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Best Upgrade I've ever made

Like many I've been upgrading components over time. In the last year I've upgraded from Thiel 3.6s to Revel Ultima Salons, from a Krell KSA200s to a FPB300cx, from a SF Line 3 to an Ayre K1xe, and recently from a Sony XA777es to an Ayre C5xe. The sound kept getting better and better. But yesterday I installed three dedicated circuits in my house, one for the amp, one for the preamp, and one for the CD player. All other components are on the shared normal circuits in the house. The stereo now sounds like I've upgraded everything once more. Dynamics are better and most noticably the bottom has fallen out of the system noise. Hum and grung on the very bottom few dbs are gone.
keis
7 responses Add your response
mr_bill
273 posts
 
Nice system!!!
Did you notice much difference upgrading your preamp? The SF Line 3 is lready a reference class pre.
saki70
853 posts
 
Next thing to do is to have those 3 circuits put on an isolated ground. That is a seperate ground from the rest of the house. The new grounding rod should be at least 10 ft. from the original rod. You have gone half way, so you might as well finish the isolation process. Good luck.
beemer
444 posts
 
Congratulations! There's nothing like dedicated lines.
I experienced similar benefits when I spent a weekend doing 7 dedicated circuits to my listening room. It took me two weekends to finish it all, and it was worth every minute. I used hospital grade outlets and 10 gauge romex.

Enjoy!

Paul :-)
cenline
238 posts
 
If you think about grounds then you are on your way to way better sound, make sure that you use the brass grounding clamps on the rods. I found that they were way better than the aluminum ones ( the aluminum ones sounded hard in comparison ).I found that the exteme upper bandwith was way more relaxed and natural, as well as more organic sounding.Just food for thought- Take care Dennis
bigkidz
1,784 posts
 
Yeah but you have not addressed aC noise yet. That will be the next major upgrade and I don't mean buying a line conditioner.

Happy Listening
beemer
444 posts
 
Yeah but you have not addressed aC noise yet. That will be the next major upgrade and I don't mean buying a line conditioner.

In my case AC noise is not an issue. The Levinson 33's and the 32 both regenerate their power.

My electrical service to the house was upgraded to 200 amp with a high-quality industrial panel. I did spec a new grounding rod as well when this work was done......brass clamp.

No power conditioner I've ever tried here on the other components which may benefit from it has made a shred of difference. My friend has the Richard Gray unit, on his system the difference with it in the system is immediately noticeable. We brought it here and nada......of course his service has never been updated and contains some nice glass fuses!

Best,

Paul :-)
pardales
652 posts
 
Attending to your power does pay dividends. While I have not been able to do work as serious and admirable as work mentioned by those above, I did add an Audiophile APS 1050 to my system and was amazed at the improvement in sound. Probably one of the biggest improvments I have made in a while.
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