Hey, Charlie

Or maybe playing Blu- rays in surround, down mixing 7.1 to 5.1, formatting surround makes the digital processing in the Oppo more complex and digitally “noisy” than when transporting 2 channel stuff..... ???

Rick

Yes, that's possible. I only use my Oppo as a 2-channel flac decoder and to push the pcm to my DAC. There may be way more going on with the A/V stuff.

And, to be fair, I'm comparing power cords from different manufacturers at different quality levels.

The Audience Forte F3 is their entry level. Next level up is the Au24 SE-i, roughly $800+, and those get fantastic reviews for musicality. The Nordost Blue Heaven is their entry level PC.

Is there a difference with each step up? So far I have to say yes. The Nordost Heimdall 2 is three levels up and, yes, it gets better.

Where to go from here.... ???? What to conclude???? Which brand to think about stepping up within????

A little cautious here, of my checkbook. BUT, quality steps up do make a difference. Haven't a clue yet where the line between discernible power cord steps and cost added ends with our systems...

Just thinking, still...

Rick

Hi Guys,

An update on the power cord and upstream power thing in general. I am at the end of the block with underground power, and I'm several houses downstream from the transformer. I have noticed (with my Furman power conditioner LEDs) that the voltage fluctuates a lot during the day, and I have suspected that it's fairly dirty. Turning on my electric cook stove burners causes the voltage on a 120V line to drop 1-2 Volts. So there's upstream resistance somewhere. The electrician said this is normal. (I also noticed one day that the red LEDs were lit up on the Furman, and I measured 126 V on the line! Holy Cow! That slowly decayed back to normal over ten minutes or so.)

On to the experiments.

First, I -- finally! -- installed a dedicated 20 amp line to my system. I had been using a daisy-chained 20 amp line. For the moment, I'm using the dedicated line to run all my audio stuff EXCEPT the Trefs, which are still plugged into the other line. Reason is that I don't (yet) have good power cords long enough to reach my Furman power conditioner, which is plugged into the dedicated line.

To solve this problem, I have been experimenting with power cords to the Trefs, and I found a very inexpensive approach to improving the bass sound of the Trefs. I had been using Pangea AC-9s, those monster fat things that weigh a ton. With those, the bass from the speakers was very good. I decided to retest my perceptions and went back to the stock Tref power cords and noticed an immediate change for the worse. Lower bass amplitude and the bass was not as well defined. Still very good, mind you, just not as good. So I went back to the AC-9s and things were back where they were, with solid, tuneful bass notes.

My AC-9s are not long enough to reach to my Furman conditioner, which is plugged into the dedicated line, so I bought a pair of 6 ft 14/3 power cords (NEMA 5-20p to C13) from Iron Box. These are $15 each at Amazon:
smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B004W7SWRK/r...00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The 5-20p has a horizontal blade for one of the conductors that fits into a hospital-grade 20 amp outlet. You can get the outlets for less than $20 at Amazon. These Iron Box cords are fatter than the stock cords, so I assume (maybe incorrectly) that the conductors are bigger. Hence lower resistance.

Result: I could not hear a significant difference between these Iron Box cords and the AC-9s. So I'm sticking with the Iron Box cords for now, and I have ordered a pair of 12 ft versions that will reach my power conditioner. Then I'll verify that the longer cords sound the same. One step at a time.

Finally, I bit the bullet and ordered a PS Audio P20 regenerator. They are built to order, and I'm expecting it in two or three weeks. This will solve (I hope!) all my upstream power problems and provide protection for my entire system. It will also eliminate any filters that are associated with power conditioners. I plan to try running all audio equipment (including the Trefs) off of the regenerator. This thing produces very clean sine wave power and has an output impedance of only 5 milliohms. I am expecting another improvement in the sound. We'll see.

Charlie

Charlie, I'll be interested in what the PS Audio P20 power regenerator does for your system. That is an impressive piece of equipment per the literature and spec's!!!!

Awhile ago I purchased 5 PS Audio Noise Harvesters on sale at Music Direct. They plug into any open socket and "harvest" noise. A small blue LED in front lights up when they are active. I plugged them into various circuits, including where I have noise sources like light dimmers, desktop computer in den, and electric motors (refrigerator, garbage disposal, etc.), and several on the circuits that the Tritons (each with an upgraded power cord) and the other HT components are plugged into. The variability in how active the noise harvesters are kind of surprised me. I can see a spike if any light switch dimmers are on, especially when dimmed, and a little when electric motors kick in, and when the computer is active. But even when virtually nothing is running in the house but maybe a couple incandescent or LED lights, they can be quite active, all of them. Other times, not at all. And yes, they do seem to help with keeping SQ pretty darn good, and steady. That suggests to me that the the power feed into the house is very variable and can be dirty with no added "help" from any noise sources inside the house. I.E. all circuits get dirty simultaneously, including I suppose dedicated circuits. I haven't seen the voltage variations you observed (should probably check more often), but for sure lots of noise variation. That made ME think about regenerators. Pricey things, though....

Let us know how it works out for your system! Good for you for taking the leap!

Rick

Charlie:
Would it make sense to plug the PSP20 Re-generator into a Decware Zen Line Conditioner?

www.decware.com/newsite/ZLC.html


The Zen Line Conditioner features heavily shielded noise filtration on the input IEC device to kill incoming noise and keep it from reaching the inside of the steel cabinet where the toroidal transformer lives. Once the power is cleaned, the transformer magnetically decouples it and then feeds the various outputs. A single beeswax cap is used on the secondary to multiply the noise rejection without creating any artifacts.
Some people will wonder how this approach compares to a power re-generator so it pays to know that a power re-generator is a large power amplifier. It simply plays a single 60 cycle note (sine wave) instead of music. It is, nevertheless, an amplifier whose performance is affected by incoming power quality just like anything else therefor it would make sense to plug a power re-generator in the Zen Line Conditioner.

I ordered a Zen Line Conditioner November 23 2018...I'm still waiting on delivery.