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I have been a stickler about keeping power cables away from signal cables...on equipment ?

What I am finding very interesting, and to some extent, disturbing, is how close the power IEC inlet or power cable, is designed so close to the speaker or input / output terminals of amplifiers / gear. Many of my Hafler, Bryston and Citation amplifiers had / have this arrangement, and many of these newer and smaller chassis class d amplifiers have this arrangement. I have actually rewired ( or had rewired by a tech ) a different path separating the power line to the audio line within the chassis, and hearing a cleaner background when listening to music through these products afterwards. I am finding this to be the case, looking at photos of some other gear as well. I also believe, power switches and it's wiring, should be designed at the rear of a component, for the reduction of ac related noise, even though it might be an inconvenience with it's daily operation. Just as an aside.....I keep my gear on 24 / 7, unless I am on an out of town trip. Your thought ? Enjoy, be well and stay safe. Always, MrD.
mrdecibel
wrm0325
72 posts
 
Optimize,
a bipolar +- 15v battery supply is a relatively simple affair. It might get sticky adapting it to your circuit.

Cheers, Crazy Bill
aural_grat
11 posts
 
Perhaps I missed it, but I don't see anyone considering that vibration in the cables/cords are as big or bigger a factor in degraded sound performance as electrical interference.  I keep my power cables as far as reasonably possible from my ICs and speaker cables because I can. My experience over the years is that it does make an audible difference with certain brands and models of cables.  I don't find it makes much difference with my current cables, but that's part of the reason I chose them.  Isolation from vibration is a different story.  The power cords seem least affected, the speaker cables definitely benefit from vibration isolation, and the ICs are the most sensitive.  When something sounds "off" nowadays, I invariably find one of my cable separators has gotten knocked loose allowing an IC to contact a wall or some other source of vibration.  It's an easy and immediate fix.  I'm meticulous about keeping isolation factors from affecting my components and it pays off.  It's much simpler and far less expensive to keep the cables from picking up vibration via careful routing and relatively inexpensive cable isolators/separators.
audio2design
1,351 posts
 
aural_grat10 posts11-13-2020 5:00pmPerhaps I missed it, but I don't see anyone considering that vibration in the cables/cords are as big or bigger a factor in degraded sound performance as electrical interference.


That is because no one has every presented any evidence of this for speaker cables or power cords, not even for interconnects. For speaker cables or AC power cords, there literally is not a mechanism, that short of grabbing the cables and shaking them (and even then), that this could ever make an audible difference. Even with an interconnect I think you would be hard pressed to justify it. I think you would have a much easier time justifying modulation of a connection resistance from vibration. That actually does happen, though a good connection will be sufficiently immune.

danvignau's avatar
danvignau
935 posts
 
For genera;l principles, I have my amps to the side of my other components.  The Turntable is on the left, along with the MC head amp.  Next are the preamps, then the tuners, under  the CD player.  Yes, there are no speaker wires next to anything, except for being plugged into the amps that have inputs on the back and speaker outs on the sides. The amps are a foot away, with the speaker wires going through the wall to the listening room.  Does it really make the system sound better. Who the H... knows, but it pleases me, and doesn't hurt anything.  Why two tuners?  One to find stations, and one to listen, because I sold my KT-917 due to a panic about digital FM coming, and have one that sounds a bit better, but is a pain to use.
invalid
1,211 posts
 
I would think if cable vibrations were a problem then the big heat sinks of solid state amps would be an even bigger problem. Maybe that's why tube gear isn't as bright sounding, just a thought if everything makes a difference.
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