'Front end first' - yes, but make sure you go right to the very front...

[Marco]

Whilst listening to some tunes today through my newly-modified Yaqin power amp (and superb they sounded, too!) I was flicking through Issue 55 of Hi-Fi+, as one does - well not usually, but I was on this occasion, and I came across a rather interesting review by Steve Dickinson on the Nordost Tyr cable loom.

Actually, let me rephrase that - it's wasn't so much the main content of the review that was interesting, but rather the summary in his last paragraph. It ran thus:

The nay-sayers still maintain that cables (by which they mean interconnects and speaker cables) are, at best, expensive tone controls. And my experiences here would suggest that they have a point, up to a point. Certainly, exchanging the lesser cables for expensive Nordost ones wrought far less benefit initially than might be expected for the price. Until the mains was addressed, that is: that done, everything started to make much more sense. The difference between the two sets of cables is not just obvious, it is fundamental to the ultimate performance of the system. All of a sudden, the expense of the high-end cable is justifiable. It seems we have another hierarchical approach to consider and it starts way in front of the source. On the evidence of my own ears, properly designed mains leads and distribution boxes are crucial to getting the best performance out of your chosen hardware. FURTHER UPGRADES, WHETHER TO COMPONENTRY, INTERCONNECTS OR SPEAKER CABLES, ARE POINTLESS, UNTIL YOU KNOW HOW YOUR EXISTING EQUIPMENT SOUNDS WITH A PROPERLY SORTED MAINS FEED.

Front end first? You betcha, but only if you go right to the very front.

I found myself nodding in absolutely agreement with Mr Dickinson, as it represents my own particular ethos, and it's something I've been writing on hi-fi forums for years. I refer to it as the 'foundation' from which the system performs and ultimately it is fundamental to a system's convincing portrayal of music. The mains supply is the true 'source' not your CD player, turntable, or any other type of source component.

I sorted my 'mains feed' out years ago - and my stands, and more recently my interconnects and speaker cable. Consequently, the effect of every component upgrade I make is revealed to maximum effect, and one reason why my friends frequently use my system to assess their potential hi-fi purchases. It is also the main reason why I rarely feel the need to upgrade equipment - simply because the environment my existing equipment operates in is optimised and therefore I'm getting the most out of each box and the system as a whole.

So what I'd like to know is how do others stand on this issue? Do you agree that the quality of the mains feed is fundamental to the performance of a hi-fi system, and indeed the subsequent interconnects and speaker cable used, as I have outlined above, or ultimately are the boxes the most important factor and cables simply a necessary (but problematic) ancillary?

<Discuss>

Marco.

[Marco]

Surely someone must have a view on this?

Marco.

[Mike]

Yes.... Mr Dickinson!

[Marco]

LOL. What are you inferring, gringo?

Marco.

[jandl100]

OK - I'll have a bash at this ...

Get the mains sorted first, huh?

Well, that sounds like a good idea in principle - but what do you mean by "sorted"?

A set of Russ Andrews Yellow cheapo wanky mains wires? A bolus type mains filter? A mains regenerator? Totally re-wiring your dedicated listening room with 4 different types of ultra-expensive wanky-cable at a cost of tens of £k (a la Ken Kessler)? How much do you want to spend? - £X - OK. What if you spent £10X - would that be better? Would that be more "sorted"? And then if you spent 5x that much - (you can you know - there's no real limit in the world of hifi) - would that be better sorted?

This is all just a cheeky way of saying that nothing is ever "sorted" in this wonderful hobby of ours. There's always something more that can be done.

And anyway, is getting the mains supply sorted better than improving your speakers or amps? I don't think so - it was a maxim of Harry Pearson in the US mag TAS (The Absolute Sound) that everything matters - I certainly concur with that!

[Marco]

Hi Jerry,

I'm glad someone's tackled this important subject! What do I mean by "sorted"?

Well of course the term is somewhat ambiguous, but in general what I mean by "sorted", in terms of a mains set-up, is anything which doesn't involve a hi-fi system connected to the house ring main supply, and therefore having the system's 'mains feed' subjected to interference from other household appliances, and the 'noise' they generate on the supply. Also, in terms of mains leads, the use of something more suitable for hi-fi purposes other than cheap bog-standard 'kettle' leads. A decent mains block or the fitting of some good quality wall sockets (one for each component connected to a separate spur or spurs) wouldn't go amiss either.

After that, of course, the sky's the limit - you wouldn't believe the inordinate lengths I've gone to with my mains set-up but every upgrade I've made has caused a significant improvement. One of the biggest differences I heard, for example, was installing a separate 10mm Earth for my system via 5 x 8ft star-wired copper Earth rods plunged into my garden and connected to the dedicated consumer unit I use for my hi-fi; the difference that made was amazing in terms of how it lowered the impedance on my mains supply (particularly when kept wet) and the way in which this impacted on the performance of my system.

Everything I do with the mains has the goal of lowering impedance, as low impedance in the circuit is fundamental to the performance of a hi-fi system. When I last measured my supply I got a reading of .32ohms (a typical reading is around 50-60 ohms) so this is phenomenally low, and much lower than that of the main house supply! Hard-wiring everything as far as possible, and doing away with plugs and sockets (any 'unnecessary' interface is bad and has the potential to raise impedance) has all proved beneficial, as has up-rating the main house fuse from 60 to 100A. I've done all sorts of things! It's one of the reasons my hi-fi system sounds so good and tends to, erm, 'surprise' people when they hear it It also contributes to the system’s overall neutral balance, which is one of the reasons why I can hear subtle differences with things like cables and valves that may escape other less revealing set-ups.

