2. misc-audio
  3. 1425361372

Clean those conduit boxes.

I've lived in my apartment for many years. My walls are made of plaster. When I installed my audio grade receptacles in the wall, years ago, I simply put them in, checked polarity and went on my way. Since upgrading to the furutech gtx-d recently, (which is going through burn in hell, see my other thread) I decided to go back into the two metal conduit boxes that feed my system. I made made everything "perfect" and vacuumed the plaster debris that had been in the boxes for god knows how long. Maybe as long as the building has been standing- maybe 50 years. Each box for whatever reason, had a couple of ounces of plaster in it, ranging from pebbles to plaster sand.

Now it sounds actually cleaner, with more micro detail. Not a huge difference, but still a worthwhile improvement. Not sure if the pebbles and sand that were in the box were resonating or what. Could even be placebo- but it certainly gave no benefit being there. So it's gone, and it's one less thing to ponder. Just wanted to share. It could actually be detrimental to the sound if you have junk in the boxes, like I did. Makes sense to make everything as "right" as possible.
audiolover718

Showing 3 responses by nonoise

nonoise's avatar
nonoise
11,143 posts
 
All jokes aside, is it possible that the build up of plaster dust and the like contains some synthetic elements that would have a detrimental effect much in the same way as synthetic elements of say, a carpet and what it does to speaker cables that lie on the floor?

I wouldn't cover my PCs in crap that would be detrimental to the sound so would it stand to reason that all than gunk around the power wires would have some negative effect?

Just food for thought.

All the best,
Nonoise
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
11,143 posts
 
Well, so much for thought food. :-)
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
11,143 posts
 
Getting back to the OPs thread, I did some research on the negative aspects of plaster on power lines and the only thing I could find were a couple of sites. One was a British electricians site where plaster was also asked about and it turns out that modern plaster has no ill effects on wire but older plaster has some corrosive elements in it, especially lime, which eats away at the PVC coating of any wire.

Another site rated plaster as really good at rejecting/blocking RF so I guess it depends on the age and type of plaster so the argument would seem to be whether old, corrosive plaster has a deleterious effect on sound.

I know it is a reach but it's all I could find.

All the best,
Nonoise
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