Ethernet cable installation...

ken c posted:

a key result of all the fettling that i have been through is that my system is now very 'sensitive' to changes on the streaming side -- positioning of net components seems to matter quite a bit. i dont recall my system ever sounding as good as it does now -- specially in terms of very clear and accurate rendition of subtle instrument characteristics.

i have shielded mains cables from socket (fed by 6mm sq radial -- separate from one to main Hifi) to UPS and from UPS to 8 way block. i still have the ordinary unhielded mains leads so one of these days, out of curiosity, i will do a quick A/B to determine what these are bringing to the party -- hopefully A/B is enough. most of my ethernet cables are Cat6A, except to my PC (Cat 6) and between router and switch (Meicord Cat 6) -- but all are UTP.  proximity of net cables to 10mm sq radial cable in the pipe box doesnt seem to be an issue right now -- though the idea of replacing the mains radial with a shielded one crosses my mind every now and then... hey, lifes too short :-)

all good fun...

enjoy

ken

I am so glad to hear you are now enjoying the fruits of your fettling, rather than fettling - if you know what I mean. What contribution, if any, has the  linear US PS made? E-mail if preferred.

Glad to hear things sound good now Ken! Enjoy the music.

Adam

Happy to read its all good Ken,  interesting to hear if you believe any item(s) made the main contribution to getting the SQ back.   Shame about the Meicord on the router-switch branch,  if there is one LAN branch that will be good on a freebee Cat5,  thats its.   I too (along with Nigel) am interested on your findings with the linear PSU,  also any thoughts on the iFi iPower.   

probably the wrong thread, but its all to do with my streaming installation so i will post here.

I got a chance to have a long listening session yesterday late afternoon -- and there was one aspect of the sound that was very prominent. The system was really "kicking ass", frighteningly so on some tracks - e.g Commodores 'Night shift' and Madonna's "Frozen". Initially, i found this quite 'exciting' -- but as the session proceeded, i started to tire of it, especially when i started noticing what i can only describe as a hard edge to some vocals -- e.g. Eric Bibb's "In my fathers house".

I don't recall my system sounding as 'sharp edged' as that, so I 'convinced myself' all was not as it should be.  I say 'convinced myself' as there is a bit of me that strangely quite liked the 'excitement' -- but the nail in the coffin was when i played Al Green's "I'm so lonesome I could cry" -- where was all the emotion gone?

Perhaps i was in a bad mood -- so i left the system alone for a while. Had friends visiting later in the evening -- and after they had left, i started thinking about what might be making my system a bit 'relentless'.

What had I changed lately? Well, i had removed the Draytek router and instead used the VM SH2 (great abbreviations!) in its place. OK, thats one change i could test at some point -- not that simple a change, so i decided to look at other 'simpler' changes initially. One recent change -- when i installed the dedicated radial for the LAN equipment - i also replaced 2 mains leads with shielded Supra LoRad from socket to UPS and MCRU No. 48 Mains Power Lead from UPS to mains block for all the LAN equipment. Simple change to assess. Revert to the original leads. I really did not expect anything from this test -- shielded cables should be better anyhow.

When i had an initial listen last night with ordinary mains leads -- i sensed that the relentlessness was substantially reduced. One has to be careful here -- was it better? Before i went to bed late last night/early this am - i had convinced myself it was better, but decided to have another listen in the light of day.

Well, i had had another session now this pm -- and it was better. Not only that, the emotion was back?

As i recall, when i bought these screened cables, i thought it was such a good idea that i was considering replacing my 'ordinary' radial cables with the uber MCRU shielded ones. Replacing the radial to the main system is quite involved and requires an electrician -- so thankfully i didnt rush this -- and also the shielded cable is NOT cheap. In fact at one point, i thought, perhaps it would be an idea to try the supra lo rad in place of the powerline?  Both projects are off the radar now.

i simply cannot explain this result. i don't claim it to be universal in any way -- so please dont take this as gospel. all  i will say is that my system is extremely sensitive -- and if it doesn't like something -- i tend know quite quickly. I have one or 2 other simplifications to try. But i doubt i will ever replace the separate router.

As my daughter always says when we are having an argument --- "whatever" ! 

enjoy...

ken

Hi Ken

I think at this stage you have found your system's sweet spot. You know when it sounds good, you know what makes it sound good.
That's the most important part of it - make it sound the way you want, so that you can enjoy the music.

