On 17/11/2025 at 2:01 PM, La scala said:

 

Well done Chanh , the wonders of room influence and to scientifically analyse makes perfect sense.

Was dreaming about your future listening room concepts , may they could take influence of some ancient structural designs said to allow perfect sound along the lines of :

Chavín de Huántar, Peru 

Location: Archaeological site in the Andes mountains of Peru.

Features: A network of tunnels and a temple with acoustic features.

Acoustics: Designed with air ducts and acoustic waveguides that specifically amplify the sound of conch shell instruments (putus) to a 300-hertz frequency.

Purpose: The amplified sound was likely projected to worshippers in a plaza, suggesting a deliberate and complex acoustic design for ritual purposes

Or one of another 5 wonders :

The Barabar Caves in India are a prime example of ancient man-made caves with perfect sound, featuring incredibly polished, flat granite walls that create pronounced echoes and reverberations. Similar sites include the caves at Chavín de Huántar in Peru, which were designed with acoustic properties to amplify specific tones from ritualistic instruments. The caves were likely used for religious rituals, meditation, and chanting, taking advantage of their unique acoustic properties for spiritual purposes. 

 

Just a thought when perfection is of highest priority...

 

Thank you. It's about time you revisit the setup with M7s, hey! I think she is ready, Volka.

Edited November 27, 2025Nov 27 by AccMagi7s

7 hours ago, AccMagi7s said:

Thanks for dropping by yesterday, Russell. It's always a fantastic time with plenty of constructive discussion about a passion we share. Great to see you in good shape and spirits despite the extreme Arctic conditions from Toronto. It was a pleasure, and I was a bit disappointed that you didn’t accept my lovely white cemented grape juice offer, which I was enjoying alone. I suppose the purified water from Coles was really needed to properly observe the setup after a few years away.

 

For the audience's information, I used a seasoned, trained ear during this rare opportunity, when I put Russ in the listening chair to compare QBuz online streaming versus local storage via the NAS, followed by local storage feeding versus my Accuphase SACD transport for the identical track SACD, and finally the Turntable with 33.33 vs 45 rpm.

 

It was great to see Russ in the listening chair for a continuous three-hour session, non-stop, with no toilet break. That really says something. It seemed to be nothing more than a brief moment of auditory pleasure.

 

Have a safe trip back to the minus temperatures in a few weeks, Russell. Hopefully, when you return, things will elevate to another level or two. 

Thats crazy for me, 3 hours without a toilet break, it went so fast. So all those ultra sounds and prostate test were irrelevant, all I need is a pair of Magico s.

 

 

An electrician came over to install two dedicated 6mm² 45A circuits, one for each of my two power amps. The guy spent more time listening than actually doing the work! 😁

 

Will be interested to hear your impressions of the new wiring. If you havent seen it,  @GC Hifi has done similar and written up some of his findings here 

 

I have done something similar with my system when I moved to monoblocks .  IMO there is nothing better for power amps than to receive power via a direct oversized line from the switchboard .   I bet the mighty Gryphon amps will love it! 

7 hours ago, frednork said:

Will be interested to hear your impressions of the new wiring. If you havent seen it,  @GC Hifi has done similar and written up some of his findings here 

 

Hi Mark,

Thanks for asking and sharing Terry's journey. I agree with Terry on the importance of power supply and cabling. 

 

In this sub-board, each line powers each component, and I used 4mm² at the time of building, almost a decade ago. I then later used the Gigawatt 4mm² audiophile-grade cable, which cost a fortune, for a 15m run. The cost of the Gigawatt cable and its availability became unreasonable and quite silly, so I turned to RS-Online to source the Lapp NYY-J 6mm² 3-core power cable, black PVC, 50m.
https://au.rs-online.com/web/p/power-cable/7210695

 

Sadly, that electrician ended up spending the day listening to my setup instead of doing the work. He'll have to come back to finish what he left unfinished. This time, I won't let him listen until the job is done.

 

Edited November 26, 2025Nov 26 by AccMagi7s
Remove sensitive electrical contents

So I managed to digest Terry's findings on a variety of cables: 4mm², 5mm², and 6mm². Perhaps my setup is a bit different from his, as I have the Accuphase PS1230 which handles filtering for all my upstream components. I haven't found the 4mm² cable to be worse off, so his findings are quite interesting and seem to be system-dependent, maybe? I should soon be able to conduct the same experiment and will update you. My positive experiences include having a dedicated circuit for each stage of my components. The power amplifier is on its own circuit, as is the upstream preamp and DAC. The digital source is on a separate circuit again. I hope this helps someone with their audio setup.

