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Dream system - but no aftermarket power cords

Hi,
after tweaking many other aspects of my system, I have had to deal with substantial noise from my Piega C10Ltd speakers recently.
This has led me to order a Synergistic Research Tesla PowerCell 10SE which should arrive later this week.

So, after getting into the "power" game and reading up on some PC reviews, I am still lost with regards to the baseline strategy to upgrade the stock cables on all components.
Here's my current setup for my 2 channel speaker system:
[Squeezebox Transporter] - [McIntosh MDA 1000] - [Piega P1 Mk ii active subwoofer (RCA loop-through and cut-off at 75Hz)] - [Marantz MA9-S2 mono amps (2x)] - [Piega C10Ltd]
All active components will be powered through the PowerCell.

So here are my preliminary thoughts, please feel free to comment:

1. Order of upgrades
1.1 Frequently, it's recommended to "upgrade the transport" first. In my case, would that be the Transporter (I guess? Or upgrade last because it's only feeding the DAC?) or the MDA-1000 (which is serving double duty as DAC and preamp, so could I double the impact from a better PC??)
1.2 The Marantz amps with their massive capacitors ought to be the least power sensitive piece of gear (??? not sure about that), so it would make sense to upgrade them last?

Of course the whole question about order of upgrades is related to
2. good-better-best strategy
2.1 what's considered a solid baseline for a highend system like mine, I don't have the money for (new) Valhalla everywhere (I need 5 PCs total)?
2.2 back to order of upgrades: looking at the individual pieces of equipment specifically, where do I get to the 95% point of diminishing returns? e.g. Synergistic apparently recommend Tesla T2 on sources and T3 on (pre)amps, is there a reasonable "segmentation" strategy?
2.3 how high should I value system synergies, specifically considering the fact that I will use a PowerCell; in other words, are there unwanted side effects from other cords (e.g. LossLess) trying to filter out stuff that the PowerCell has already taken care off and leading to a "lifeless" sound?

3. Looking at the list of components above, any recommendation about what you have found to work well with any one of the components listed above would be appreciated (e.g. Jerry Seigel recommended PS Audio PW 10 for the Marantz amps, I am reluctant to go there based on my general preference to avoid too much shielding)

Any help/suggestions much appreciated (I promise to report back my findings after trying out some of your recommendations in return!)
Thanks!
Jofte
jofte

Showing 6 responses by jofte

jofte OP
6 posts
 
I am scared about the Perfectwave AC-12 after reading the review on Polkaudio by DarqueKnight; he found that it constricted his preamp and transport and was only happy using it for his amps. Also not happy to hear that the cable wasn't able to power a turntable without causing speed drift -- do I really want to let a cable with such side effects anywhere near my equipment?
Another consideration is the built-in shielding -- very hard to predict if it would work well (i.e. not sounding stale) after my PowerCell conditioner or only "straight from the wall".
Finally, seeing how 2m AC-12s are in steady supply for $250-300 on Ebay, I am not sure what to make of this. I wouldn't expect such a drastic price cut without a reason (?? just speculation, but a bit irritating to watch ??).
So in total too many cons (for me).
I have to admit that the temptation is great because at $250 every other cable in the same league as AC-12 (supposedly) would cost 2-3x more.
jofte OP
6 posts
 
Thanks for your comments so far, this is already helpful in narrowing down choices!
@Klipschfan: I will seriously consider following your lead and trialing the Synergistic Cables, specifically for the MDA 1000 as you are happy with that in your system. Do you have a comparison for the MDA 1000 how well other cables would have worked? I guess part of this exercise is trying to avoid to "overspend" and just buy the most expensive cable (I am sure if money doesn't matter it's really easy to get great cables and be done with it; probably all cable manufacturers to some degree even depend on that convenience factor!).

To answer the question about what I am trying to achieve: I am calling the noise that I am getting as substantial because it is audible up to 2' from the speakers. It's some hum (constant, doesn't change with increase in volume, so it is a ground loop but too faint for a "straight" interference, if that makes sense -- so maybe just on the grid but not in proximity to the hifi) and a slight hiss, I will probably wait until I get the PowerCell to see how that is going to affect matters.

Now, to all of you who are purchasing any audio equipment that has a fan in it (I never do, as a rule), you might not be concerned about this as much as I am ;-) Let's say that this is what has gotten me started on thinking about improving power supply (cords and conditioner), not necessarily something that makes the system unusable.

One major change that has led to me noticing this noise is really the introduction of the Marantz mono amps (just bought them), previously I didn't notice hum or noise from a Denon AVC-A11XVA (230V) powered by a step up transformer/conditioner (again this leads me to believe that the issue is with getting clean power, of course without ground loops, into the components).

I have just gone ahead and bought 2 Black Sand Violet on Audiogon to be able to play around with "better than stock" aftermarket cables (they will be sold off or put into other systems if they are taking me in the right direction but not fully where I want to go).

Thanks for all your insights!
jofte OP
6 posts
 
Re: AC-12s on Ebay, bought 3, received them after 3 days (perfect shipping), they definitely look like the real deal (no obvious signs of forgery) and sound good?
Also in the running now are 2 Cardas Golden Reference, Synergistic Research Hologram A and D (one each) coming tomorrow. Will report findings on all cables after burn in.
jofte OP
6 posts
 
Just installed the Synergistic Research Hologram A (MDA1000) and D (Transporter): Wow, residual noise is almost gone. Makes me want to consider putting the AC-12 up for sale again and going SR all the way (sub + 2 mono amps currently on AC-12) -- will keep current setting for a couple months + start tweaking the "backend" (replace socket, investigate dedicated line.
jofte OP
6 posts
 
Thanks Al, unfortunately the subwoofer already only has a groundless connection (factory default) so I know it's not part of the problem.
I cannot use balanced connections to the amps because I need the low frequency separation at the subwoofer (so there is only the preamp-RCA-subwoofer-RCA-poweramp route or putting the subwoofer in the chain after the poweramps using the speaker wires (IMHO worse than RCA); this 80 Hz split yields a big performance improvement for the speakers similar to the effect of bi-amping. Not happy that the sub doesn't support balanced in-out for this purpose, but things are what they are ...
At different times of day my issues with the hum are almost unnoticeable so one of the next steps will probably be to get a separate line (or better two) from the main distribution box to the music system (I don't think that this can be avoided).

Spending money on power related improvements so far has been worth it (PowerCell performing better day to day after settling down).
jofte OP
6 posts
 
Following your lead, just ordered Hologram D for the Logitech Transporter.
I never understood why power would affect digital as much as analog, I will let my ears decide if there is something to be gained (... of course noise will stay the same and I am already using a balanced digital connection to the MDA1000).
Thanks!!
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