Adam

ken c posted:

 

I don't recall my system sounding as 'sharp edged' as that, so I 'convinced myself' all was not as it should be.  I say 'convinced myself' as there is a bit of me that strangely quite liked the 'excitement' -- but the nail in the coffin was when i played Al Green's "I'm so lonesome I could cry" -- where was all the emotion gone?

 

Coincidence is a strange thing! Just as I was reading the words "I'm so lonesome I could cry" in your post, I heard the exact same lyrics coming out of my speakers, only sung by Alynda Lee Segarra. Both examples of cover versions that are considerably better than the original, in my opinion.

All of which has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with Ethernet cable installation - but maybe that's a good thing!!! 

ChrisSU posted:

All of which has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with Ethernet cable installation - but maybe that's a good thing!!! 

yes indeed Chris!  

playing Mary Blacks "the collection right now" -- long time no hear...!!!

I better think of going to bed at some point -- lucky that tomorrow is a bank holiday...

enjoy

ken

Adam Zielinski posted:

Hi Ken

I think at this stage you have found your system's sweet spot. You know when it sounds good, you know what makes it sound good.
That's the most important part of it - make it sound the way you want, so that you can enjoy the music.

Adam

very "sweet spot" indeed Adam... thanks.

playing vinyl right now --- perhaps my system is a good "investment" after all -- the payback in terms of emotional return is quite apparent to me right now.

enjoy

ken

Hi Ken,

Great to hear that all the 'sleuthing' has paid off, and you can now dive back into your music without the 'nagging doubts'!

Also interested in the outcome of your assessment of the Vee1 in your set-up - is it a 'keeper' for you?

(Asking, as I have one in my set-up, and have been delighted with it - wouldn't go back now... Also, I'm using it with a spare Naim Powerline that I have  - icing on the cake!).

ATB.  George.

Hi George,

i'm not sure i can claim i have uncovered some fundamental wisdom here -- but you are correct that i definitely don't have 'nagging doubts' about the SQ from my system now. in fact, i can safely claim i have never heard my system sound better. my daughter, who has been watching me with some bemusement as i "sleuthed", came into my office yesterday and asked "what have you done to your system? --- it sounds so fundamentally better"

but i have to admit i don't understand  some of the outcomes as they seem counter-intuitive. as it happens, i didn't get on at all with 2 power supplies that i tried for the US and so i gave up on this. there may be many reasons for this -- one of which may be that i am probably just  'cloth eared' -- but i wish i had tried them without using any shielded mains leads -- i am certainly in no mood for doing any more experiments now.

i also simply cannot relate to why the shielded mains seemed to unbalance the system - again this could be 'cloth-eared-ness' on my part -- or could be some interaction between various variables -- i simply don't know -- and to be frank, now don't really care.

perhaps one day i will get to the bottom of all this -- or not -- but fortunately, right now, i have a system that sounds emphatically better than i ever remember.

Thanks for your comments George.

enjoy...

ken

my system was sounding absolutely 'gobsmackingliciously' (?) good this afternoon -- in fact, i have never heard it sound like this before! For once, i feel the investment in money and time is definitely worthwhile many times over.  Makes one feel rather good when things turn out like this. 

as an aside i have had further thoughts why shielded mains cable to my LAN equipment sounded odd -- but to be sure, i will need to test this and i will need to distrupt my setup a bit to do that -- i don't really want to do that at this minute -- but when i feel brave enough, i will of course report the outcome if there is interest.

I was playing NDS mostly earlier on. this evening i will spin a few vinyls - looking fwd to that... except of course, i cannot play the system as loud -- neighbours etc... damn!

enjoy...

ken

ken c posted:

my system was sounding absolutely 'gobsmackingliciously' (?) good this afternoon -- in fact, i have never heard it sound like this before! For once, i feel the investment in money and time is definitely worthwhile many times over.  Makes one feel rather good when things turn out like this. 

as an aside i have had further thoughts why shielded mains cable to my LAN equipment sounded odd -- but to be sure, i will need to test this and i will need to distrupt my setup a bit to do that -- i don't really want to do that at this minute -- but when i feel brave enough, i will of course report the outcome if there is interest.