15 hours ago, AccMagi7s said:

So I managed to digest Terry's findings on a variety of cables: 4mm², 5mm², and 6mm². Perhaps my setup is a bit different from his, as I have the Accuphase PS1230 which handles filtering for all my upstream components. I haven't found the 4mm² cable to be worse off, so his findings are quite interesting and seem to be system-dependent, maybe? I should soon be able to conduct the same experiment and will update you. My positive experiences include having a dedicated circuit for each stage of my components. The power amplifier is on its own circuit, as is the upstream preamp and DAC. The digital source is on a separate circuit again. I hope this helps someone with their audio setup.

 

Hi Chanh,

 

most of my ramblings on the link Mark shared were written many months ago when the cabling was new and I had limited experience in how best to use the different gauges to get the best out of a system.

Since then I have tried quite a number of different systems and swapped in and out many individual components and each time I install a new system, including speakers, unfortunately to get the best overall SQ I usually end up needing to spend on average up to three days just comparing and getting the correct combination of what component is plugged into what gauge power cable just right.  This often goes hand in hand with comparing what aftermarket power cable combo then works best per each component. I have a reasonable number of different brands and models of power cables, still not enough though, so this also takes time to get the combined balance right.

 

For example, its not unusual to have a particular amp or server sound at its best when plugged in one gauge of copper power cable in one system and then sound at its best plugged in to a different gauge of copper in another system. This can be a little frustrating on occasion as there are few constants in all of this in the search for achieving system synergy. 

 

Another power related issue to consider is earthing, which from what I am finding has as much if not more of an impact on SQ than what gauge power cable used. I mentioned in the other thread that Mark linked to in one of my posts that I would be upgrading my earth stake/rod plus the buzz bar in the fuse box but so far have not, why? This simple and costless tweak with a garden hose dripping water down my old earth rod under the fuse box does wonders at improving SQ. 

 

This might reflect that my house has a larger earth issue or just that the earth rod needs to be replaced anyway but for what ever reason the improvement in SQ I get when I turn the tap on is seriously impressive.

I'm not saying trying this will work for everyone, but to put it into some sort of perspective I have tried this at two other peoples houses who had a hose near their fuse box and both times the SQ in their systems improved as well, so might be worth a try.

 

Only potential down side, if you have thin skin which I don't have, is the mocking you can get from others if you tell them, but what the hell if it works for you.

 

Just be aware the tap needs to be left on when listening, just at a dribble but it needs constant flow, which is often hard to get right so its constant, as taps have a habit of turning themselves off after a while if run at a low rate.

I have found I get a SQ improvement even after heavy rain, go figure. Anyway its a potential free SQ upgrade, but one that will make most of your audiophile friends think you have lost your mind. 😉 

 

I find it interesting that many in our hobby would rather spend money on new components than invest in fixing their power or room acoustics which are in my opinion at least 50% of any good system and often what are the largest limitations to getting the best results.

 

cheers,

Terry

Edited November 26, 2025Nov 26 by GC Hifi

Hi Terry,

 

I appreciate you sharing your experience and your generous willingness to provide insights here.

 

While I haven't tried the water dripping onto the earth rod—water is quite a scarce resource here in the West—I did notice that AS3000 allows for separate grounding. This could help prevent crosstalk from other circuitry in the house, such as appliances or even the grid itself, from interfering with the audio circuitry.

 

 

It might be worth discussing this cost-effective tweak with your sparky. It could make a noticeable difference!

 

Cheers. 

Chanh. 

2 hours ago, GC Hifi said:

most of my ramblings on the link Mark shared were written many months ago when the cabling was new and I had limited experience in how best to use the different gauges to get the best out of a system.

Definitely not a "rambler" Terry. Your thoughts and time spent on trialling different cables etc, and your reporting back, always make for interesting reading.

 

3 hours ago, GC Hifi said:

Another power related issue to consider is earthing, which from what I am finding has as much if not more of an impact on SQ than what gauge power cable used.

Agree 100%. having dedicated lines for power amps, and another dedicated line for everything else is something which was recommended to me, and done, for our system.

