Each link needs to be designed to eliminate sonic signature. This cannot be accomplished by listening only. It seems to me beyond the Arial has this in mind, but it seems the effort still lacks some correlating of technical data and listening. But it is still interesting to see what will come out of this effort.
If you ever come to Taiwan, or if any of the products I have worked on ever get to Israel, please feel free to drop by and listen. Your comments will definitely consolidated with all others for continuous assessment for possible improvement.
So far I didn’t encounter even a single piece of gear that attained it.
Sonic signature can be recognized only by listening. Measurements of electronic gear can show frequency response, distortion, power range and impedances – not sonic signature. So far I didn’t find a set of measurements that will foretell accurately the sonic signature.
If I’ll have a chance to listen to your products, I will.
Too many variables and too little knowledge.
Some people can hear differences but has limited knowledge.
Some others have sufficient knowledge but do not have ears.
If you have both, there will be less "mystery". You just need to do a "link and match".
It isn’t any of the above when the only thing changed in the sound system is a power cord.
not really correct
Can't draw that conclusion... as it doesn't account for possible 2 factor variable interactions; i.e. power cord + humidity in tandem affecting the sound; or maybe a Domino's Pizza delivery drone flew over while you were listening?
Can't draw that conclusion... as it doesn't account for possible 2 factor variable interactions; i.e. power cord + humidity in tandem affecting the sound; or maybe a Domino's Pizza delivery drone flew over while you were listening?
As I wrote above, I’m done with discussions which are OT to this thread. Some people are bothered by it.
There is a mechanism that is relevant , more in some systems than others. Any poor contact where AC voltage is present can cause 'diode-ing' to occur at the interface , the edges of which add some HF hash into the power supply . An oxidised plug pin in a socket is a good example ; or it may be merely some plating interfaces with different metals on the socket contacts and plug pins .
The AC causing this might not be just the 60Hz mains, but other higher-frequency noise on the basic waveform.
With a good power supply design, with proper smoothing chokes, common-mode chokes , RF-capable capacitors, good grounding design, etc , this effect should be minimal by the signal circuit , but many items of consumer kit do NOT have great power supply design, and the extra noise can leak through . Some people's mains can be very noisy, others pretty good , so experiences can vary from country to country. I haven't spent much time worrying about power plugs - but then nearly all my kit is built from scratch with properly design power supplies .
This. The power supplies for the vast majority of solid-state amplifiers (there are a few exceptions) create large amounts of switching noise in the 5 to 50 kHz range. The basic EMI-rejection filters occasionally seen in power amps do not reject the switching-current pulses created by the diode bridge.
The switch-noise (which is program-modulated in Class AB amplifiers) is radiated into the amplifier and back out the power cord. The power cord acts as an antenna for the switch noise. The main function of overpriced audiophile "line conditioners" is slightly filtering this noise and limiting its interaction with other audio components.
To the extent that line cords and power conditioners are audible at all, it's due to the emission of switch-noise from the highest-current component in the system ... the power amplifier. The other components in the system, particularly jitter-sensitive DACs, are then degraded by the noise.
A much better solution than wasting money on (extremely) overpriced power cords is designing the supply so it doesn't generate switch-noise in the first place ... by placing a high-current inductor between the diode bridge and the main electrolytic cap array, limiting the dI/dT (risetime) of the switch pulse. It's common practice (choke-fed power supply) in the vacuum-tube world, going back to the Thirties, but is quite rare in solid-state applications.
This is part of the reason I design my own amplifiers. There's a lot of bad practice out there, and the audiophile band-aids are a joke: they work at the 5% level, while ignoring gross design errors that are responsible for the other 95% of the trouble.
Kindhornman, to return to the main subject of loudspeaker drivers, I agree that overhung VCs are all about power and excursion, and have little to do with low distortion. The field-shaping claims we see from vendors of professional loudspeakers are just that, claims, used to justify the use of an overhung approach. This is why I compared overhung "field-shaping" drivers to manufacturers of high-end Class AB amplifiers with this or that clever scheme intended to mimic Class A operation, while not paying the piper his fee of low power output.
I think it was JBL that popularized professional use of overhung drivers in the Fifties with their "LE" series of overhung drivers. I strongly suspect that "LE" actually meant "long excursion", which is what overhung gives you ... at the expense of linearity. In the contest between "loud" and linear, we all know which wins in the marketplace.
Since the very same sonic signature exists in all systems, this isn’t the case.
Hi Lynn,
Indeed, it is so, as you wrote.
However, on top of that, there are RFI on the power lines themselves. Some of the RFI is present on the power lines even before they enter the house, some other may be generated inside the house, before the power outlet to the sound system.
In the light of my own experience, there is more to it than what you mentioned above.
To my experience, even preamplifiers are influenced by the degree the mains supply is contaminated with RFI.
I use isolation transformers, wound at a local transformers workshop for a very reasonable price, with balanced secondary winding and a basic RF filter before the primary. It works like charm. I also assembly my own power cords. Alas, the power plugs that sound really good are quite expansive.
What he said was considered contradictory at the time.
It proved out later, but in the early 1900's it was considered contradictory
by many well known Phd's Who were set in there ways and not willing to accept new ideas.
Isolation transformers are a good solution- but why bother using the terrible IEC and whatever wall standard connectors? Switch to something like a Neutrik Powerconn and get silver platey high reliability high current goodness on the cheap.
This is a good question. Generally I get to play equipment in different environment and setup which I so not visit too frequently. Most of the time, if there is a certain sonic signature, then it can be heard in most locations. Some will be more significant than others, but generally I hear it the first minute of playing.
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