Absolute top tier DAC for standard res Redbook CD

Steve, great advise. Matt, the question I have is where in the house are you located and how high is the ceiling? The dimensions can be just as important as the floor. Are you on cement or studs? now that you bring up the studs, yes, we made staggered studded walls for the rock. I just realized that. 2x6 construction too if I recall correctly.. It's been a long time though, but I remember staggering everything we did. We too glued everything. I remember when we set the room up for the first time, we realized how little treatment we needed. He had the Michael Green ceiling deals in the corners and that was it for the ceiling. He used a swirled ceiling to break things up. Sound stupid, but I actually think it may have helped as I've been in rooms with smooth ceilings and they were a bit too live for the systems that I've heard. Nothing wrong with a popcorn ceiling either. As we all know you can go into a room and set up your system and hear where you need some help. Sometimes you can over damp things and one problem cleared up can create another. that's why I like quilts, large plants in corners and racks of records or a diffusor type of deal in the rear. Everyone has preferences, but all too often the 'professional' rooms are way too damped and lose some timing and pace for me. I hear it often in stores too. one other things I'd recommend for your electrical is to have totally separate and grounded (to earth) circuits for EACH outlet. I did that and it makes a huge difference. I don't use a lot of special stuff for my electrical as the Ayre components have their own built in and that's how they want it to sound. I haven't even found power cables that I love yet. We've AB'd many of them and most have cut the leading edge or messed things up rather than help things. JMHO

1-12-14: Ctsooner
I remember when we set the room up for the first time, we realized how little treatment we needed. He had the Michael Green ceiling deals in the corners and that was it for the ceiling. He used a swirled ceiling to break things up. Sound stupid, but I actually think it may have helped as I've been in rooms with smooth ceilings and they were a bit too live for the systems that I've heard. Nothing wrong with a popcorn ceiling either. As we all know you can go into a room and set up your system and hear where you need some help. Sometimes you can over damp things and one problem cleared up can create another. that's why I like quilts, large plants in corners and racks of records or a diffusor type of deal in the rear. Everyone has preferences, but all too often the 'professional' rooms are way too damped and lose some timing and pace for me. I hear it often in stores too. one other things I'd recommend for your electrical is to have totally separate and grounded (to earth) circuits for EACH outlet. I did that and it makes a huge difference. JMHO

+1

Most professionally done rooms sound like mausoleums. That works well for recording studies but does a poor job recreating a palpable auditory illusion that we all want. Michael Green was ahead of his time, and I know quite a people who have incorporated his tricks to good affect.

I too have dedicated lines with with isolated earth (ionic) grounds.

Hi agear, interesting, please tell me what a ionic earth ground is?, I know what dedicated earth grounds are, and shared main earth ground is for entire home, pardon me, I never heard this term before, BTW +1 on your post concerning room trearments, seen this, done all this, most sounded like mausoleums!, I suppose everyone has to learn from their own mistakes in audio, we all do, the never ending merry go round.

Trying to understand....

Isn't a dedicated Earth ground simply using a shielded grounding wire from the outlet to the panel? So it doesn't directly share it's ground with anything else until it's in the panel? If yes, how does that differ from the standard non shielded ground in the Romex since its a dedicated outlet and doesn't share it's ground with anything between the outlet and the panel? I use plastic single gang boxes, so they don't need to be grounded.

11-12-14: Ctsooner
I'd recommend for your electrical is to have totally separate and grounded (to earth) circuits for EACH outlet. I did that and it makes a huge difference.

11-12-14: Agear
I too have dedicated lines with with isolated earth (ionic) grounds.

Matt, I would advise against this, if I am correctly interpreting that what is being recommended is running outlet grounds to an earth connection other than the one that grounds the service panel. If that is not a correct interpretation of what is being suggested, I'm sure the others will clarify further.

See section 1.2 on pages 7 and 8 of this paper by Bill Whitlock of Jensen Transformers, who is a renowned expert on such matters. Note the concluding sentence: "If multiple ground rods are used, Code requires that they all MUST be bonded to the main utility power grounding electrode." Also note the section starting at the bottom of page 3, "myths about earth grounding and wires."

As explained in section 1.2 of the paper, having earth connections for the system that are separate from that of the main service panel is a code violation, a shock hazard and a fire hazard in the event of an equipment fault, and a hazard to the equipment (or worse) in the event of a nearby lightning strike. And I'll add that it would also be a potential excuse for your insurance company to not pay in the event of one of these disasters.

You may want to start a separate thread on the subject of AC wiring and grounding, which will probably catch the eye of Jea48 (Jim), who is our leading expert here on such matters.

Regards,
-- Al