Haven't tried the dribbling water trick (and probably won't do so), but with your educated ear, and quality systems, if you can hear it, there seems to be something to it, certainly in your situation/system(s).

Very interesting. Thank you.

Thanks Chanh,

 

I will ask but I note that it states it is for an outbuilding, not a section of the one structure, so I guess time will tell if its acceptable or not.

 

All the cabling to the three listening rooms and the different gauges is new and completely separate plus each cable and room has their own fuses, so the power for the listening rooms is as close to being separated from the remainder of the house as possible.

 

While H2O is in short supply in WA at present this would only take a few litres per hour, so worth a try even if only once, my bet is you will get a real surprise.

 

cheers,

Terry

 

 

Edited November 27, 2025Nov 27 by GC Hifi

36 minutes ago, GC Hifi said:

 

I will ask but I note that it states it is for an outbuilding, not a section of the one structure, so I guess time will tell if its acceptable or not.

 

Thanks Terry. I'll do a trial this weekend and need to borrow a few local trained ears this Sunday.

 

In my case, it is an outbuilding dedicated to two channels only, and that segregated/separate earthing worked well.

On 27/11/2025 at 11:32 AM, AccMagi7s said:

Thanks Terry. I'll do a trial this weekend and need to borrow a few local trained ears this Sunday.

 

In my case, it is an outbuilding dedicated to two channels only, and that segregated/separate earthing worked well.

 

Hi Chanh, 

 

for what it is worth this is how I do it,

 

Step 1 ... Warm up your system.

 

Step 2 ... While sitting in your listening position and while its not critical too I would recommend playing a song you know well at a volume you normally use and listen to on a regular basis, then hit stop.

 

Step 3 ... Go outside and turn on the hose you have already placed, but not turned on, over your ground stake to run at least at a slow dribble, make sure it is staying on though as it is easy for the flow to stop after a few seconds if its to slow. The water needs to be kept flowing over the stake.

 

Step 4 ... Walk back in side sit down and play the same song. 

 

Something that catches me out on occasion is as I try to adjust the tap to run very slowly, literally at a dribble, its not uncommon ten or twenty plus minutes later for the water to slow further then stop.

I'm guessing at the time frames here after the water has stopped, but about thirty minutes later I notice the system isn't sounding nearly as good. It would seem it takes some time for the earth to dry out here, even though we are basically in sand. 

 

How long does it take once the water is turned on to notice a SQ difference, by the time I walk back in to the house and sit down and hit play there is a difference, though SQ does still improve over a fifteen or so minute time frame once the tap is turned on.

 

Anyway hope you and or anyone else who decides to give this a go enjoys experimenting with this as if it works for you as it does for me then you now have a cost free SQ improvement. It will be interesting to hear back how you and possibly others also go. 

 

cheers,

Terry

Edited November 29, 2025Nov 29 by GC Hifi

1 hour ago, GC Hifi said:

 

Hi Chanh, 

 

for what it is worth this is how I do it,

 

Step 1 ... Warm up your system.

 

Step 2 ... While sitting in your listening position and while its not critical too I would recommend playing a song you know well at a volume you normally use and listen to on a regular basis, then hit stop.

 

Step 3 ... Go outside and turn on the hose you have already placed, but not turned on, over your ground stake to run at least at a slow dribble, make sure it is staying on though as it is easy for the flow to stop after a few seconds if its to slow. The water needs to be kept flowing over the stake.

 

Step 4 ... Walk back in side sit down and play the same song. 

 

Something that catches me out on occasion is as I try to adjust the tap to run very slowly, literally at a dribble, its not uncommon ten or twenty plus minutes later for the water to slow further then stop.

I'm guessing at the time frames here after the water has stopped, but about thirty minutes later I notice the system isn't sounding nearly as good. It would seem it takes some time for the earth to dry out here, even though we are basically in sand. 

 

How long does it take once the water is turned on to notice a SQ difference, by the time I walk back in to the house and sit down and hit play there is a difference, though SQ does still improve over a fifteen or so minute time frame once the tap is turned on.

 

Anyway hope you and or anyone else who decides to give this a go enjoys experimenting with this as if it works for you as it does for me then you now have a cost free SQ improvement. It will be interesting to hear back how you and possibly others also go. 

 

cheers,

Terry

Thank you Terry! 
 

