2. cables
  3. 155868-119712

tidying up cables

I'm a little bored and would like to tidy up all the cables on my system which sits on a very solid stacked shelf unit, one component on each shelf - amp, streamer/server and DAC from top to bottom. I have to have the amp on the top shelf as it is a valve amp.

No matter how careful I am when setting it up, it seems it always end up a mess. It's almost impossible to avoid cables crossing over other cables or to have a power cable running along side a speaker cable.
I am in Australia and on 240v/50Hz supply. I use a Thor power conditioner with that companys power board and noticed some improvement in the noise floor since using that.
From there though, the power cords all run along the floor to the various components and sit next to, or on, the right side speaker cable. As the power cords go up the back of the shelf unit, they pass by the USB cable from the server to the DAC and the I/Cs from the DAC to the amp. Of course then, the speaker cables run back down to the floor past all of this jumble of cables.

Is there any down side to at least grouping the power cables together with a zip tie to at least make them easier to keep away from the other cables?
The wall behind the system is brick so I was thinking of running the speaker cable along a joint between the bricks and keeping it there with Blue Tac. This would at least keep them away from the other cables. Maybe I should try that first and go from there.

Thought on all of this anyone?
Thanks, Ian
ianrodger
ianrodger OP
164 posts
 
I won’t be getting rid of the rack any time soon millercarbon so will have to try some of the other tweaks first. No PC bundling though.

It would appear, judging from your pix that having cables intersect is not the issue, rather, that they don’t touch. Correct?

Thanks for that link steakster.
I’ve got some of that insulation stashed somewhere and will use it where the PCs and ICs intersect. I guess one of those foam pool noodles would work too. Those flouro colours would certainly liven things up.

As mentioned, I have now run the speaker cable along the mortar joints in the brickwork which has certainly put distance between them and everything else. Some critical listening will occur today.

After that, the insulation separation suggestion will be brought into play
Thanks all!

kenrus
28 posts
 
So, power cords should not be bundled together?  I was planning on bundling the power cords together and the signal carrying cords together and then separating the two bundles.  Is that a bad idea?  Why?
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
Yes it is a very bad idea. Why? In a word, induction.

Every signal in every wire produces a field around that wire. Also when these fields cross a wire they induce a current in the wire. This is how transformers work. This is also how power is generated in everything from hydroelectric dams to phono cartridges. This is also one way RFI gets into systems. 

So around every power cord and interconnect is a field that varies up and down with whatever signal is in that wire. With AC its a steady 60 Hz but with music its all over the place. Either way these signals interact with any nearby wire. The result is noise. But hardly ever noise loud enough to be obvious. Instead what happens is the music signal is smeared a little and the background is gray instead of black. 

This is all highly relative. Its surprising how much of this there is even in systems that seem dead quiet and clean. Like I said you don't hear it till its gone.
bigby
155 posts
 
My biggest improvement was keeping power cords away from phono preamp interconnects.  They had to run parallel to each other, so I used zip cords to bundle like cables together (my phono preamp has two power cords). Then glass votive candle holders ($.50 each) to elevate the cable bundles off the floor at different levels to separate them.
ianrodger OP
164 posts
 
I have removed the speaker cables from the mess by running them straight out of the amp and along the mortar joints in the brickwork, about 4’ off the floor and keeping them in place with a blob of Blue Tak. I took the opportunity to trim them by about 4’ in length while I had them disconnected.

Already the hum from the valve amp has diminished and this was an immediate obvious improvement during listening to music afterwards. The inherent hum is apparently due to the amp being built without negative feedback and using very sensitive speakers according to the designer/builder. Having the speaker cables running through the others obviously contributed to what hum there was.

I also have a Miniwatt valve amp (no hum) that I listen to occasionally and am looking forward to listening to that little beauty at some time after I’ve got used to the improved sound from the present amp after all the tweaking.

If you’re interested, check out the links for the amps builder here in Australia. He hand-winds all his own transformers and the amps are very well regarded down under.
http://www.westonacoustics.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Weston-Acoustics-Valve-Amplifiers-184719604953268/
The ICs and USB cable don’t crossover or run within 12" of any other cables so I’ll leave them alone for the moment.

Todays project is to get stuck into the PCs and at least run them in a more tidy fashion if I can.

Thanks for all the explanations and suggestions so far.

Ian

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