Mains filters
 

Roderick Stewart wrote:

And if it does make a perceptible difference, however tiny, that means
£50 profit each time...
And when it is discovered that it makes no difference whatsoever...?

*If*, not when. I've yet to start experimenting on these things...

The answer is that you make up some pretty looking cables and sell them
to people that are prepared to pay £50 a pop.

As far as the marketing goes, the only difference is that if they do
improve the sound I'd use them on my own system, but if they don't make
any difference I'd just sell them to people who think they do.

However, as I said, I've yet to do any thorough testing. When I do, I'm
sure I'll post the results here. It'll be entertaining, if nothing else
- if there isn't a difference I'll have half of you nodding in agreement
and the other half calling me "cloth-eared", if there is a difference
I'll have half of you nodding in agreement and the other half saying
"you must have imagined it".

Hey, I just summed up uk.rec.audio in one paragraph. I must be getting
cynical in my old age...

--
Glenn Richards Tel: (01453) 845735
Squirrel Solutions http://www.squirrelsolutions.co.uk/

IT consultancy, hardware and software support, broadband installation

Mains filters
 

"Glenn Richards" wrote in
message

Sadly there doesn't appear to be a uk.rec.hi-fi where
those of us who can tell the difference between bell wire
and 105-strand speaker cable can have a discussion about
which cable sounds best with which equipment, without the
likes of yourselves or Pinkerton (to name but two)
chiming in with "********" or words to that effect.

Why can't so-called subjectivsts tell the truth? You know bloody well that
this isn't about 105 strand speaker wire versus bell wire. It's about 105
stand wire with a right hand twist as opposed to otherwise-identical 105
strand wire with a left hand twist.

We've
got uk.rec.audio.vinyl now, why not have
uk.rec.audio.hi-fi or audiophile as well?

It's hard to beat uk.rec.audio.vinyl for inactivity.

Mains filters
 

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in
message
In article ,
Don Pearce wrote:
Turn your amplifier on, with no music playing and
listen. Leave the volume control in the normal listening
position and sit in your listening chair. What can you
hear? Anything? Of course not. And what little hiss
there is comes from the front end of the amplifier. None
of it comes from the mains.

You've never heard things like a fridge splat etc which
is mains borne? Of course it depends on the design of the
power supply in your amp, etc.

Most such interference probably does not come in via the power supply or
component power cord.

I've got a dedicated radial circuit with its own earth
feeding my AV equipment.

It's probably the clean ground that's providing any noticable benefit. It's
pretty hard to make up a clean ground with a line cord filter.

Mains filters
 

Iain Churches wrote:

By "cleaning up" I was referring specifically to applying digital
noise reduction. The re-EQ was mentioned simply for completeness,
as the recordings were a bit bass-shy and lacking in sparkle. So a
touch of smiley EQ solves that, followed by noise reduction.
Professionals call this "cosmetic enhancement" :-)) For one's own
use, make any changes that take your fancy. For a commercial release,
I regard the smiley brigade with deep distrust. When the big day
comes and we all standing in line in the big mastering room in the
sky, they will have much to answer for:-)

Depends on how the original sounded, really.

I've been doing some experimentation with comparing non-remastered CDs
to remastered ones, actually after buying the latest ABBA box set
(Complete Studio Recordings) and being shocked at the amount of
compression that was in use.

I always found the original Polydor/Polar CDs rather bass-shy and
lacking sparkle compared to the remasters, but the remasters lacked
punch and dynamics (although the tonal balance was better). So I dug out
my original Polar CDs, ripped them to WAVs and started playing about.
Applied a bit of smiley EQ, and the tonal balance was then the same as
the remasters (lost the excessive midband that the remastering had taken
out). On "The Visitors" (recorded digitally) this was all that was
needed, earlier releases sourced from analogue needed some NR applying
as well.

