And if he is using those caps for filtering any serious current, good luck with the heat dissipation!!
Since You Asked...
The centre image shifts sideways a little, not major, but enough to be apparent.
Very much like center image shift when fine adjusting tape machine head azimuth.
Probably two wire mains CDP, probably but not certain, 2 wire mains supply amplifier....decent typical hifi gear of mid eighties.
Mono switch on amplifier centered image.
Balance control did not center image imbalance.
Stereo/Rev switch on amp reversed center image imbalance.
Swapping phono RCA's at amp input reversed center image imbalance.
Swapping channel connections at phono cartridge (V15 mkIII) did not reverse center image imbalance.
IOW, I tore my hair out trying to find the center balance fault.
Once the effect was demonstrated to me in the store, I immediately swapped the direction of one of the hardwired phone cables, and this cured the problem that had baffled me.
I dismissed the cable to be the cause of the fault because, well, it was originally the one length of cable, and the books told me that directional effect was not possible.
Keep in mind that I used to service a lot of tape machines, and so I am very aware of/sensitive to mono signal minor L/R phase imbalance.
Nowadays, I don't lose any sleep over it, I just ensure that L & R cables are installed in the same direction.
Dan.
Hello John.
The centre image shifts sideways a little, not major, but enough to be apparent.
Very much like center image shift when fine adjusting tape machine head azimuth.
Me standing back, remaining in the same position while the store owner/repairs customer/friend swapped the direction of one CDP to integrated amp interconnect.
The interconnect was decent quality (nothing super special) coaxial construction.
Probably two wire mains CDP, probably but not certain, 2 wire mains supply amplifier....decent typical hifi gear of mid eighties.
The thing is I picked this fault in my TT that I had wired with reversed cables.
Mono switch on amplifier centered image.
Balance control did not center image imbalance.
Stereo/Rev switch on amp reversed center image imbalance.
Swapping phono RCA's at amp input reversed center image imbalance.
Swapping channel connections at phono cartridge (V15 mkIII) did not reverse center image imbalance.
IOW, I tore my hair out trying to find the center balance fault.
Once the effect was demonstrated to me in the store, I immediately swapped the direction of one of the hardwired phone cables, and this cured the problem that had baffled me.
I dismissed the cable to be the cause of the fault because, well, it was originally the one length of cable, and the books told me that directional effect was not possible.
Keep in mind that I used to service a lot of tape machines, and so I am very aware of/sensitive to mono signal minor L/R phase imbalance.
Nowadays, I don't lose any sleep over it, I just ensure that L & R cables are installed in the same direction.
Dan.
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Interesting of the various capacitor experimenters, is the fixation on organic materials.
Organic is natural, natural is better, so organic is superior for audio electronics ?
Total agreement with you there Frank....I have been through all the steps you list, and 4) is when a system is getting good.
5) Is when you have, 4) plus nice musicality...anything sounds good with all the depth and detail you could ever want, and pretty much any recording sounds plain enjoyable (musical content/tastes dependent of course).
Dan.
Other than ceramics, what caps don't use organic materials? Polyester, polypropylene, paper, polystyrene, polycarbonate, oil, polyphenylene sulfide, PTFE... all organic.
You need another science than physics to understand posts like this. Psychopathology would be more appropriate as a field of studies.
Orientation of any interconnect is not part of it's identity, which is defined by R, L and C, the impacts of which are commutative.
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With tape machines, micro, micro adjustment of the head azimuth shifts the mono component of audio L/R quite markedly.
In quantitative numbers, no idea, but very little I expect.
Dan.
Dan, you must have done some head-scratching on this - what's your best guess on what's going on?
The center image is fixed by your head location. That cannot be discerned by humans. What you may have done is discern the images off center, and assuemd it was the center that moved instead of the side images.
The problem with single ended IC's and 3 prong line cords, is that based on the overall loop resistance totals, the return currents of the IC's will flow on the line cord grounding conductors instead of the shields of the IC's. The actual ratio will depend on the contact resistances of the rca's, the IEC's, the wall outlet, as well as the gauge of the line cord ground and the IC shields. In addition, the loop of the line cords to IC's will impact it as well.
Instead of metallic conductor directionality (which doesn't exist), I'd worry about all the real phenomena which most designers ignore. That is, control of signal current paths.
jn
Indeed, I found a whole colony of them in my amplifiers, I trapped them in my directional cables then drainwd them into my time harvester. Now my hifi sounds better than ever.
Don't know...according to theory, signal path lengths would have to be substantially different to produce perceived pan pot type center image shift.
That said, I have always been suspicious of typical integrated amplifier layout and wiring.
Indeed, I am yet to hear such an amp deliver precise center mono.
I have always strived to make signal paths identical....cable lengths and dual mono constructions.
Dan.
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Giving the signal return path the same consideration as the signal itself is the way, I think of all signals as a differential pair when doing layout cabling etc, its the best way, and often overlooked or forgotten about.
🙂
Dan, I agree with symmetry, if for no other reason that it would drive me insane, having different cable lengths (slight OCD🙂).
I'm thinking that VLF/infra channel to channel noise coherency is part of it.
In my experimenting with my cable clip on thingo, putting both channels through the one clip on makes central mono programme content perfectly central, zero width of the central mono content, and zero wander.
Only speculation for now until I get to making some repeatable measurements.
Dan.
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Yes, send and return paths need to be minimal loop area.
Earth planes are more complex than first inspection.
Dan.
Don't worry about channel to channel noise coherency. Instead, worry about channel to channel difference with a mono source.
Measurements channel to channel from the speaker outs is going to require some major work. You're looking for tenth db differences and below with 5 uSec level interchannel timing delays, and you won't get that with speaker loads as well..they will confound the measurement.
Identical dummy loads, two differential inputs, analog subtraction, and accuracy out the wazoo. Your looking for microsecond changes in 500 hz to 2khz.. tain't gonna be easy.
jn
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