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Best Upgrade I've ever made

Like many I've been upgrading components over time. In the last year I've upgraded from Thiel 3.6s to Revel Ultima Salons, from a Krell KSA200s to a FPB300cx, from a SF Line 3 to an Ayre K1xe, and recently from a Sony XA777es to an Ayre C5xe. The sound kept getting better and better. But yesterday I installed three dedicated circuits in my house, one for the amp, one for the preamp, and one for the CD player. All other components are on the shared normal circuits in the house. The stereo now sounds like I've upgraded everything once more. Dynamics are better and most noticably the bottom has fallen out of the system noise. Hum and grung on the very bottom few dbs are gone.
keis
mr_bill
349 posts
 
Nice system!!!
Did you notice much difference upgrading your preamp? The SF Line 3 is lready a reference class pre.
saki70
907 posts
 
Next thing to do is to have those 3 circuits put on an isolated ground. That is a seperate ground from the rest of the house. The new grounding rod should be at least 10 ft. from the original rod. You have gone half way, so you might as well finish the isolation process. Good luck.
beemer
444 posts
 
Congratulations! There's nothing like dedicated lines.
I experienced similar benefits when I spent a weekend doing 7 dedicated circuits to my listening room. It took me two weekends to finish it all, and it was worth every minute. I used hospital grade outlets and 10 gauge romex.

Enjoy!

Paul :-)
bigkidz
3,437 posts
 
Yeah but you have not addressed aC noise yet. That will be the next major upgrade and I don't mean buying a line conditioner.

Happy Listening
cenline
238 posts
 
If you think about grounds then you are on your way to way better sound, make sure that you use the brass grounding clamps on the rods. I found that they were way better than the aluminum ones ( the aluminum ones sounded hard in comparison ).I found that the exteme upper bandwith was way more relaxed and natural, as well as more organic sounding.Just food for thought- Take care Dennis
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