Today I had to buy some polys from Wima to snub my supply section on GB150 and ran into a guy that is totaly in this DIY. He knew a lot of things and has done a lot of different projects too (A class mostly, some Tripath etc... he just showed me his JVC Cd player mods-tubed and changed supply etc...) Then we spoke about cables - making short story shorter - he borrowed me some furutech plugs and cable from neotech. The sound better my DIY cables and made highs sweeter more open, bass tighter, music flowed much more dynamic and with better more distinguished tone. Now... this cable cots 100€. For my system is this too much. And one thing is which I believed him- if your power supply is Ok, your amp will benefit nada from this cable. He said, with a smile. So I have work to do... the cable goes back.
I am done here. There are bigger things to take care of.
!!
T
I am done here. There are bigger things to take care of.
!!
T
I am waiting to hear Gb150 against this guys equipment (he has some good stuff working on right now-he is purchasing similar way as Olson on Beyond the Ariel thread, high efficiency 15ˇ+ CD 1.4ˇwithout horn...?...). If he agrees that Gb150 has potential he will try to fix the supply section and maybe someting else to. I am not into that. I just follow intuition and sometimes check it...
!!
T
!!
T
It's simple, thicker wire is better. Always has been.
Think, the AC power from the wall is NASTY with fluctuations, and other stuff on the line, but the job of the DC power supply in an amp is to rectify and filter this power with big capacitors.
One cable may sound better because the voltage sags less when the bass hits hard. Makes perfect sense.
Enough BS about harmonics and noise on the line and other phony stuff.....it's irrelevent because any power from mains gets filtered. Our amps run on DC not AC, and it doesn't matter what junk is on the mains line. Also amps have a PSRR as well, so once again, what's on the AC doesn't matter. Just use a thick enough mains wire so all the voltage reaches the power supply.
I've used 18AWG on my mains for a 350W RMS amp and it was fine. Only 3A of rated power usage, and the cord is rated for 7A. I'm pretty sure the transformer primary winding and series-wired NTC thermistor have more resistance than the mains wire anyway. I don't see how a 12AWG wire would make much difference at such a low current. Also, a small voltage drop in the wire @ 120V (or 240V) is not much compared to having a voltage drop in the wire with a much lower voltage.
Thicker wire is better. If you have a big amp, then use as big as you can. However, with only a few hundred watts, I doubt there is much difference.
Think, the AC power from the wall is NASTY with fluctuations, and other stuff on the line, but the job of the DC power supply in an amp is to rectify and filter this power with big capacitors.
One cable may sound better because the voltage sags less when the bass hits hard. Makes perfect sense.
Enough BS about harmonics and noise on the line and other phony stuff.....it's irrelevent because any power from mains gets filtered. Our amps run on DC not AC, and it doesn't matter what junk is on the mains line. Also amps have a PSRR as well, so once again, what's on the AC doesn't matter. Just use a thick enough mains wire so all the voltage reaches the power supply.
I've used 18AWG on my mains for a 350W RMS amp and it was fine. Only 3A of rated power usage, and the cord is rated for 7A. I'm pretty sure the transformer primary winding and series-wired NTC thermistor have more resistance than the mains wire anyway. I don't see how a 12AWG wire would make much difference at such a low current. Also, a small voltage drop in the wire @ 120V (or 240V) is not much compared to having a voltage drop in the wire with a much lower voltage.
Thicker wire is better. If you have a big amp, then use as big as you can. However, with only a few hundred watts, I doubt there is much difference.
there is such a thing as law of diminishing returns...
say you have a gear with transformer whose primary wire is ga#30....now why on earth will one use a ga#12 power cable for that?
even if that taffo had ga#20... i will still use a ga#18 power cable as it is very capable of passing current needed...this is all you will ever need....
EWorkshop1708 said:
In theory, that may be so. Do you know what the PSRR of your amplifier is at RF frequencies?
I quote from another thread:
"I believe the problem is with RF on the power lines, feeding directly into the equipment enclosure, affecting the circuitry. Good power cable act as RF filters while maintaining low impedance, thus reducing RF levels inside the enclosure and still allow for 'unrestricted' current pulses to flow."
André
Andre Visser said:
If RF is the problem, or less than $10, you can buy an AC inlet filter that is designed to keep all the RF crap out. The components and circuit are known, so the effect of the filter can be predicted and measured. Or you can spend $$$ for a power cable that won't come anywhere close to being as effective. Which would you choose?
mightydub said:
First, let me explain myself, my comments on mains cables are aimed at sytems that are optimised to get maximum SQ.
It is quite easy to install a RF filter, the only problem is that I haven't heard of one that doesn't have a negative effect on the sound quality of an amplifier. It doesn't help to add filters that have a negative effect on SQ in order to be able to use a poor power cable.
I use suppresion caps directly on the mains input of my amp and find that a good cable still improve the SQ of my amp.
I was actually thinking more in terms of inter-chassis potentials and ground loops.
Edit: Hi Andre. I've already sacrificed one $200 sound card to the gods of science, I'm not keen to tempt another. I did however try the same experiment with a second transformer laying around, a toroid of different Vout, VA and manufacture. The result was essentially identical.
Edit: Hi Andre. I've already sacrificed one $200 sound card to the gods of science, I'm not keen to tempt another. I did however try the same experiment with a second transformer laying around, a toroid of different Vout, VA and manufacture. The result was essentially identical.
Has anyone heard any improvement in sound by using ferrites?ALL of them simply destroy hf extension and harmonics.Yes,they can be effective in rf problems when they excist,but never without killing the sound.Better use them on equipment that might cause problems like refrigerators etc...not on hi-fi.Even manufacturers of such ferrites recomment this use,since we discuss effects in audio other than rf.
rdf said:
That's why I've asked if it is possible.
I believe you are on 120Vac? Over here it is 240Vac and I'm also not very keen to measure.
I believe a transformer will stop the rf but it is possible for the rf to transmit into other parts of the cct once inside the chassis. What do you think?
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