I was playing NDS mostly earlier on. this evening i will spin a few vinyls - looking fwd to that... except of course, i cannot play the system as loud -- neighbours etc... damn!

enjoy...

ken

I am so pleased you have got your system 'optimised' after all the fettling, sorry, 'fine tuning'. It must be very gratifying having been through such trials and tribulations.

I would be interested to hear your theories on the drawbacks of screened mains cables but am a little concerned you are contemplating a backwards step to try to indentify the issues. Part of me is saying, 'Ken, forget it and just enjoy your top notch system performing at its best', the other part is keen to hear about the screened mains cables.

What ever you do, just loose yourself in great music played on a great system - after all that is what it is all about.

ken c posted:

I was playing NDS mostly earlier on. this evening i will spin a few vinyls - looking fwd to that... except of course, i cannot play the system as loud -- neighbours etc... damn!

 

Possibly my biggest ever upgrade was moving to a house in the middle of nowhere. No neighbours to annoy - it's a very liberating experience when you're used to having to rein in the volume. (Now....if I could just do something about the wife;-)

nigelb posted:

..... sorry, 'fine tuning'. It must be very gratifying having been through such trials and tribulations.

I would be interested to hear your theories on the drawbacks of screened mains cables but am a little concerned you are contemplating a backwards step to try to indentify the issues. Part of me is saying, 'Ken, forget it and just enjoy your top notch system performing at its best', the other part is keen to hear about the screened mains cables.

What ever you do, just loose yourself in great music played on a great system - after all that is what it is all about.

thanks Nigel --  'trials and tribulations' is quite apt. part of me is also saying -- "leave well alone" -- if i didnt have a hunch -- then this would be it. but at some point, i'm sure curiosity will get the better of me and i will test my suspicion -- it will be easy enough to reverse anyhow.

"lose yourself" is precisely what i did this afternoon -- makes me wonder why i am contemplating further upgrades to my system -- DR, speaker cables, XLR etc... mad hobby...

enjoy

ken

ChrisSU posted:

ken c posted:

I was playing NDS mostly earlier on. this evening i will spin a few vinyls - looking fwd to that... except of course, i cannot play the system as loud -- neighbours etc... damn!

 

Possibly my biggest ever upgrade was moving to a house in the middle of nowhere. No neighbours to annoy - it's a very liberating experience when you're used to having to rein in the volume. (Now....if I could just do something about the wife;-)

Lucky you!!! i'd give my right arm for a detached house!

enjoy

ken

It's the best thing we did when we bought our house in 1992. We couldn't afford to buy it now though, as prices in Emsworth are just ridiculous. 

with hindsight, i wish we had done the same -- but the euphoria of just owning a house at all was so overwhelming that the idea of 'detached' wasn't in the picture -- and in any case, we convinced ourselves that we couldn't afford it. when i think about it now, i find it ridiculous the number of potential good houses that i rejected 'because the lounge wasnt right for my  Linn (LP12+Isobarik) Naim(32, 250) system!!!

enjoy

ken

Ken - one needs to keep certain standards

ken c posted:

with hindsight, i wish we had done the same -- but the euphoria of just owning a house at all was so overwhelming that the idea of 'detached' wasn't in the picture -- and in any case, we convinced ourselves that we couldn't afford it. when i think about it now, i find it ridiculous the number of potential good houses that i rejected 'because the lounge wasnt right for my  Linn (LP12+Isobarik) Naim(32, 250) system!!!

enjoy

ken

Don't worry Ken, it's not just you. We only looked at houses where our Kans could sit either side of a fireplace. 

Hungryhalibut posted:

ken c posted:

with hindsight, i wish we had done the same -- but the euphoria of just owning a house at all was so overwhelming that the idea of 'detached' wasn't in the picture -- and in any case, we convinced ourselves that we couldn't afford it. when i think about it now, i find it ridiculous the number of potential good houses that i rejected 'because the lounge wasnt right for my  Linn (LP12+Isobarik) Naim(32, 250) system!!!

enjoy

ken

Don't worry Ken, it's not just you. We only looked at houses where our Kans could sit either side of a fireplace. 

Thank you Nigel -- i feel better already!

enjoy

ken

Adam Zielinski posted:

Ken - one needs to keep certain standards

you're probably right Adam -- helped to narrow down choices!

enjoy

ken

The Saga Ends - I'm sure to everyone's relief! :-)

enjoy

ken

Ken - happy for you! This was a good post - I learned a lot. 

Enjoy the music

Adam