Lowering the noise floor


I am coming to the conclusion that success in home audio reproduction is largely about lowering the noise floor. There are so many different types of “noise”, from so many different sources, that we only really “hear” by their absence.

Those components, cables, accessories and tweaks that SUCCEED at lowering the noise floor, can, and do, dramatically increase sound quality. Sometimes the type of “noise” dealt with is controversial, or not (yet) widely recognized as being a problem. Sometimes the explanation of how a product works is dubious. Sometimes the way it is marketed reeks of “snake oil”. Sometimes the reviews singing its praises go over the top. While these things will certainly put off some prospective purchasers, they do not negate the audible results that are there for anyone open to hearing them.
tommylion
I ran a separate power supply from the pole to my house for my audio gear. Separate ground copper pipe 8’ down. I use  Transparent power conditioning & Transparent reference power cables. But I think the real difference was getting the power off the house system with motors EMI & RFI. For me the clean power, high grade panel w superior grounding lowered my noise floor immensely.  At least now I know any noise issues are with my equipment and room. 
Found this thread looking to reduce room background noise.

@ willemj1

Were you ever able to lower below 35dB? Measured yesterday and that is about where I am at. This is making sure the HVAC system is not running, but that is easy enough to accomplish for an hour or two. Didn't do anything special when building our house, though home theater is in the basement (fully buried to about 3/4 buried in back). There are only two of us so running water isn't a big issue, haven't tried unplugging the fridge to see its' effect but it is a fairly new quiet unit.
The noise floor of any components and the sum total of the noise are the most underestimated factor in audio to gain sound quality... The problem is some solutions introduce, limitations of their own, a trade-off, a reframing of the sound, a compression of the sound, an active filtering that ressemble an artificial "framing" of the sound... My solution is passive filtering....  With stones and crystals, I obtain a complete transformation of the system...It is not perfect,nothing is,but there is no relation between before and after that...By the way even my power conditioner benefit from the stones...Cables also...etc

I posted this in December of 2017:

" "I have one word. Cryogenics. Cryo everything! Everything in the signal path and everything not in the signal path. "

I sure hope geoffkait is right about the cryogenics treatment on everything; I’ve got an appointment tomorrow to have my entire body cryogenically treated. Our ears and brains are in the signal path, right?
The doctors warned me that my entire body will become very brittle after the treatment, like fine crystal.
They said a high, sustained tone at just the right resonant frequency or even being nudged or bumped could cause me to shatter into 1,000 pieces.
I’m sure everyone’s in agreement that these risks are definitely worth taking for a bit better system sound, right?
My wife’s trying to talk me out of it but our commitment to better sound trumps any silly marital vows, right?
Okay, all systems are a go for the treatment unless geoffkait tells me before 2 pm that he may have exaggerated just a scooch on this cryo stuff. since the cryo treatment is non-reversible.

Wish me luck,
Tim"

Well, I had my entire body cryogenically treated and I promised an update on the results. I was just released from the hospital last week. I’ve been in what they call their "Super-Duper Complete Body Cryo Treatment Just in Case Isolation Chamber" since I underwent the treatment way back in 2017.
All of my attending doctors were required to remove all of their existing body hair and wore completely sealed body suits with hoses attached that fed oxygen in and and carried exhalation emissions out of my sealed glass room. Any possible ’contaminates’ such as tvs, radios, computers, books, magazines, clothing, telephones or visitors were strictly forbidden. I was constantly being poked, prodded and monitored. My wife divorced me and I’d actually forgotten what colors looked like because everything was white or metallic.
It was a bit difficult to go through and I’m just so glad it’s all over and I’m home again. Thank goodness my very good health insurance ran out. Nobody ever said getting great system sound was going to be easy, right?
Okay, enough of the whining, what were the results?

Well, it’s only been a week, but I think my system sounds a scooch better. Of course, I haven’t heard music for almost 2 years but I doubt that would have any affect. The weird part is I’m now constantly cold and shivering. I can also constantly see my breath, my wife’s gone, I’ve lost all contact with family/friends, I have no idea what’s going on in the world and I lost almost 2 years of my life. But on the positive side, I think my system might sound marginally a bit better, maybe.
     Yes, it was definitely worth it, no doubt about it, it was so expensive and painful it must sound better, what was the friggin point otherwise?  Uh oh, do you think this could be what’s called the ’placebo effect’?

Tim
My 'snake oil voodoo crazy upgrade bias placebo' additions have done wonders to my noise floor.