dba

Ive ordered the following from Russ Andrews;

Item Code: YellO Extensions 1m UK 13 Amp Plug and 4 Way (Ref:11600101024)

Statmat CDi (Ref:51200000000)

Mains 3 pin "Silencer

ReVeel (Ref:54140000000)


Trial Kit of DeoxIT & ProGold wipes (Ref:54380000000)


mains noise,cleaning film off cds,cleaning plugs,mats in cd drawers,jumpers for goal posts....................

but will any of it work?

Chip

Shouldnt you have asked this first before buying.

chip.

dba

then it wouldnt have been a myth!!

Chip

Well thats true.

Chip.

dba

rule one in the hi-fi guide to the galaxy;

only buy something if you think it will work then convince yourself it has to make yourself feel better

Jye

A separate dedicated mains spur and outside earth would do mucho more, and all for nowt

Either that or just listen late at night like me

For what its worth IMO RA = con man mainly (pardon the pun)


[Edited by Jye - 12/28/2003 10:03:24 PM]

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

depends how old you are, your hearing deteriorates after about 18 so you wont notice if you are much over thirty, always makes me laugh when sixty year old hi-fi buffs scoff at an 18 year olds midi system.

My mates well into it, he's got about four grands worth of kit and about 40 quids worth of cd's, one of which being Rod Stewart.

TelBoy

dba, yes it will, to varying degrees. I've got everything you've listed, and more besides.

The Yello powercords are excellent. In fact, i'd say there's little point in buing RA's Kimber PowerKords instead unless you've got some fairly serious equipment.

ProGold and De-Oxit are superb. But make sure nobody's looking when you're polishing mains plugs!

ReVeel and the Statmat i'm less convinved about. You'll convince yourself that you can hear a difference, but if you're still spraying every cd before playing after a few months, you'll be doing better than the majority of people. The statmat i file under "fiddly", though i understand they've improved it recently.

The silencer is ok, but my mains was already pretty clean to start with, so the effects weren't dramatic. I know people who've had a lot of improvement though.

hedgehog

I personally think they are a myth. Think of how much cable, transformer windings, breakers etc. there are between you and the power station, now, what difference is messing about with the last 3 feet going to make?

Apart from anything else if you can hear the difference by messing with your mains then your amplifier must be pretty faulty.

I don't suppose this mains cable is directional as well? :-)

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

If your that concerned about a "clean" power supply run it off a battery!

(Obviously also using a top end super duper clean and pure inverter).

dba

yeah,Statmat is now in a gti version apparently

I think i should get some improvemnet from the silencer,because i have 6 wall lights all on a dimmer that is too small,and a floor lamp thats on a dimmer (the whole room hums!)

i only envisage cleaning the cds once,and thats it

dba

hedgehog

a lot

Luke

Star earth first. Then seperate power spur. then remove some of the fuses!! Not joking those things play havoc with the sound.

Make your own power leads.

Speaker stands that are good quality.

Few drinks to let you listen to the music is the best mod.

TelBoy

Hedgehog, you're right up to a point, but you'd be surprised how much difference that last three feet can make.

To do it properly, you'd need your own power station, grid and so on! The closest some people get is to re-wire their houses with top notch cable, not Bodgit & Scarper cheapo stuff. Or, as Ali-B suggested, a battery source. Or, any of the multitude of mains "conditioners" available.

If you heard my system, i guarantee you'd be surprised at the difference a mains cable can make. Which is unfortunate, from a bank balance point of view...!

Jye

Spend 10% of total costs on cables they reckon, I’ve about six grands worth of hi-fi kit, CD transport, DAC, speakers, amps (not including AV) and spent about £600 on all my cables, including speaker cable but the runs were quite short. The biggest diff I heard was from the Stands Unique table I bought.

Tel I know some of RA's stuff is top kit but I've a m8 who owns a hi-fi shop, selling top end stuff mainly, and we listened all day before he rejected most of RA's stuff as having very little impact sonically. The mains filter shouldn’t matter if you have a dedicated spur.

Jye

I use dedicated PSX's so I suppose mains filters wont make that much diff to me.

TelBoy

That's true Jye, but forty quid for a Silencer is a lot less hassle for most people than sorting out a dedicated spur!

I do agree that some of these things are very subjective. But they *do* maintain enthusiasm, which can never be a bad thing, as long as you don't spend disproportionate amounts of cash lining Mr Russ Andrew's pockets.

Like you, one of my best ever upgrades was a "Base" stand for my CD transport - night and day difference, no question.

Oh, and the Ringmat for the turntable.

hedgehog

So enlighten me, assuming that you don't actually have a faulty amplifier or one with a serious design fault, what exactly is it that this final 3 feet of cable is doing to the audio? Or even, if that's a bit tricky, what exactly is rewiring your whole house doing?

How exactly does this work?

EvilBevel

Dave, can I do a polite "tsk tsk" here ?

Next thing you know you'll be buying "directional cables" (with arrows on them), and still not have an X-box

TelBoy

Forget amplifier design "faults", that doesn't come into the equation.

All that upgraded mains cables are designed to do is get as much of the "juice" from the socket into the piece of equipment as possible, usually fitering out RF interference on the way.

Plenty of people will tell you all sorts of technical stuff about why this shouldn't work. All i, and many others are saying, is that it does work.

Daz34

Cheap & effective

EvilBevel

Yup, and they are all contributing to the smoke & mirrors TB.

dba

wife will notice £250 worth if games consul,and yet another hobby to take my time up,but she wont notice a few squids worth of plugs besides,my mum gave me some dosh,and i still need to leave some respectful distance between consul purchases,or my nuts will get chewed

Jye

I agree Tel, up to a point, but my dedicated spur took half an hour to sort out.

A dedicated spur just for your hi-fi isn’t hard to sort out, honestly. All this will do though is cut out all the ring main interference from the fridge/freezer/cooker etc etc. I done mine with the help of my dad who was a sparkie, it’s not hard and twin and earth is as good as you need for this part.

EvilBevel

Question: with all this electricity stuff, do you use CD players to "judge" improved sound quality ?

TelBoy

Fairy snuff Jye, didn't realise it could be done that easily.

Fortunately my mains is pretty good - the fridge etc has absolutely no effect at any time of day under any conditions.

EB, i know what you're saying, but you can definitely hear *a* difference. Whether it's a meaningful, or worthwhile difference though, is a completely different story...

TelBoy

EB; not just CD, vinyl as well, speaking personally. Pourquoi?

EvilBevel

Glad you can hear it... personally, my ears betray me after about 40 minutes in my studio. And I want that mix to sound good so it does sound good right ?

And there's some pretty expensive **** in there, but not the mains plugs (or gold cables)

Not everything is a myth, not saying that, but there is so much more to improve before you get to the mains.

Like rebuilding your house

EvilBevel

Pourquoi ? Because CD as it stands is an incredible compromise for anyone who has ever listened to real master tapes.

dba

brilliant,i bet someone some day will build a house AROUND a twin socket