasm in a glass!
un biergasme, donc ?
Peter
Regards,
Steve.
The proof of the pudding...
Today, I won't be fit to drive until tea time and my car is still poorly.
However, I may get a lift this afternoon to finally get me hands the new shelves. I will then have to wait a few days for the system to warm back up again before I can give a credible analysis of any changes/improvements.
Regards,
Steve.
The proof of the pudding...
Going to borrow the CDX again, for re-evaluation purposes. One of these days, I'll find the CD player for me...
TC '..'
"Girl, you thought he was a man, but he was a Muffin..."
quote:
Originally posted by Top Cat:
One of these days, I'll find the CD player for me..._TC '..'_
"_Girl, you thought he was a man, but he was a Muffin..._"
You've got the girl, the Cd player should be easy!
Peter