Interconnects Roller Coaster Ride

Sorry for the delay in answering, but I've been having technical problems with posting this response.

All excellent comments.

I suspected the Morrows because once I installed them and heard how well they sounded I immediately knew what to listen for during my sessions. When the sound degraded, I suspected the cables. The cables have never been moved during this entire process. The Morrow MA-1 interconnects are well shielded, I believe.

Most of my listening is at night between 9:00 p.m. — 12:00 midnight.

The suggestion that perhaps with the Morrows, I am becoming aware of some other problem that was not revealed before is food for thought.

Regarding line voltage, there is no way I personally know of for testing that. But I have noticed a halogen lamp in my adjacent room cycling in brightness for periods of time some evenings while I am listening. Would that be an indication of line voltage variation?

My preamplifier and amplifier are tubes (Audio Research SP-1C, and Dual 75). They are quite old, but were up to specifications last time they were checked out by ARC. The output tubes in the amp are at 200 hours.

My speakers are KLH Nines (double Nines), so I think I hear pretty much what is being fed them. With the Morrows, the sound has opened up even more. That's why I'm so frustrated. Once you hear how good the cables make things sound, you want that all the time.

Additional comments welcomed. Thank you all. I’ll keep you updated.

Yes, it is K.I. Sawyer Air Force Base in the UP, Michigan!

Thanks to all for your responses.

As I mentioned, the output tubes in the power amp have about 200 hours on them. I am able to check the bias often, and keep them within specifications. The other smaller tubes in both the power amp and preamp have more hours on them but according to ARC, need only to be changed after two cycle changes of the output tubes. That is, about 4,000 hours.

I'll look into the line voltage issue and see if I can check that out with the volt meter as suggested.

The same components were used during both the burn in and listening sessions. The burn in was through my CD player to the preamp (which was turned off), as recommended by Morrow. I simply reconnected the CD player into the system for the actual listening sessions.

I do live near an Air Force Base. Not K.I. Sawyer in Michigan, but Luke AFB in Arizona.

Thanks to all for the great suggestions. I'll keep everyone informed on further listening and what I ultimately find out.

I believe I have identified the problem. In various readings of posts on Audiogon regarding interconnects, someone mentioned that the equipment or speakers need time to warm up. I had noticed a pattern in the past few weeks that the sound was not good when I began listening, but improved after about 2 1/2 hours of continuous listening. Someone pointed out that it takes planar speakers (also electrostatics?) time to warm up as well as tubes. So today I turned on the system and played music. At first, it did not sound very good, so I left it on for over three hours playing various musical selections. When I sat down to listen three-four hours later...WOW. The Morrow sound I had briefly heard had returned. So my belief is that I simply have to let the tubes and speaker "warm up." I never experienced this before and believe it took the Morrows to bring this to light. I now do not think that the Morrow interconnects were the problem, but the components and speakers needing time to "warm up."