Moving Day Approaches: In-Wall Cable and AC Receptacles

We are officially 2 weeks away from the move. The excitement is growing, and so are the stacks of full boxes.

This was the week I chose the wiring and AC receptacles for the dedicated circuits.

Why All The Fuss?

Clean power is the foundation of your audio system. Put extremely simply, your audio components take the AC from the wall and modulate it,  reproducing the music you listen to. If the waveform is irregular or noisey your components will have to work harder to correct it. Or worse yet, they will just let the noise pass through and flow out of your loudspeakers along with the music. Not good. 

Dedicated AC is the first step...

Whenever a customer calls and inquires about a power conditioner, my first question to them is always "Do you have a dedicated line for your audio system"? If the answer is no, I strongly encourage them to start there before buying a power conditioner. Hiring an electrician to run a dedicated line for your system is usually much cheaper, and the benefits are huge. The dedicated line is quieter because it is dedicated to your audio system only. You don't have other lighting and appliances siphoning away current and injecting noise back into the circuit (at least you shouldn't). Those two factors will yield a nice improvement in detail and musicality of your system, usually for less than the cost of a decent power conditioner. 

I still recommend further power conditioning beyond the dedicated line because there will still be noise from the grid, and from other components within your audio system. But the dedicated line will always be step #1 in my advice to customers looking for cleaner power for their audio system.

Back to the house, and the project. I chose the Audience In-wall cable. It is UL rated for in-wall use, is a 10 AWG 3 conductor high purity stranded design with shielding. 

It's not cheap at $20 per foot, but the quality and the sound of the cable won me over. Yes I did listen to it. John McDonald was kind enough to have a power cord constructed of the in-wall cable sent to me for evaluation. It bested regular 10AWG romex by a mile, and I found it more neutral than the Cardas in-wall, which was nice but a bit too woolly in the bass.

I will have 2 dedicated lines running from the sub panel located in the basement where my listening room will be. They will be on the same electrical phase, and each will feed 2 Furutech GTX D NCF AC receptacles. I have used many AC receptacles over the course of my career as The Tweek Geek, and the Furutech GTX DR NCF is the best I have heard to date. Again not inexpensive, but for my purposes, worth the money.

The Furutech NCF version is different from their GTX DR rhodium version and that it makes use of Furutech's Nano-technology to obtain better performance. This is a pure copper AC receptacle like the original GTX, the difference being the copper part is manufactured with Furutech's NCF technology. 

WTF is NCF?

NCF stands for Nano Conductor Formula. It is comprised of a special crystalline material that has two “active” properties. First, it generates negative ions that eliminate static and secondly, it converts thermal energy into far-infrared. Furutech then combines this remarkable crystalline material with nano-sized ceramic particles and carbon powder for their additional “Piezo Effect” damping properties. In more layman's terms NCF eliminates static, “interconverts” thermal, mechanical and electrical energy and damps vibrations. The bottom line is it is a significant improvement over the previous generation of GTX AC receptacles.

Next...

Part 1B will have photos of the actual installation, along with tips and tricks to running wire and getting the best performance out of your electrical connections. Stay tuned!

Moving: My Experiences Setting Up And Tweaking A Listening Environment

Moving Day is March 18

Tweek Geek is changing locations. 

Well at least the home location. With the move comes new opportunities to create a better listening environment. I want to document my journey for you the reader, and for myself in case I ever have to do this again.

Pre Existing Conditions

Since the space is already finished, I will be working with several "pre existing conditions". The carpeting, drywall, ceiling and electrical are already installed. I will be able to do some modifications, but this is no start from scratch project.  I think this is pretty representative of the "bones" that most of us wishing to build a listening room have to work with. We get an existing room and limited budget to create and optimize with, rather than a blank check and canvas. This should be a very relevant project, as there will be something for everyone to take away and use in their own room.

A 4 Part Series

• In Part 1 we will deal with the electrical wiring, running the dedicated line and all associated tweaks that this will entail while still staying within building codes.
• Part 2 we will begin experimenting with placing the speakers for best performance in the space.
• Part 3 we begin looking at acoustic treatments and dealing with the issues of the existing space. 
• Part 4 we will put the finishing touches on the space with the dark art of tweaking.

I am really excited about this project. I hope to learn a few things and perhaps find solutions to some issues that you my customer may be dealing with. 

Audience Really Hits It's Stride With The AU24 SX Cables

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The Third Time is the Charm: My Experiences with the Audience Clairaudient Loudspeakers

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Our Quest. Deeply Personal. Full of Joy & Confusion.

