Powerline Lite

Tariqv posted:

Adam Zielinski posted:

Tariqv posted:

So initial impressions, with the PL on the NDX...Had the chance to listen to a few songs yet, songs that I know well. First thing I immediately noticed, lower noise floor. The sound is slightly more focused and notes slam harder (more definition in audio-speak?). 

On the negative side the treble has become quite tiresome, any idea why?

Tariq - give it a while to settle down. PowerLine calms the performance of the component it is connected to. If trebble continue to be problematic, have a look at: interconnects and speaker positioning in the room. You may have to adjust your speakers' toe-in angle or move them by few centimeters.

Thanks for the tip Adam; been listening for several hours, the treble is not as bad as it was before but still not completely settled down. Do you suggest that I increase toe-in or decrease, whats the rule of thumb to decrease the harsh treble effect?

Tariqv - my advice would be to give the Powerline a few weeks, not hours, to properly burn-in before you start making adjustments to the speakers. Before doing anything like that you need to know that the PL is performing at its optimum.  That will take time (and patience).

Tariqv posted:

Adam Zielinski posted:

Tariqv posted:

So initial impressions, with the PL on the NDX...Had the chance to listen to a few songs yet, songs that I know well. First thing I immediately noticed, lower noise floor. The sound is slightly more focused and notes slam harder (more definition in audio-speak?). 

On the negative side the treble has become quite tiresome, any idea why?

Tariq - give it a while to settle down. PowerLine calms the performance of the component it is connected to. If trebble continue to be problematic, have a look at: interconnects and speaker positioning in the room. You may have to adjust your speakers' toe-in angle or move them by few centimeters.

Thanks for the tip Adam; been listening for several hours, the treble is not as bad as it was before but still not completely settled down. Do you suggest that I increase toe-in or decrease, whats the rule of thumb to decrease the harsh treble effect?

Impossible to tell - just experiment. A lot of speakers don't require any toe-in. It's mostly to do with how your room is laid out and furnished. 

You will always get reverbations and reflections in a room. That's ok - what is starting to cause problems is a lack of uniformity in the speed of reverbations and different textures the soundwaves bounce from.

Got it, patience

I notice that the PL is a pretty stiff cable and is all curled up, tried to straighten it up with partial success, seems to have reduced the mid-treble harshness. Does that make any sense?

My cables are a lying mess by the way, don't really know if their laying around is having a negative effect on sound. I try to have the power cables and interconnects not touching each other, but thats about it.

Just give it a month, and don't bother to move speakers around, you shouldn't need to. 

Like other members mentioned, forget about it now and leave it plugged in. It keeps on getting better in 3 to 4 weeks. Thats my experience. The PL is not stiff at all, in fact very easy to work with compared with my other non-naim premium cables that look like a garden hose, this is one point that I like about the PL.

Tariqv posted:

Got it, patience

I notice that the PL is a pretty stiff cable and is all curled up, tried to straighten it up with partial success, seems to have reduced the mid-treble harshness. Does that make any sense?

My cables are a lying mess by the way, don't really know if their laying around is having a negative effect on sound. I try to have the power cables and interconnects not touching each other, but thats about it.

Actually I find PowerLines to be quite flexible, definitely not 'curled up'. Destressing a power cable does help a bit.

Little update on the PL on my NDX - didn't bother placing it on other boxes, i.e. HCDR or SN2; need to make sure it doing its thing before experimenting on other boxes and adding more variables.

Haven't had the chance to listen extensively during the weekdays, but since I wrote that the treble got better on my last post, I was able to listen on Wednesday and it was utterly unlistenable, mids were terrible, no seperation of instruments whatsoever, and very tiresome to listen. Switched off everything for a day right after that experience and switched back on the black boxes yesterday evening.

Have been listening to it tonight for an hour or so and I can say that its playing really well; no fatigue inducing harshness, except for a slightly heavy bass which may or may not be due to room acoustics, the music has never been as airy as I'd wish anyhow. I'm trying to make sure all the cables are not touching each other as I have discovered that cable positioning is very important, as fellow forum members have thankfully suggested; if there is further advice on how to take care of all kinds of cables please do share.

Will share further experience along the way, thanks again for your support.

PS: I have a feeling another PL is due soon...

PowerLines work best in a full loom You've been warned...