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Magic tubes and on evaluating system changes

So like I said I got my tubes this week. I put them on my DAC output to passive linestage RCA cables. I put them there because since I only use one source now and bi-amp there is no other cable I have that would affect the whole system.

They were on the cable a couple of days before I could listen. I want to go over my evaluation protocol if you will because I think how one evaluates system changes from the smallest tweak to the largest component change is VERY VERY important. I have also often wondered that since ALL my cables are unshielded including interconnects perhaps these tweaks that operate by just being in proximity and without direct physical/electrical connection to a system yield my rig more results.

First is what will you use to evaluate? My feeling is that one should come up with 5-10 tracks, not whole CD's. These tracks can come from different CD's of different genres or whatever. These recordings don't need to be your favorite piece of music or performance. I think what each should do is show or reveal an area like deep bass, big image, subtle detail(s) etc. It should be perhaps difficult to reproduce well if you will. For instance a female vocal that maybe has sibilance, from a little to a lot that you can listen for changes in. There is one I use that has a little and you know it is in the recording because when the reverb of her voice follows milliseconds later which is at a lower amplitude it is there too but with a little of the highest frequencies not there as one would expect with reverb.


So why just 5-10 tracks? I feel the listener should become intimately familiar with them. I have played my tracks well over a thousand times each. Also these tracks are ALWAYS the first ones I think one should play when making changes. Trust me you don't want to go grab an old favorite you grew up with say and haven't heard on your system in two years. These 5-10 tracks should be played first each time you make a change. It might take 30-60 minutes or a little more to listen to them and then go on and listen to anything else. Using more than this I feel would dilute things if you will and perhaps start to spread things too thin.

So what did I hear today? First let me say that being busy lately I haven't been using my system but for about 1X/week. Each time my system sounded like my system so I don't think listening less is an issue. On go the familiar 5 if you will starting with the same track as always.

I also want to comment that certain changes in system sound are easier to hear than others in my opinion. I think it is easier to hear changes in image, image location and detail than changes in frequency response for instance. If an image occupies a new "space" in the soundstage or a small detail previously unheard or even heard but with less amplitude and detail is now easy or easier to hear that "change" will be easier to spot say than a +1 or 2dB from 10-20K in system response. Not saying one wouldn't hear the latter just that the former is easier to spot.

So track one shows little change in the first few seconds. My system sounds like my system. But before the four minute track is half over I have heard four or five things I haven't heard before. This track by the way easily has 50 or more distinct elements in the mix appearing in almost as many locations in the soundstage which is why I use it.

So something is going on. I actually do something I have not done and listen to the track again. Yes, same thing. And as the track ends with this sort of cool but annoying in tone digital recreation of a record coming to a slow stop I hear a ring if you will that goes away as the amplitude on that part of the mix goes away. It sounded like a digital ring.

Was this happening because I had not used the system in a few days or because the volume was kind of high? Did it have to do with the fact I was listening during the day? I never almost never listen during the day. It was early in the day and I was still under my one cup of coffee caffeine influence. Well I can assure I am not obsessing, just thinking out loud and leaving no stone unturned.

Then I remembered I had not tried my latest crystal mix (note to mod: feel free to delete this paragraph if you think I'm shilling , I'm not and encourage anyone to experiment with crystals. There is much info here and I tell what I use and how I treat them as Al Sekela told me to do. Buy them in bulk on eBay and make your own. Email me for any help you need with that) I added Topaz now and more Tourmaline. So I took a large bag of each and put them on my passive linestage. It's a Placette and has three physical sections identical in size. The left and right sections have the resistor ladder circuits inside for the corresponding channels and the center the power control. On the power supply control I put a pound bag of Green Carborundum (Silicon Carbide large grit/pretty cheap on eBay) because Acoustic Revive uses it on their AC outlet box.


I went back to listening to that same harsh part of that recording and it became more tolerable even at a higher volume. Overall the presentation was a little more relaxed. I then listened to the rest of my go to recordings. I used 8 tracks in all today. I heard new info/detail on all of them. This included new sounds previously not heard, sounds heard before but at a larger amplitude uncovering more detail in that sound. Bigger better image cues and so on.

Did my system transform itself from these changes? No indeed! I would consider these improvements about 3-5% improvement at the most and probably a little less. I listen near field and have a 30 foot wide room and with my Stereo Dimensional Array you hear parts of the image not just from side wall to side wall but half way or more back on the side walls. This makes hearing image changes quite easy in my system.


So I know that was a long read for any of you that made it through it but I wanted to convey exactly what I was thinking today as I listened. Some will think I was obsessive but I am just leaving out nothing. This is probably my longest post ever and I did it because I think it is an important issue. I'm not saying my way is the right way and unless you do it this way you're wrong by any means.

I will leave these changes in a week, remove them and listen again. I DO think that aspect is a mandatory protocol for evaluating changes.

E
T


EDIT: I decided to leave the system on all day and my wife came home and I gave her a demo. I never say anything to her but have a listen and she first said the system was warmer and smoother. Then she said she heard more of the back up singers and other more subtle parts of the recording and their location was wider and their sound more identifiable.



ET

"If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking till you do suck seed" - Curly Howard 1936



Edits: 08/26/15

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Topic - Magic tubes and on evaluating system changes - Awe-d-o-file 09:51:15 08/26/15 (2)

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