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In The Midst Of An Affordable High End Audio Renaissance

This is happening. Right now. There is a rebirth of creative energy in the high end audio industry and it is aimed squarely at the affordable but high end audio market. A slew of highly regarded manufacturers are introducing products that are absolutely breaking the barriers of  old price to performance ratios down.

What is affordable?

Affordable high end audio is not the same as affordable audio. Let me explain. Affordable audio can be found in the mall, at the Apple Store or a Best Buy. It is a mass produced product created by a company that may make TV's, Car Audio and the like. Contrary to that, most high end audio manufacturers are small scale in the realm of consumer electronics. Many still hand build products or at least produce their products in a much smaller quantity. The owners of high end audio companies make only high end audio products. It is their love of music reproduction that started their business venture. Their is a deeper commitment to sound quality over production costs.

Affordable high end audio is the next step in the audiophile journey. One may have enjoyed good sound over their college years with mainstream audio components, and they can now afford something better. They may be exploring the leading online audio magazines, and visiting local high end audio dealers. Their budget ranges from $500 to $2500 for a component and $300-$500 for cables.

The New High End Audio

Below is a list of but a few products I have encountered this year that have rocked my audiophile world.

AcousticImagery Atsah 500 Power Amplifiers - These powerhouse amplifiers offer 400 watts of ultra quiet, low distortion power and sound quality usually reserved for very expensive solid state Class A amplifiers. They are following in the footsteps of their $10,000/pair big brothers, the Atsah 1200. The Atsah 500's have nearly identical specifications to the 1200 into 8 and 4 ohms, with the 1200 being more able to drive a 2 ohm load. The price difference more than makes up for the performance difference in our opinion. The Atsah 500 amplifiers are priced at only $2000 for the pair!

Auralic Aries Mini - Auralic started quite a buzz last year with their Aries wireless music streamer. A component (basically a computer configured for high end audio streaming) capable of streaming high resolution audio files (up to 2xDSD) wirelessly to a DAC. It works with a gigabit enabled wireless router and uses an iPad app called Lightning DS as the interface. They started at $995, turning the high end audio music streamer business on it's ear.

They've done it again this year with the Aries Mini. At $549, the Aries Mini offers the same wireless streaming capability of it's big brother, but also includes a built in DAC. Oh, that $549 price tag also includes a year of Tidal lossless streaming service!

Audience Ohno Speaker Wire & Interconnects - Words really can't describe how good these cables are. One really needs to hear them in their own system to believe a cable at this price point can sound this good. They posses perfect tonal balance, a holographic midrange (HUGE soundstage), extension at both ends of the sonic spectrum, and a relaxed presentation to the music that allows the listener to relax as well. Crazy good cables for the money. I don't know of anything even close to this good at this price or pretty far above it. The interconnects start at $158 for a 1/2 meter pair, and speaker cables start at $329 for a 1 meter pair.

Wireworld Stratus 7 Power Cords - The Wireworld stratus cable are a giant step up from a stock power cord. They don't really do anything wrong to attract attention to themselves, they simply allow your audio equipment to provide more detail and better extension than a stock cord. Well worth the $90 for a 1 meter cord.

ELAC Debut Loudspeakers by Andrew Jones - I don't even sell these, but I own a pair. Andrew Jones used to design the very good and very expensive TAD monitors for Pioneer's high end audio division. He knows how to design a great sounding speaker. He was hired away by ELAC and given free reign to design an entry level high end loudspeaker. He had control over not just driver selection, but every parameter of the drivers for these speakers. This gave him a huge advantage over many manufacturers that are limited to off the shelf drivers. The performance he wrings out of these inexpensive speakers is breathtaking. When I first heard the F5 at this year's Rocky Mountain Audiofest, I assumed I was listening to a $3000-$4000 loudspeaker. The F5's are Ridiculously good, and cost only $600 per pair delivered by Amazon.com. Deal of the century? So far, yes.

Too Cheap To Be Good?

The perception that in order for a component to sound really good it has to be expensive could never be more misguided than at this time. The above products not only make that perception wrong, they make it financially foolish to perpetuate. If you are in the market for great sounding high end audio components, speakers and cables, start your search with these products. I don't care how far down the high end audio rabbit hole you are, there is at lease one item here that will change your perspective on what is possible at this price point.

Treating Difficult Acoustic Spaces With The SteinMusic Blue Suns

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