A brief post on my recent findings with regards to mains cables, power distributors, filters and other such nonsense....
Having gone through what must be a full circle of various iterations, I think I have finally come to a point where I have no intention of messing with mains cables anymore. That was a long journey....
The intention of this post is to summarise my findings - perhaps someone may find it useful when deciding on their own solutions.
1. Dedicated mains spur does matter - cleans up a power supply and makes it more immune to household-induced system noise. But it is NOT a universal panacea for avoiding transformer hums. Unstable and constantly varying mains supply voltage will still cause some degree of humming at various intervals. I actually find it a bit amusing to hear my various transformers hum at different intervals - there is no pattern to it.
2. Avoid at all cost filtered distributors, power conditioners - they seriously degrade that NAIMs signature sound.
3. Power distributors - use star-connected distributors, with no filters:
a. With systems up to SuperNait 2 - WireWorld Matrix 2 gives good results. Wall to distributor: standard Naim cable.
b. With separates systems - I found a good solution with Furutech eTP-60 unfiltered distributor. Wall to distributor: standard Naim cable.
4. Cables - avoid at all cost 'fancy' cables - PowerLine maintains NAIM signature sound, whils adding some 'inky blackness' to the sound. Anything else gives a bit of a unpredictable result.
5. A brief note on PowerLines sold in Europe - their 'phase' is in a different pin!!!!! Make sure the rest of your gear is 'reversed' to match the phasing of power supplies - e.g. Tunrtables, other brand CD players etc etc.
6. Streaming systems - keep your NAS, UnitiServe and the like on a separate mains spur at all costs. Commonly used switch-mode power supplies may polute your NAIMs with unwanted noise.
7. LAN networks: beware of multiple earthing / grounding points CAT6 and CAT7 network can introduce to your NAIM system
Most importanly - enjoy the music!
Adam
Posted on: 02 May 2016 by Chris Bell
8) Always plug your amp directly into the wall, not the power strip.
9) Replace wall-wort's with linear power supplies.
Posted on: 03 May 2016 by Got Hi-Fi?
8) Always plug your amp directly into the wall, not the power strip.
You aren't concerned of it being fried from a surge, or damaged from a brownout? I would not dare plug any of my gear into the wall directly where I live. I used to go through a router every 8 mos that was plugged directly to the wall.
Posted on: 03 May 2016 by Adam Zielinski
8) Always plug your amp directly into the wall, not the power strip.
You aren't concerned of it being fried from a surge, or damaged from a brownout? I would not dare plug any of my gear into the wall directly where I live. I used to go through a router every 8 mos that was plugged directly to the wall.
That is also a valid point. With an unstable power supply, prone to lightning / power surges a surge protection distributor may be needed.
When it comes to protecting music / stage equipment there is only one brand that counts - Furmann. Wheter it would work in a domestic HiFi I don't know... Never tested it, as it's mounted in my rack.
Posted on: 08 May 2016 by MangoMonkey
I'd be interested in learning more about Adams failed experiments.
on my end, surge protectors helped immensely to clean up the sound - however, they are in use on all end points that have anything to do with Ethernet networking - the router, switches as well as on the Unitiserv nas etc.
using Tripp lite ultra something ... Not cheap at $60 each (needed 4 for around the house) but totally worth it.
and replaced all exposed Ethernet cabling with cat 6 a cables from blue jeans cables.
just using wiremold for Naim gear - amp plugged into the wall. Don't miss the audience pdc.
Posted on: 08 May 2016 by Adam Zielinski
I wouldn't call them 'failed' as such. I just took them too far...
Essentially any power distributor starts to act as a filter, which will affect the dynamics. Hence 'plug into the wall' advice, especially for the power amps.
If not enough wall sockets are available, one needs to make sure that any distributor added, distorts as little as possible. Hence an option of an unfiltered, star-wired, good qulity distributor seems to be the best.
The above situation assumes a farily reliable power supply. If spikes, surges are frequent - some form of protection may be needed, but it WILL degrage the sound. It's inevitable but possibly the only solution. So then the testing is all about adding as little degradation as possible, whilst mainting an adequate level of protection.
Posted on: 08 May 2016 by joerand
just using wiremold for Naim gear - amp plugged into the wall. Don't miss the audience pdc.
Interesting findings, especially as far as VFM for North American users (the Audience is beaucoup bucks). I went from the NANA Noisetrapper to the cheaper Wiremold and found a much better sorting of mids with the Wiremold. The NANA was better on blackness and bottom end solidity, but for overall cohesion and musical presentation the Wiremold was an easy winner. I've got my SN2 plugged into the Wiremold. Will have to try it directly into the wall outlet.
Posted on: 09 May 2016 by MangoMonkey
Have got the 272 plugged into a TrippLite Isobar Ultra and the amp into the wall. Sounds great. Don't think i want to change a thing. Oh - and got my PC plugged into a Furman PST-8D. That seems to capture all the nasties emitted by my PC.
The Furmat PST-8D on the HiFi cleaned things up, but also sort of sat on the music..
Isn't it just the amp that needs a whole bunch of power?
Posted on: 09 May 2016 by joerand
9) Replace wall-wort's with linear power supplies.
A simple test for sound degradation associated with use of a wall wart in my system is to unplug the wart on my RP6 PSU and listen to CD. Then retry with the wart plugged in. I can hear no difference. I've also listened to my RP6 with the wart plugged into my power strip, plugged directly into the wall on the same circuit, then plugged into a separate circuit. Still no difference I could hear. Granted, Chris has a far more resolving system than mine, my ears aren't the best, and I don't 'stream'. I'm just pointing out there are some logical steps that can be used to assess possible effects of wall warts in a given system.
Posted on: 10 May 2016 by Adam Zielinski
Joerand - I think you have summarised it nicely. It's all about testing various scenarios and ballancing them in our individual domestic environments.
One must of course be aware of what the 'known state' is and move from there, in incremental and defined steps.
