2. amps-preamps
  3. 1063287339

Am I imagining things?

Not long ago I have bought replacement amp for my Musical Fidelity A300, honestly I can say that sound is much more liquid, music scene in now more square then trapezoid, everything is more in focus. I can listen much longer. Dynamics, bass does not changed a bit, at least I cannot hear it, maybe microdynamic because noisefloor is much lower. (I still using part of MF A300 as pre). But something is wrong, picture imbued by MF A300 was not so focused, clean but more live (maybe only brighter), picture imbued by Clayton M100 is like very sharp watercolor (pale colors).
I wanted something closer to lively tube presentation I went opposite way :(.
I have done interesting experiment yesterday, I have change direction of interconnect between pre and amp.
What is interesting I have impression that when direction is wrong (current flows not according but against arrow on the interconnect) sound is more live. Am I imagining things?
Rest of the equipment is Thiel 3.6 and old cdp Arcam Alpha 6.
sorlowski

Showing 1 response by rlxl

rlxl
92 posts
 
No, you're not imagining things. At least, I don't think you are---but maybe we just inhale too much of the same stuff!!

Check out Issue #150 of Bound for Sound. The editor, Martin DeWulf, has long experimented with polarity and directionality of cables and wires. In this issue, he reports on his experiments w/the directionality of IC's and found that the best sound depended upon the manufacturer (no surprise) as well as where the ICs were placed, ie, between the source and preamp or preamp and amp. How they sounded really was brand dependent and location specific. Eg, the same IC may have sounded better in the direction of the arrows between the source and pre but would sound better oriented in opposite direction when placed between the pre and amp.

BTW: DeWulf was one of the first to discover that the relative polarity of the PC cables w/in the same system made a difference some 10-12 years ago.
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