To Aesthetix users

Hi Patrick ,

This is classic and could be endimic to the design. As I had mentioned you are running very high gain for very fragile (small) signals as they get swamped by the RF energy.

The line stage is orders of magnitude greater in amplitude so the RF is riding underneath the line stage signal ..It's still there..

Cables , positioning (think a tuned circuit like an antenna) are bombing the fragile signal and getting through your system. If you had lower gain or inefficient speakers you may not hear it at all. Different cables,tubes, or positioning alter the tuned circuit and may make it go away all together. It is not easy when you are in such a RF rich environment running very high gain of such a minute signal.

Keep trying...try some different front end tubes too...Good luck ,Nkj

Hi Nkj!

I've lowered gain to 72 dB on the Io.... this is fine for both the 103R and the Helikon mono in my system.

Paradoxically though, I have to turn the volume higher on the linestage, which means that I can hear more of the chuff-chuff-chuff and radio station... even though I think the music actually sounds better, more natural and less overdriven.

So it's positioning, cables and tubes now...

Patrick

So Jim White from Aesthetix got back to me last night with some recommendations:

- swap tubes around to locate the "popping" tube (this has gone away for some reason - maybe it was an appliance in the apartment cycling on and off)

- plug the Io Sig into the ExactPower unit so long as I don't overload the EP with its 400W power draw. I think I'll be fine since I'm currently only using 250-300 watts of the 1300-watt max on the EP

- check to see that my phono cables are shielded; I know the Cardas are; I've written to Ikeda to find out if his is

- if this doesn't work, he can make up shielded power umbilicals for me (for the Aesthetix PS to the Io Sig) - the current ones are unshielded

- in other news, Cello is generously lending me some VersaLab Red Rollers to try

- and (always RTFM) I just realized that the ExactPower manual stresses the importance of locating the unit somewhere far from any preamps or any other components that carry low signals. Duh. I have it sitting next to the BAT linestage and not much further away from the Io itself.

Lots of stuff to try here, and, yes, I will continue to be reporting back. I also have to say, after 48 hours, that 72 dB on the Io Sig is making music sound much more beautiful - on both carts - than 80 dB. Ah.... gain matching. My favorite.

Patrick

Strange and surprising results

So I tried some of changes mentioned in my last post - with surprising results. The most important change in my mind was plugging the Aesthetix PS into the ExactPower. This however meant moving around a bunch of equipment, and I realized that I'd have to switch the 2 preamps with the Aesthetix PS and the amp in order for the plug to reach. This of course also meant that the ExactPower was further away from the low-signal components, as recommended by ExactPower themselves... so I was killing two birds with one stone. (Or doing two tweaks at once - an audiophile no-no of course!)

Anyway, did the switch, and realized at the same time I could no longer use my speaker-level inputs to my sub. They wouldn't reach to the new amp position. So I checked my sub's manual (ACI Titan) and realized - again to my surprise, RTFM! that ACI prefers you to use line-level inputs, not speaker-level. So I ran a spare pare of shielded interconnects from the second set of main outs on my linestage to the sub.

Fired up the system and it sounded dead. No bass - though if I turned up the sub far enough I could feel the woofer move. Strange I thought, it must somehow have gotten out of phase with the rest of the system. I switched the sub's phase switch to 180 degrees and presto, bass. (Obviously I have an inverting component or two in my system, but am not sure which, and am none the wiser after examining the manuals). In fact, much better sub-bass than I'd had with the speaker-level inputs. So I had a totally unexpected benefit from the changes!

In addition, the radio station had entirely vanished from speakers! Yay! But I was still getting the chuff-chuff-chuff sounds, and occasionally a very low hum or buzz (varying at different times). I moved the ExactPower even further away from the other components and this improved, but it's still there a bit.

But there was still something un-musical about the presentation... I didn't find myself drawn into my favorite songs as much, and the soundstage seemed slightly off.

So I powered everything down, unplugged the Io Sig from the ExactPower, plugged it back into the wall, powered back up the Io, waited the allotted 10 minutes for the PS to stabilize, then one by one powered up each of the other components.

And what do you know - the music's back, and the radio station is still gone. Seems it WAS position of the components - as Nkj suspected - that was the major culprit here. And Jim White's basic dictum - plug the Io directly into the wall - is vindicated.

I still have the chuff-chuff-chuff and hum to deal with, but everything I've listened to so far since this final change has been way more musical:

- Glenn Gould, Goldberg Variations (original Columbia ML 6-eye)
- Sibelius - Symphony No. 2 - Barbirolli (EMI UK colored postage stamp)
- Feeles - The Good Earth (Coyote/Twin Tone)
- Cat Stevens - Teaser and the Firecat (A&M brown label - prefer this to Island)

Will continue to report back. I have just the chuff-chuff-chuff and hum now.... in both speakers, slightly different sounding in each ... MUCH less annoying than the FM.

I think the next step will be to get the shielded umbilicals from Jim.

Thanks for everyone's patience during this typical audiophile journey, full of mistakes and wrong turnings but ultimately a happy ending...

Btw... I took this opportunity to add pictures of each of my components to my system profile, in case anyone wants to check out all this stuff we've been discussing... click the system link below.

Best
Patrick