2. misc-audio
  3. 1291302045

I found a cheap and immediately noticeable tweek

I just wanted to pass this along. Since I've got my system finally finished (or as finished as can be for an audiophile addict!), I was playing around with my AC outlet last week. What I'm going to tell you isn't AC recepticle specific, it's good for any brand you like and use. But I believe what and the way I found out about this will be interesting to everyone.

I only have two components, so I only need one recepticle for them. I personally had an Avatar Acoustics Afterburner 8 recepticle in my wall that I chose over the Porter Port and all of the Oyaide recepticles.

I had a power conditioner (Topaz isolation transformer) plugged into it which had a Porter Port on the output side for my components. I replaced the Porter Port with a Maestro and it worked really well.

I sold the transformer two weeks ago, so all that I needed was my recepticle in the wall. I thought that since I really liked the Maestro, I'd swap out the Afterburner 8 and just use the Maestro. The Maestro didn't sound like it did when it was connected to the transformer. I put the Afterburner 8 back in and had my sound back.

The next day I told Roger (Irish65) about this and he told me that it was because the Maestro on the transformer was being fed the sonic characteristic of the Afterburner 8, and that's why I liked the Maestro.

He than told me that every recepticle on the line with my system feeds and affects how that one recepticle where my components are connected sounds, and that replacing my three other stock recepticles will enhance it even though nothing is plugged into them. It's the quality of the connections, or replacing the weak links on the line.

I called Darren Censullo at Avatar Acoustics and ordered three more to replace my stock recepticles. He asked me if I'd added to my system, and I told him what I'd found and what Roger had told me.

Darren told me that Roger was right, but it's not something that a good majority of audiophiles even think about. I hadn't thought about it either. He explained it the same way Roger explained it and sent me the other three Afterburner 8 recepticles.

I put them in two nights ago and the difference was immediately obvious and has gotten better since as the outlets have the current running through them.

When you think about it, it's a very cheap tweak that will reward you with an extremely good gain.

Chuck
krell_man
krell_man OP
827 posts
 
It was mentioned that I might not have made myself completely clear describing where my four recepticles are. I do not have any dedicated lines.

I have one normal 15 amp household circuit in my stereo room. There are four recepticles on this line, and this is where I have the four Afterburner 8 recepticles.

Chuck
hotmailjbc
571 posts
 
i use a dedicated ac line with a ps audio ac recepticle to a furman pfi15. it seems to have good ac ports[13 of em] , how do you think this works with your idea? john,, i also use ps audio power cords on everything.
tmsorosk
1,013 posts
 
P.S. Audio has whats called a , Soloist . Small power conditioner that you wire in direct , It replaces the receptical . It dosn't take up much room , sounds great , and dosn't require another power cord . I'm now using one of them for preconditioning and the other for the power amp .
krell_man OP
827 posts
 
Hotmailjbc,

Have you ever visited David Magnan's website (the cable maker) and read any of his recommended tweaks? http://www.magnan.com/powerline.html

On the page I've linked to talks about placing three Enacom AC filters on the same circuit as your stereo. The filters are working in parallel, all of the recepticles on the same circuit receive the benefits of the filters.

Replacing all of the recepticles also have the effect of making that circuit better. It does so by fixing the weak links, replacing the stock $.39-$1.69 that are made of who knows what quality of metals.

As the AC flows around the room through each recepticle, think of a stream flowing along smoothly until it hits a big rock (the cheap stock recepticle), the rock restricts and alters the flow of water. Then it hits the second big rock which does the same to the flow, then then third rock.

These breaks in the smooth flow of AC current by the cheap recepticles degrades the AC in your good audiophile recepticle, most of us don't realize it until someone tells us or we find it on our own by accident or experimenting.

My particular recepticles, the Afterburner 8, is a very neutral and quiet recepticle, which makes it very detailed. By adding the other three, my noise floor dropped a good deal more so I'm hearing even more minute details.

One thing to consider when doing this is that if someone likes a colored recepticle like one in the Oyaide group, multiple recepticles adding color may increase the coloring to a point that they don't like the effect.

It may be a good idea to have a starting point using a Porter Port. It's only $36.00 and it's neutral, but it is also a very good quality recepticle that will easily remove the weak links caused by the stock recepticles.

From there, anyone can proceed introducing more colored (or flavored) recepticles one at a time to see if they like the results.

I've posted this because I still can't get over how much these three added but unused recepticles have cleaned up my AC signal. I never would have thought something like this would do so much.

Chuck
More to discover