Audio - the hobby that keeps on giving

spiritofmusic

Well-Known Member
Jun 13, 2013
14,626
5,435
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E. England
I'm finding this totally fascinating.
After two decades of getting reasonable results in my old, acoustically and electrically challenged London apartment, I now have a room acoustic and quiet power grid in the depths of the country to die for.
Every system-wide impvt I install just reveals more and more, enhancing what I loved about my sound, and taking it to heights I never dreamed possible.
Balanced power, dedicated lines, now Sablon Elite power cords synergising w Stacore isolation platforms, enhanced by some Shun Mooks, and just today, a couple of SR Black fuses in my Zu sub amps.
I truly cannot believe the continued opening up of my sound, and I'm compelled to keep at it.
Other than a jump into the streamer/dac world for the first time, and a daydream of future purchase exotic tt/arm, component upgrades are behind me, I'm having so much fun discovering the limits of my current components.
Those limits? Limitless if my system impvts are anything to go by.
 

soundArgument

Well-Known Member
May 12, 2013
132
1
146
London
Good for you!

Living in Central London with an "acoustically challenged" listening room, I envy you. I am postponing any upgrades or purchases until I have a less challenged space, but I continue to have fun by listening to music new to me.
 

spiritofmusic

Well-Known Member
Jun 13, 2013
14,626
5,435
1,278
E. England
SoundA, I was living in Hackney E London, home of the £3 Latte, and £6 toastie, but as Ked will attest, my apartment acoustic was, er, appalling, which I only really realised on moving to the new room.
He lives in Central London, maybe he can tell you how to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.
 
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RogerD

VIP/Donor
May 23, 2010
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BiggestLittleCity
I'm finding this totally fascinating.
Those limits? Limitless if my system impvts are anything to go by.

Congrats Marc...many times I have asked myself the same question. Not as much lately,but I continue to believe there's much to be gained.
 

adyc

VIP/Donor
Jan 5, 2013
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973
How stable is the voltage in your new house? I heard horrible story that the voltage can fluctuate more than 10%. Is it better in country side?
 

spiritofmusic

Well-Known Member
Jun 13, 2013
14,626
5,435
1,278
E. England
Adyc, when I was in London, we ran a real time analyser, and indeed voltage fluctuated +/- 10% from moment to moment.
Crazy.
The moment installed balanced power, this reduced to +/- 0.25%.
No exaggeration.
I'm the country, w'out the transformer, the fluctuation was down to +/- 1%.
With the transformer, it didn't vary at all over a fifteen minute sample period.
Additionally, my ground impedance in London was v high, can't remember the figure, maybe >100Ohms.
Here, it's under 5 if I recall correctly.
 

microstrip

VIP/Donor
May 30, 2010
20,807
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Portugal
(...) The moment installed balanced power, this reduced to +/- 0.25%.
No exaggeration.

What type of regulation has your balancing transformer?
 

spiritofmusic

Well-Known Member
Jun 13, 2013
14,626
5,435
1,278
E. England
Micro, I really don't know
Google www.one4power.co.uk and look for "Westwick 8K" balanced power transformer, maybe info is there.
 

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