Experimenting with the mains (much like you do with gear) has taught me many things and one of them is that until you have at least attended to your mains set-up (as mentioned in my first main paragraph above) the full potential of your equipment will not be realised - in effect, your boxes will only be giving a fraction of their true potential, which is why I wrote what I did earlier. The mains is the true 'source' and as such the 'quality' of your mains set-up has a substantial knock-on effect on the components throughout the rest of your system. This also means of course that the full effect of any component upgrades you make will never be fully realised unless your mains set-up is 'sorted' first.

Of course, it will never be fully 'sorted' - one has to make a compromise here as in any other area of a system. I have still to investigate the potential benefits of a high-end mains regenerator (I hate filters), but that will have to wait for now. Furthermore the results obtained will largely depend on the 'quality' of the incoming mains supply to your home (how much RFI, etc, is present) but there exists the potential (as I know from doing it) to improve things to quite a significant degree and provide a platform from which your equipment performs to a standard that it would not achieve under other circumstances.

Marco.

[jandl100]

Yup - I've tried and still use many a mains widget in my system.

I owned a PS Audio P300 mains regenarator for quite a while, and it gave substantial improvements in lowered background noise - deduced by the presence of improved imaging and sonic blackness around performers. I eventually sold it due to heat and fan noise issues and the fact that a new integrated amp couldn't be driven by it! I do rather fancy the new PS Audio Premiere regenerator which seems to have sorted all of these problems.

That earthing tweak you mention (earth spike in wet ground) was/is one of the many tweaks promoted by Russ Andrews - you want to watch that you aren't reported to the Advertising Standards Agency .

Mind you, I'm a firm believer in fancy audiophile mains cords myself, but I'm not sure I've the courage (or foolhardiness) to start tampering directly with my mains supply!

I currently () use a PS Audio Ultimate Outlet mains filter which, unlike most I have tried, does not sit on the musical dynamics. I did a direct comparison with the P300 and reckoned it gave about 1/2 to 2/3rds the improvement of the regenerator. Also Krystal Kables Titan mains leads and EarthWorks mains blocks.

[Marco]

That earthing tweak you mention (earth spike in wet ground) was/is one of the many tweaks promoted by Russ Andrews - you want to watch that you aren't reported to the Advertising Standards Agency .

LOL. Reading Russ Andrew's booklet 'The Power and The Glory' was what started me off on the road to 'mains madness'! And also the advice of electrical engineer and hi-fi enthusiast Roy.K.Riches. I implemented some of what they both recommended and then fine-tuned things further to my own spec.

Mind you, I'm a firm believer in fancy audiophile mains cords myself, but I'm not sure I've the courage (or foolhardiness) to start tampering directly with my mains supply!

I rarely "tamper" with the mains. All the serious work I've had carried out has been done by a qualified electrician. Things like up-rating the main house fuse you can do yourself. It's just a matter of unplugging the existing one from the incoming supply (cut the power first or there will be sparks!) and replacing it with one of a higher amperage rating. They're available from any wholesale electrical supplier. This procedure is also 100% legal.

It's done all the time when high current appliances are fitted in the home, such as electric showers, etc, when there are already a number of other such appliances connected to the supply and an electrician considers that a bigger main fuse is needed to cope with the current demand. These days, 100A fuses are fitted to most modern homes; it's only really older houses that might have a 60 or an 80A one fitted. I live in a 19th century lodge so I had a 60A one in mine!

You should have a look at what you've got. If your main fuse is less than a 100A, you've got a significant upgrade to get by spending five minutes of your time and less than a tenner at your local City Electrical Factors. Trust me

Marco.

[Mike Reed]

I fully expected the indomitable Roy to have put his twopennorth in by now, so he must be out fishing.

Obviously I fully agree with Marco in principle and practice. I cannot understand why JANDl thinks you've got to have expensive, fancy cables installed, though.

Why is it so difficult, unless you don't own your own home, to put in a few spurs of common or garden 6mm or 10mm cable to a dedicated consumer unit with mini cicuit breakers cum fuses (MCBOs), cheap junction boxes and throw away the 'orrible plugs. Total cost a couple of hundred plus electrician for, say, 3/4 spurs.

In theory it's logical. In practice it's effective. You DON't get any interference from ring-mains borne appliances (well, I don't, anyway!) and you end up getting the essential raw material for your hifi unblemished by impedance changes and other detritus.

Conditioners? Filters? Expensive mains cables plugged into dirty ring mains? Forget it! Total waste of money, i. m. o.

The crap analogy of running your high performance car on standard unleaded is at least apposite.

I wonder how the cat's going to get on with the pigeons? Has to be said, though.

[jandl100]

I cannot understand why JANDl thinks you've got to have expensive, fancy cables installed, though. .

Well, no, I didn't actually say that. I listed a few possibilities along those lines - that was just one approach that many folks take.

Why is it so difficult, unless you don't own your own home, to put in a few spurs of common or garden 6mm or 10mm cable to a dedicated consumer unit with mini cicuit breakers cum fuses (MCBOs), cheap junction boxes and throw away the 'orrible plugs. Total cost a couple of hundred plus electrician for, say, 3/4 spurs.

Hmmm ... sorry, but that does sound a bit scary to me. Some folks just aren't cumfy with that sort of thing. But sometime soon I'm going to have to get my house rewired, I think, so I may well take the opportunity then to do as you suggest. In the meantime, my PS Audio Ultimate Outlet (what a name! ) and a passle of audiophile mains cords and blocks does a pretty good job of improving the sound quality of my system.