Are you using shorting plugs or cap's.
ozzy
Shorting plugs
I had my spare RCA sockets on the preamp shorted and thought that I didn’t need to worry about the XLR and AES/EBU connections.Wrong assumption! Shorting the latter resulted in a significant reduction of hash and increased clarity in the treble as well as more precise positioning in the sound stage. Everything matters and as tweaks go this one is value for money.
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You can get RCA shorting plugs here. No need to pay sky high prices for Cardas or Telos. Just remember to remove the center pin of the RCA shorting plug on any output (like Pre Amp out, Rec out, Tape out) as it can short out and damage your equipment. Make sure you get ones with removable center pins. All the best, |
At one appearance Bill Johnson of ARC made in a dealer’s shop near me, he told the story of getting a call from Harry Pearson, who told Bill the new pre-amp he had received was defective. Bill asked Harry a few questions, and quickly learned the cause of the pre-amp malfunctioning: Harry had installed shorting plugs into the output jacks of the pre-amp. Duh!
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I'm a vintage audio guy, a lot of vintage stuff used to come with these as OEM especially for unused phono stages. Not sure they do as much with some of the newer all digital stuff. But they do help with analog setups. What I have found is they just clean things up a bit, a little more soundstage, a little more clarity, slight drop in noise floor. There like $15 for 20, not breaking anyones Audio budget, that's less than getting a new record. This is what I get 20 for !5 Any amp/receiver that does't shut off the unused inputs it's a must have. |
Actually the Cardas plugs are non-shorting: " ... Unlike traditional shorting plugs, these caps do not short the inputs. Another difference: They completely cover the RCA input with a solid shield comprised of nickel and brass ..." The same seems to be true of the AQ plugs: "... The AQ Noise-Stopper caps are grounding plugs (not shorting plugs) that help you block out this unwanted noise ..." I've never tried any of these. |
I made shorting plugs for the unused inputs of 2 battery powered stereo phono preamps (used as mono's) and the improvement in SQ was easy to judge/hear. The parts cost from RadioShack was well less than $1 per unit and the assembly time was approx. 30 seconds per unit after the soldering iron came to temp.
DeKay |
I recently saw another thread on here discussing the same thing. Picked up a cheap pack of them off Amazon thinking "Well it was only $12. What could it hurt?" Yeah, after plugging them in and sitting down, I was in for a shock and awe experience. So much more clarity, less grain, less fuzz, more enjoyment. I'm sure some of this is gear dependent, but in my setup, that was absofreakinlutely money well spent. |
@bob540
You don't want to short out a low impedance voltage or power source (an output) because it will draw high current. That's why people are saying to remove the center pin on shorting plugs for output jacks, as that turns the plug into a non-shorting cover that can't draw current. But inputs are high impedance, and shorting them is safe and prevents stray noise from entering the system. |
I believe it really depends on the type of equipment you have and how the individual inputs get their signal to the amplifying stage. In my particular preamp case, each input RCA goes back to a hard-wired input selector switch and is out of the actual circuit unless it's the one selected. I suppose the wiring to all including the used input could be subject to stray RF (or other input analog signals) and that in some way is getting into the amplifying circuit, particularly if they might be bundled together back to the selector switch. I worked on a friend's preamp who's inputs were bundled together back to the selector switch and interestingly, there were two inputs that were connected to two separate devices, (tuner and CD player). When the CD player was selected but not playing, you could turn up the preamp volume control and hear the tuner playing and vice-versa. Unbundling/separating the input wires and the sound from the other went away. Also interestingly, it didn't matter which input was used with which devices as the cross talk was evident in all of the used ones. So there was definitely cross talk between inputs happening. I didn't even think of using shorting plugs on the unused input RCA's at the time, however I'm not sure they would have made a difference. If you use them and notice a difference in improved sound, then it's all good and I believe each preamp will have its own input isolation or cross talk levels, including stray RF. In my opinion, it's in the topology (and possibly the electronics) of how the input signals get to the amplifying stage. |
@roadcykler must be a shallow wallet at $12.00 is everything Snake Oil and Voodoo to you?
roadcykler124 posts @curiousjim
They don't objectively do anything but drain your wallet. |
Thanks for the response. I installed the shorting plugs on all unused RCA and XLR inputs, XLR outputs and removed the center pins on the RCA outputs. While not huge, I did hear a slight reduction in background noise, better image edge definition, snappier transients and better bass articulation. Thanks @antigrunge2 for sharing what I found to be a worthwhile upgrade. |
