In article , Tony sayer wrote:
"I then switched the power cable on the amplifier to use the Isotek
cable. Immediately there was an improvement in dynamics, percussion in
particular had much more presence and depth".

Which would make perfect sense, as by taking out RF interference what
you've done is lowered the noise floor. You may not be able to hear RF,
but if your amplifier is trying to reproduce it then it's increased the
noise floor, which will result in the dynamic range of the system being
reduced.


Glenn,

do you live somewhere like Brookmans Park or Holme Moss?. Never known a
bloke to be troubled by so much RF!......
--
Tony Sayer

I think most technical "problems" with domestic gear are the product of a
lively but uninformed imagination. Also possibly the fact that a lot of
people never seem to outgrow their childhood instinct of believing what they
are told without questioning it provided they are told often enough by
people with the appearance of authority. Those that remain technically
ignorant but take up technical hobbies then spend their lives trying to
solve problems that don't exist. Either that or they keep on applying the
wrong remedies to problems that are of their own making because the
equipment hasn't been installed or set up correctly. I wonder how many
people who worry about RF actually know anything about it?

In my living room I have two PCs, one of them a wireless laptop which
normally lives on the same shelf unit as all the audio and video gear. The
wireless access point is only about 3 metres away, and just next to it is
the base station of a cordless phone, and my mobile phone is a similar
distance away on another shelf. Sometimes there are several other PCs in the
house if I am building or testing them for other people. The AV signals from
several disk recorders go through a SCART switch box and through about 5
metres of SCART cable to the TV set. I *think* all the TV and AV audio still
goes through the TV set before going back along several metres of phono
cables, but there's such a tangle of wiring which has been changed and added
to over the years that I'd have to check out the details, but certainly lots
of very ordinary cable. The kitchen is just next door and contains a fridge
with a thermostat, and there is another mains-switching thermostat on the
living room wall for the central heating.

And there isn't a single unwanted click, hiss or splat on the speakers from
any of this, ever. I can switch the amplifier to an unused input, turn the
volume control fully clockwise and put my head right in front of one of the
loudspeakers and hear nothing at all.

So why am I missing all the excitement? Everybody else seems to have to
tinker about solving endless technical problems with their hi-fi, but I just
connect everything together and sit back and enjoy the music without
worrying about anything, and it all works. The only problem I have that
*might* be RF based is that the radio-controlled wall clock tries to reset
itself at least once a day and is more often wrong than right, but there are
plenty of other gadgets that tell the time so it's not really important, and
if it annoys me once too often I can replace it with something from Ikea for
less than a fiver.

Rod.