Looking for an explanation.. why is my rig sounding so good ??

Did you have the polarity of the power cord on the CD player the wrong way around?  The figure 8 cord one way sounds much, much better with Philips and Marantz players than the other way around.

Judging by your logo it’s because jesus lives in it.

Richard Dane posted:

Did you have the polarity of the power cord on the CD player the wrong way around?  The figure 8 cord one way sounds much, much better with Philips and Marantz players than the other way around.

Thank you Richard.

Sorry - this is 12 gauge power cord 4.5 ft long Copper w/Rhodium Male and C7 plug set

I did not check the polarity thing but i had ordered this power cord on a good recommendation.

A friend whose ears  i believe in.

Question is - is the standard power cord such a bottleneck that replacing it produces a dramatic betterment in quality of sound that the speakers seem to have really opened up ???

I am not talking about a 2 percent betterment here..

I am talking about a whole new world - the excitement levels i see when someone adds a really pricey piece of component - is similar here.

But this is at a much lesser cost.

I do not know even :-

if its the cryo

or if a un-cryo power cord of 12 gauge will produce same sound

regards

Mike1951 posted:

Judging by your logo it’s because jesus lives in it.

Thank you mike.

Thats the logo of the AFC - Aizawl Football Club here in India.

I think you may have misunderstood Richard. The C7 plug can be inserted either way round. It has been noted that you can get a big difference in the sound by reversing the C7 plug. 

Try it and see - does your new cable sound even better, or worse ? Try with the original cable - that should also be different one way or the other. It may equal your new cable when the “best “ way up. 

I am scared to do this..

its scary to even contemplate that a simple twist of the power cord can potentially lead to a sound change in a not subtle way..

Just think though, you may have it plugged in the least good way up - you may get an improvement over what you already have. 

A little tip - when you’ve decided which way round sounds best put a little sticker on the plug, and another on the case work which line up - you’ll never connect it wrongly again if you need to resite  the equipment, etc.

TallGuy posted:

Just think though, you may have it plugged in the least good way up - you may get an improvement over what you already have. 

A little tip - when you’ve decided which way round sounds best put a little sticker on the plug, and another on the case work which line up - you’ll never connect it wrongly again if you need to resite  the equipment, etc.

Tip of the day

Not many Merlins in Naim systems.  I had a pair of the floor mount Merlin TSM for a while and was very impressed.  The Naim pre-amp was perfect for the switchable BAM module.  My Merlin passed away at a Christmas party as a result of too much holiday cheer into a bank of flower pots.  Make the most of your setup while it lives.  

Thank you Skip. 

The VSM is the floorstander while the TSM is the standmount.

Sometimes I wonder if I should get another pair... But that's for another day. 

Regards 

mpw, I've found that that power cords, interconnects, speaker cables, power strips, and wall outlets act essentially as filters in a system's output. Change any one and you've altered some characteristic or tonal balance. Sometimes the change is minuscule, other times profound. 

I enjoy sharing my experience with power cords. After a bit of experimentation I stumbled across one that outperforms a Powerline for a tenth of the cost. A quality cable from a reputable company. Much freer flow of music. The thing is, my results, like yours, are entirely personal. Someone else doing the same comparison might completely disagree. 

As long as you're satisfied with your results I wouldn't over-think things. Go with the flow, enjoy what you've got, and don't seek rationalization in a hobby where there is none.

joerand posted:

 

As long as you're satisfied with your results I wouldn't over-think things. Go with the flow, enjoy what you've got, and don't seek rationalization in a hobby where there is none.

Thank you...

Here in the USA, AV Options can supply a cryo-ed Naim power cord that is very very good for the money. Ditto their Snaics. There is something about a cryo-treated cable that makes the otherwise identical non-treated versions sound hashy and noisy. I think its beyond mere filtering, otherwise these effects would be reproduceable with sophisticated equalization. 

mpw posted:

I am scared to do this..

its scary to even contemplate that a simple twist of the power cord can potentially lead to a sound change in a not subtle way..

 

Why? What is scary abot that? Every socket has a hot pin and symmetric Naim plugs typically have a mark on the side that should be connected to the hot pin. The effects of misconnecting an audio device can be negligible or substantial.

Has anyone any experience if an upgraded power cable will improve one of the new Uniti units?

I have the Star and I’ve been reading with interest lately about these type of power cables, I work with medical x-ray equipment and I’m half tempted to try one of these cables on one of our x-ray detectors, just to see if a measurable difference can be seen I’m image quality, as apossed to a subjective difference in sound quality.