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  3. 1141241538

20 amp dedicated lines

Id like to get opinions of those who have installed 20 amp dedicated lines. Did you notice a huge improvement, little or no improvement with the addition of 20 amp lines? My system is very lean with ill defined bass. I have tried everything I can think of to cure this problem with the exception of installing 20 amp lines. System consists of:
Wadia 861
Supratek Chennin pre
Parasound JC 1s
Vandersteen 3A sigs
Vandersteen 2Wq subs (2)
Alphacore MI2 spk cable (35' run)
Audioquest Cheetah inter
Cardas Golden Cross inter
GIK wall treatment behind spks, 1st and 2nd reflection, corners.

Its funny Vandersteen speakers are not known for being bright but my system is extremely bright and lean in the bass. I love the detail and spaciousness the Cheetah brings to the table but the sound becomes very unmusical. I have tried all speaker locations Q settings, level adjustments, x over settings etc...... Im thinking maybee the JC 1s are not getting enough juice. Any help much appreciated

Thanks
braro
braro OP
87 posts
 
Thank you for all the excellent suggestions. I have measured the room response and there is a large dip at 100-125 hz. From what I have read this is common to most rooms but Im not sure how to address it. I will definitely try the extension cords, short spk cables, install the new lines and try line conditioning. Maybe a Hydra? I will get some new tubes for my pre also. I wanted to try some different ones anyway. I experience the leanest most non musical sound when using cheetah source to pre-pre to amps. I get the best sound when I throw the golden cross in from pre to amp. I would say that with golden x in the system retains about 70 to 80 percent of the benefits of all cheetah but with a fuller presentation yet still a little lean for my taste. After having all Cheetah in for a few weeks Ive come to realize its just to threadbare. At least with the system in its current state. What would you guys say is the longest spk cable run I could get away with?

Thaks
gs5556
1,237 posts
 
Are the amps new? If so, I would either try another amplifier or let the JC's warm up for a few days and see if there's a difference. The JC's takes a while to settle in. If it's not the amps, it may range from something trivial like out of phase wiring to a bad tube. You also can't rule out improper application of acoustic treatments.

But I think Kal is closest - room response from speaker placement vis-a-vis listening position. Try a Radio Shack SPL meter with something like the Stereophile Test CD on your setup. Take one reading from the listening position and one reading a foot away from each speaker. If there's a marked difference, it would point to room response.

Dedicated circuits are not going to cure what you describe. Long cables may become a problem if the amp has a too low damping factor (which the JC don't). A call to Vanderstein wouldn't be a bad idea, either, if all else fails.
acresverde
398 posts
 
I'm no expert but I'd be shocked if the problem you describe would in any way be ameliorated by 20 amp feeds. Vandys are not lean in nature and Cardas is the antithesis of lean/thin sounding. Is there any chance your subs are hooked up out of phase causing some weird frequency anomalies?
qdrone
1,039 posts
 
I use a braided six foot run of the Anti Cable and have used 8 feet of Monster Sigma 2 and 10 foot of Monster M1. I wound say up to eight feet but remember do your homework because some cables travel better than others. I wish I could tell you one length is better than another but I used three different speaker cables.
rolloff
130 posts
 
I'll weigh in on the side of eliminating your long speaker runs. It was actually Richard Vandersteen who convinced me to switch to longer interconnects, and shorter speaker cables. He said, "we're talking over a long interconnect now, aren't we?" This was the phone line, of course. The problem is the long speaker cables. No amp can keep a handle on damping over a 35 ft run...

David
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