I'm fairly convinced that the Polar CDs were produced from the same 2ch
analogue master as the vinyl versions, the reason being that my vinyl
copy of Super Trouper has exactly the same drop-outs and pre-echo print
through as the Polar CD, in exactly the same places. Indeed, the only
real difference (apart from the slight scratch on the first track and a
bit of surface noise) is that the applause at the end of the final live
track runs through the lead-out groove, until the arm lifts (if you've
got a semi-auto turntable). On the CD it fades out.

It's rather vital that you EQ before NR though, otherwise the re-EQ
boosts bits that the NR has cut, leading to some interesting
pumping effects...
That's correct. One needs to do a dummy run though to see if the
pre-EQ is the best possible after you have heard the NR.

Yup. Nero Wave Editor has a very useful "undo" function, so if the EQ
was too steep, or not steep enough, you can go back, change it, re-NR,
and try again.

Back in the days when I worked part time in a recording studio (when I
was about 15!) this was the stuff that engineers dreamed about, while we
sliced up bits of 1/4" tape with a razor blade. And that was only 13
years ago!

So in these instances I do the NR first. Any subsequent gentle EQ
slightly raises the noise floor, but with vintage material is of
little consequence. The secret is to do as little as possible In this
instance less is often more :-)

Yup, likewise on these recordings my aim was to do as little as possible.

The irony is, my remastering attempts using £60 worth of software
running on a Windows XP box of what is now a fairly mid-range spec (AMD
XP2800+, 2GB DDR RAM, 120GB HD) actually sound considerably better than
what some muppet at Universal Music with half a million quid's worth of
kit and a fetish for abusing the compressor/limiter could come up with...

--
Glenn Richards Tel: (01453) 845735
Squirrel Solutions http://www.squirrelsolutions.co.uk/

IT consultancy, hardware and software support, broadband installation

Mains filters
 

Roderick Stewart wrote:

I've got all my electrical equipment plugged into the normal wiring
that came with the house, no fancy filters anywhere, nothing special
at all, and have never heard any splats from my loudspeakers since I
stopped listening to AM radio. There's no audible hiss from a normal
listening position either, even if I turn the volume control to its
upper endstop. (Normal listening requires about a quarter turn). My
audio and video equipment is not the sort of silly pretentious stuff
that costs a king's ransom, and it's not cheap rubbish either, just
carefully chosen well-designed gear that works.

Go on then, what kit have you got?

--
Glenn Richards Tel: (01453) 845735
Squirrel Solutions http://www.squirrelsolutions.co.uk/

IT consultancy, hardware and software support, broadband installation

Mains filters
 

Roderick Stewart wrote:

The theory is sound anyway, if sticking an LCR filter across the mains
input does indeed reduce the noise floor.
Maybe it would be if it did, but it doesn't, so it isn't. It's nonsense.

That's why I said "if".

--
Glenn Richards Tel: (01453) 845735
Squirrel Solutions http://www.squirrelsolutions.co.uk/

IT consultancy, hardware and software support, broadband installation

Mains filters
 

"Don Pearce" wrote in message

On Thu, 16 Mar 2006 11:17:50 GMT, "housetrained"
wrote:

Is this the reason why one of my amps has its own power
supply. A separate box that sits next to the pre-amp and
transforms the mains into DC?

All amps have their own power supply that does exactly
this. Whether it is in the same box or not is entirely
immaterial.

True for power amps, but not necessarily true for every kind of audio gear.

Rane, a U.S. pro audio gear manufacturer with a very solid reputation for
conservative technology claims that some of their gear (like mic preamps)
showed a SNR advantage when the power transformer was moved out of the box
and into a big plastic wart on the power cord.

http://www.rane.com/rap.html

Reasons to use external pwoer supples:

"Better Audio Performance. Removes the hum source, i.e. the AC line
transformer and all primary circuits resulting in quieter noise performance,
without the usual (and annoying) 50/60 Hz and 150/180 Hz hum components."

Mains filters
 

"tony sayer" wrote in message
...
In article , Iain Churches
writes

"Glenn Richards" wrote in message
t.uk...
Just a quick straw poll...

What are people's opinions of mains filters, upgraded power cables etc?

