Just moved to a new home and the sound of my system took a huge step toward higher detail. No new components, or cables. Just a new room and what might be the ultimate power isolation. I have my own transformer. fed by an underground 7900 volt line and I’m the only one on it ( farm house) so if I turn off the computer and the fridge is not running...nothing but lighting and my system pulling from it! dedicated line all the way to the street, so to speak.
that and concrete walls with some room treatment and it’s like I spent big bucks on higher level components.
Anyone else have similar experience? Also any thoughts on the best way to take advantage of the situation? Loving the state of things, but always wanting to learn more.
Until now I was thinking The Gate was expensive. But this, moving to remote location, underground power, whole new utility service, makes it seem a stone bargain.
Wasn't there an article, not too long ago, that told of an eccentric Japanese audiophile who went to great lengths to procure his own power transformer that fed just his house?
Actually that sounds more like a normal Japanese audiophile. The eccentric Japanese audiophile would make his transformer from five nines wire hammered out by hand and then wound by hand onto a former made from recycled Hattori Hanzo samurai swords. No on second thought that would still be a normal Japanese audiophile....
I too live in the country with my own transformer, also my listening room is in a new addition part of the house with a new 200 amp service box, apart from the old service that feeds the rest of the house where the appliances reside. Congratulations, it is a great way to have cleaner power!
Instead of moving to a rural location (farmhouse) and being surrounded by concrete walls and with an unlikely external voltage, you can really clean up the power with a reconditioner. I yelled at my TVA sockets for years until I finally inserted a reconditioner. Isolation transformers with the usual collection of suppression hardware made things better in some ways, less so in others but the reconditioned made an amazing difference. (PS--I rarely use the word "amazing".)
I wonder if a similarly good experience would be to get a Tesla Powerwall and have it supply only your listening room. For good measure or if needed you can get a PS Audio Power Plant. The above might be clean power bliss. Yes/No?
Inorganic- I’ve got to wonder, what is an ‘unlikely voltage’ ?
oh btw ..lest you get the impression I’m in a bunker; this is an old millking barn, with more than a bit of conversion. On that, in a 20 x 40 listening room, I’m finding rigid walls to be great for bass speed and extension, but corner build-up is heavy. Built -in bookshelves in the front corners make for tough trap placement. Any suggestions?
I'm at a loss as to how you can separate the effect of the new room from whatever impact the transformer made. In my experience the impact from a different room would grossly overwhelm any impact from a dedicated transformer.
No doubt the room has the greater effect, by a wide margin. The change in the sq is a package deal, so to speak. The extent of it surprised me, and the one to one with a transformer surely has some benefit. I’m finding a load of greater detail, and sense of place in even mediocre recordings. In this size room, also, a 9 ft listening triangle is effectively near-field, no? So room and power source were the only changes, but gave dramatic results.
@lwall22 that's a good story with a probably unexpected great outcome.
18 months ago, I was finally able to move my system from a too large drywalled room into a brick walled smaller room and was instantly amazed at how everything tightened up.
The addition of a power conditioner/surge protector recently, has added another level of improvement that was most welcome.
One of the best and least expensive modifications I’ve ever made is getting a dedicated line set up. It’s the best bang for the buck modification I’ve ever done. The transparency in detail in the soundstage, the sense of depth is noticeable.
I lived in London. Had new basement built and new mains so had the chance to sheath and earth it to eradicate RFI. Next, added a fuse box before the main house fuse box (important so reduces house interference). Used a Russ Andrews twin outlet supplying 20 and 30 amps to dedicated sockets for hi fi and home theatre (also steel sheathed and earthed). I even hard wired the Isol8 Qube2 from the 30amp which only powered the amp (MF Kw500). The 20 amp one fed an Isol8 Substation did everything else, flat screen, CD, DAC etc. The detail and sound stage was tremendous. I have since moved to a rented house running it all on the 13amp ring main...oh dear! So best do the above; if you have the chance!
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