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Are Your Capacitors Installed Backwards ??


Kreg

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effective wall treatments other than foam pads might include "masks" (Mexican devil and other Day of the Dead masks are cool), tapestry hangings,  shelves.

 

Jeff's cable pick is nice - silver plated copper, PTFE insulation (I think) - reasonable price as surplus - and can be found in various gauges.

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3 hours ago, Don Richard said:

There are decent cables available from companies that don't lie about their products, and don't charge a fortune for them. Blue Jeans Cables, Mogami cables, and Belden wire and cable are examples of respected companies that make quality products that won't break the bank, especially if you DIY. As far as audiophiles who spend a lot of money on expensive cables and completely worthless tweaks while ignoring simple acoustic treatments, I just smile and shake my head. 

@Don Richard - We are actually in agreement regarding cable and wire.

 

I've had some of the semi-mega buck stuff and found that Belden 8402 with Switchcraft RCAs for interconnects and Dueland 12ga for speaker cable sounded better.

 

Very reasonably priced stuff that sounds very good.

 

I would also add Canare to the list of reasonably priced interconnects and speaker cable.

 

Just my opinion. :)

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I agree that there's good cable available at reasonable prices.  I use Mogami XLR cables between the Dx38 and the power amps, and Knukonceptz Karma Kable is the best combination of quality and value that I've seen in my admittedly limited experience with speaker cables.  I use Karma Kable for the main Left and Right speakers, and I may go for some for the surround speakers as well sometime.

 

However, differences can be more than subtle at times.  Years ago, in a local audio/video store, I saw some Monster Master Reference speaker cable, complete with pin connectors on both ends.  I may have the model name wrong, but they were definitely Monster cables.  They were in the length I needed, so I bought them and hooked them up.  Immediately, I was unhappy with the sound.  It wasn't just not good, it was bad enough that I didn't want to listen to the system at all.  The sound was muffled and somehow annoying at the same time.

 

I gave them a couple of days, just to be sure, and they didn't get any better.  I returned them and put back the fine-strand 12 AWG "Intensifier Home Theatre Cable" that I had been using (this was years ago, as I mentioned), and the pleasant sound that I'd been happy with was back!  Even a failed experiment is a learning opportunity, so I tried other cables later, and settled for the Karma Kable, in 10 AWG and 8 AWG, just to be sure that resistance would be at a minimum and the amplifiers' damping factor would be preserved.  The cable was not much more expensive than the 12 AWG cable, so not much money was "thrown away".

 

Yes, room treatments are a really good idea.  Yes, some cable manufacturers do throw around some very questionable claims, and some audio reviewers do wax lyrical about what they hear, using dubious terms like "chalkiness" (that's bad), "white-sounding" (also bad), "black-sounding" (good, but only in moderation).  That kind of writing sounds as ludicrous to me as it does to you.

 

Somewhere between the extremes of those who spend big money on great speakers and amplifiers, and go to great efforts to optimize the acoustics of their listening rooms, and then buy cheap 16-18 AWG lamp cord, claiming self-righteously that "its good enough (optionally naming a famous audio pioneer who also used lamp cord), and anything more expensive is money thrown away", and the people who spend more on their cables than they spend on their components, is a fairly big middle ground, where enthusiasts go to neither extreme, and buy cabling that seems appropriate for what they're attaching it to.

 

Let the extremists mock each other.  Some have more money than brains, some have more brains than money.  Both think that those at the other extreme are idiots of one variety or another .  On the other hand, those in the middle respect each others' choices, and feel that name-calling and mockery belong in the playground.  Can we agree on that?

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I'm thinking that if the speaker wire stays at room temperature while one is throwing everything they want at the speakers, the lamp cord, if that's what it is, is big enough for the task at hand.  A $30 Chinese-made IR temperature gun can be used to determine that, and many other tasks around the house.

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33544019048_0b646c5d90_b.jpg

 

 

Duelund Graphite Silver Resistor

The Duelund CAST resistor and the Duelund Silver/Carbon resistor.
Thus far the resistor has been regarded as a necessary evil, something that was needed out of necessity but scorn for its negative impact on the fidelity of the signal.

This has changed with the introduction of the Duelund Coherent Audio Resistors. When designing these components the task was that the voicecoil of the speaker and the resistor be viewed as a whole rather than two separate entities. The Duelund CAST proces applied to the top of the line resistor makes it an extraordinary component completely without peers.

The result is a resistor which seemingly has no sound of its own and it allows the drivers to perform at their very best.

Our "humble" opinion is that our resistors are the best "bang for the buck" upgrade available. Simply replace your resistors for unparalled transparency and dynamic ability.

Standard sizes 0,47 ohm - 50 ohm other values available on request.

Nominal power handling 10w unless otherwise specified.

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5 hours ago, Schu said:

33544019048_0b646c5d90_b.jpg

 

 

Duelund Graphite Silver Resistor

The Duelund CAST resistor and the Duelund Silver/Carbon resistor.
Thus far the resistor has been regarded as a necessary evil, something that was needed out of necessity but scorn for its negative impact on the fidelity of the signal.

This has changed with the introduction of the Duelund Coherent Audio Resistors. When designing these components the task was that the voicecoil of the speaker and the resistor be viewed as a whole rather than two separate entities. The Duelund CAST proces applied to the top of the line resistor makes it an extraordinary component completely without peers.

The result is a resistor which seemingly has no sound of its own and it allows the drivers to perform at their very best.

Our "humble" opinion is that our resistors are the best "bang for the buck" upgrade available. Simply replace your resistors for unparalled transparency and dynamic ability.

Standard sizes 0,47 ohm - 50 ohm other values available on request.

Nominal power handling 10w unless otherwise specified.

Well don't forget proper protection that is transparent to your signal. Beeswax Fuses are the best around ;D

beeswax fuse.jpg

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the bee's knees !  - those resistors don't look as crazy as some things.  FWIW, 50 cent Xicon resistor has very little inductance.  Has anyone here tried to make a DIY

"audiophile" capacitor?  - (maybe thin copper foil with wax paper dielectric ?) -  Have Duelund's caps "measurable" characteristics been published?

I imagine autoformers  can affect sound in subtle ways - at least when used as padding elements they allow smaller cap values to offset their cost.  Also, limited inductance plus shunt dcr should protect a driver down low vs just a cap driven pad.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 3/20/2019 at 2:01 PM, Alexander said:

I am sure it would be a shot in the dark at first on a target value, but one could start to get an idea after making a few. Consistency may be a problem though

Actually the capacitance of a capacitor has a formula:

image.thumb.png.d6d133ed08058130a300dca7686ce49d.png

You know electrical engineering and all that junk:)

But I agree quality control(consistency) would be a problem in a home brew environment.

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18 minutes ago, windashine said:

… o O (isn't it weird that ground is just connected to nothing...)

 

but then again... the ground is connected to the Earth.... in a round about way...

 

and in essence... nothing really works without a ground !

Can I get back to you on that?  I thought the world was Flat as a Pancake!

head east.jpg

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3 hours ago, babadono said:

A switch sounds better than a fuse and another squiggly line thing? Now I have heard everything(pun intended).

 

Squiggly line thing is an inrush current limiter.  I will 100% absolutely guarantee that anyone who fires up their low-power SET amp, then shorts out those two devices to improve the quality of the sound is the type of person who hears things utterly impossible to be either measured or heard, and who will vehemently decry double-blind ABX testing.

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