Have been doing some investigation and there may actually be something
in
this. Not talking Russ Andrews style £250 mains cables here, more like
sticking a plug with a filter onto a standard IEC lead, and possibly
using
one of those Masterplug RFI filtered 4-way blocks.

Has anyone done any serious experimentation on this? I did hear a quite
convincing demonstration at the Sound & Vision show in Bristol a few
years
ago, but the mains there is probably a lot dirtier than your typical
home
installation.

What myself and a few others have figured out is that the level of RFI
introduced onto your ring main by something like the switching PSU in a
typical PC is quite high.

Opinions, people?


Hello Glenn. A couple of days ago, I popped in for 30 secs to
an audio demo at a local dealership to take him some audition
material. He was demonstrating a mains filter unit. He had a
tunable RF gadget with a small inbuilt speaker which he plugged
into a wall socket. Radio transmissions and very loud hash could
clearly be heard. Then he plugged the gadget into one of the
filtered outlets. Silence.

The unit was about 4U in height, and had ten mains outlets
on the rear panel.

I was there for only a few seconds, (car parked on a yellow
line) The dealer has promised me some literature.

Regards to all
Iain





Yes please publish it here for all the see, and see also what snake oil
he used to do that with.

Total bollockx!.....
--
Tony Sayer

OK Tony and the Gang! For your hedification:

Monster Power type HTS 2600.
This is one of the midprice units at about EUR 400 trade.
and about EUR 590 retail.

http://www.monstercable.com/power/lineRefPower.asp

I have just spoken with the main dealer. They have no
stock, and demand outstrips supply.

The analyser box to which I referred is not on sale through
retailers, though I have seen them previously.

It is termed "Wide Band Power Analyser" and made in
either the UK or the US by a company called Entec.

I don my flameproof overalls and retire swiftly to
a neutral corner.

Over to you.
Iain

Mains filters
 

Yes please publish it here for all the see, and see also what snake oil
he used to do that with.

Total bollockx!.....
--
Tony Sayer

OK Tony and the Gang! For your hedification:


Off their site!..


"The HTS 5100 is designed for the home theater enthusiast with a passion
for picture and sound quality. The Home Theatre Reference PowerCenterâ„¢
HTS 5100 features Clean Powerâ„¢ Stage 4 v2.0 filter circuitry to prevent
AC power line noise from disturbing component performance. Five separate
filters give you maximum quality sound and picture. TVs will deliver a
razor sharp picture with the most vivid color detail and contrast
possible. Audio jumps from the speakers with 3-D realism, delivering
amazing clarity, pinpoint imaging, and precise soundstage".



Sez it all really!...

Total ********!....


This bloke related to Russ A perchance?..



Monster Power type HTS 2600.
This is one of the midprice units at about EUR 400 trade.
and about EUR 590 retail.

http://www.monstercable.com/power/lineRefPower.asp

I have just spoken with the main dealer. They have no
stock, and demand outstrips supply.

More ********....


The analyser box to which I referred is not on sale through
retailers, though I have seen them previously.

Oh!, go on please, entertain us do;-)


It is termed "Wide Band Power Analyser" and made in
either the UK or the US by a company called Entec.

Wideband power analyser eh!, Bet the BBC have bought them all up;!...

I don my flameproof overalls and retire swiftly to
a neutral corner.

Yes perhaps you should go and see someone!.

keyword is in the sentence a few lines above;(......

Over to you.
Iain




--
Tony Sayer

Mains filters
 

Rane, a U.S. pro audio gear manufacturer with a very solid reputation for
conservative technology claims that some of their gear (like mic preamps)
showed a SNR advantage when the power transformer was moved out of the box
and into a big plastic wart on the power cord.

http://www.rane.com/rap.html

Reasons to use external pwoer supples:

"Better Audio Performance. Removes the hum source, i.e. the AC line
transformer and all primary circuits resulting in quieter noise performance,
without the usual (and annoying) 50/60 Hz and 150/180 Hz hum components."


More bollockx.

**** poor design then, if their having those problems.

This "wall-wart" caper is more to do with complying with different regs
in different markets.....
--
Tony Sayer