Dear all,
Which of the 2 tweaks below makes the best impact on Devialet sound quality? Budget is approx 2000 euros.
- Power Plant ( eg PS Audio P3, or similar options)
- Power cables
Assuming a budget of approx 2000 euros, what would you recommend I look into? I am comfortable buying second hand if it allows me to get better for the price!
Louis
(28-Oct-2014, 09:37)Lavi Wrote: [ -> ]Dear all,
Which of the 2 tweaks below makes the best impact on Devialet sound quality? Budget is approx 2000 euros.
- Power Plant ( eg PS Audio P3, or similar options)
- Power cables
Assuming a budget of approx 2000 euros, what would you recommend I look into? I am comfortable buying second hand if it allows me to get better for the price!
Louis
Hi,
May I boldly suggest a third alternative, a dedicated mains cable and spur.
The above suggestions is something you should try out at home either of them or both because it is so random how these things will work.
Best/Mike
I've not personally come across any power conditioner or generator that gave a benefit - apart from simple balanced power supplies - but the build quality of the cheap balanced power supplies I used was poor and it put me off using them. I've tried PS Audio P3 & P5 and both sounded initially 'cleaner' but seemed to me to kill dynamics. It all depends - they clearly work for some people so it's well worth trying.
A fairly decent power cord on the other hand is a must IMHO, but perhaps an even better improvement can be gained with a dedicated mains spur (and dedicated fusebox/consumer unit?) and even some cheap thicker mains cable (6mm squared seems to be the sweet spot). Making sure the earth is decent quality yields good improvements too. Of course if you have no power supply issues then this is probably unnecessary. Grounding boxes work well too but you really need to try them out to confirm.
I have all three so a dedicated mains spur, better quality power cables and a PS Audio PowerPlant P3 and they all helped performance forward in a somewhat comparable effect way. In effect sorted from least to most effect -in my situation/to my ears- I feel it was like this: dedicated spur, power cables, power plant.
Personally I certainly don't find the P3 is restricting the dynamics and I know at least two other people with Devialets here on this forum feel the same. Also given your budget, I'd start looking at a power plant as a solid basis first and go/build/finetune from there. I have to be honest though and confess I did it the other way round and maybe this could be a more rewarding way for you (start small and build from there). It is always best to try these things yourself as well, I know it's the number one most given advice and not always helpful but it is very important as with power all situations differ greatly. I really think there's no fixed recipe that works for any and all.
Worth reading this:
http://www.acoustica.org.uk/t/earth.html
especially this bit:
Whilst a definite safety feature when used as designed, like all things electrical PME presents some risk potential for those tempted to idly bung in a 'hifi' earth. If the house supply is PME then idly adding a local earth spike in addition to the bonded neutral has the effect that your house could end up as the safety earth route for 10-100 houses in the area. For example in the case of a broken neutral elsewhere in area supplied by the same substation transformer the multiple bonding, and all the leakage currents from your neighbourhood's hundreds of bits of inlet-filtered equipment /SMPS now sees your hifi's earth. Do you still want to rely on your earth spike ?
UK applicable as far as I can see.
(28-Oct-2014, 14:06)Antoine Wrote: [ -> ]I have all three so a dedicated mains spur, better quality power cables and a PS Audio PowerPlant P3 and they all helped performance forward in a somewhat comparable effect way. In effect sorted from least to most effect -in my situation/to my ears- I feel it was like this: dedicated spur, power cables, power plant.
Personally I certainly don't find the P3 is restricting the dynamics and I know at least two other people with Devialets here on this forum feel the same. Also given your budget, I'd start looking at a power plant as a solid basis first and go/build/finetune from there. I have to be honest though and confess I did it the other way round and maybe this could be a more rewarding way for you (start small and build from there). It is always best to try these things yourself as well, I know it's the number one most given advice and not always helpful but it is very important as with power all situations differ greatly. I really think there's no fixed recipe that works for any and all.
Hi, to give a view of my experience I would rate from most to least as: Dedicated mains cable and spur, power cable and last filter 'box' (not power plant).
/Mike