For our trial and to verify whether audio-grade cables like the Gigawatt are more effective than domestic and industrial types, I also bought another 50m of 6mm2 2-core plus Earth cable, which is a common industry standard at a reasonable price from a local electrical supplier. It’s ridiculously cheap in Audiophile World. 😂

 

To give you some perspective, I also placed the normal domestic 1.5mm2 wire next to it. It'll be interesting.

I’ll conduct the water dripping test tomorrow.

During the weekend, I conducted testing on several Cat8 Ethernet cables purchased from a local computer store. To my surprise, they proved to be of excellent quality. What particularly struck me was their remarkably low price. A $9.00 cable contrasts sharply with a $1500 audiophile-grade

 

If you have not yet tried this, I strongly recommend it, as the cost is minimal compared to audiophile-grade options.

 

https://www.ple.com.au/products/662961/cruxtec-cat8-1m-40gbe-sstp-triple-shielding-ethernet-cable-blue?srsltid=AfmBOoqA0rSDkdFew-zJrbsFLkrKyLh3lYb0qX5rLOnDmkQefAR143o-

On 29/11/2025 at 11:00 AM, AccMagi7s said:

Thank you Terry! 
 

For our trial and to verify whether audio-grade cables like the Gigawatt are more effective than domestic and industrial types, I also bought another 50m of 6mm2 2-core plus Earth cable, which is a common industry standard at a reasonable price from a local electrical supplier. It’s ridiculously cheap in Audiophile World. 😂

 

To give you some perspective, I also placed the normal domestic 1.5mm2 wire next to it. It'll be interesting.

I’ll conduct the water dripping test tomorrow.

Regarding the 6mm cables, I wanted to be sure and took enough time before posting. I don't recommend 6mm, and unfortunately, I will have them removed and replaced with 4mm.

 

4mm2 sounded overall better in my setup. 
 

41 minutes ago, AccMagi7s said:

What particularly struck me was their remarkably low price. A $9.00 cable contrasts sharply with a $1500 audiophile-grade

If you have not yet tried this, I strongly recommend it, as the cost is minimal compared to audiophile-grade options.

The difference between this and audiophile grade CAT8 would be the heat-shrink at both ends with fancy audiophile name on it.

These cables are not made by some tinkering engineer or anywhere else for that matter, but at big cable producing factories.

None of the brands audiophiles love and cherish have their own plants. It is all made to order and it is the manufacturers who develop these products and then offer them to brands which select designs and get them made with their logos and packaging.

And it is not just in audio. Table tennis rubbers for instance are made at just few factories in the World and only Butterly in Japan makes their own. There might be 20+ leading brands, but all European and the rest of Japanese ones are made in one factory in Germany and there are couple of factories in China which make cheaper stuff for their domestic market. 

Many industries operate in the same manner.

1 hour ago, AccMagi7s said:

During the weekend, I conducted testing on several Cat8 Ethernet cables purchased from a local computer store. To my surprise, they proved to be of excellent quality. What particularly struck me was their remarkably low price. A $9.00 cable contrasts sharply with a $1500 audiophile-grade

 

If you have not yet tried this, I strongly recommend it, as the cost is minimal compared to audiophile-grade options.

 

https://www.ple.com.au/products/662961/cruxtec-cat8-1m-40gbe-sstp-triple-shielding-ethernet-cable-blue?srsltid=AfmBOoqA0rSDkdFew-zJrbsFLkrKyLh3lYb0qX5rLOnDmkQefAR143o-

 

For what its worth even power cables take time to settle down and when I first put the 6mm in nearly everything I plugged into them sounded harsh and in your face, but that changed with time for the better. Personally I would consider leaving the 6mm in the wall and add 4mm as well. From memory I have something like 11 double power points behind my main system. Three on 6mm, six on 5mm and two on 4mm 

 

As I have mentioned before depending on what components are in the system I find that different components sound better on either 6mm and my preferred other size being 5mm. Same goes for 4mm and something worth a try if you feel so inclined is you can literally fine tune your system by, for example, having the amps on 4mm and the front end on 6mm. I find that more often then not running the front end through 6mm brings the voicing forward when the amps are being driven through the 4mm and or the 5mm and vice versa.

As I change in and out components from quite a number of brands and models on a regular basis the ability to fine tune through the gauge of the copper is something I wish I had known about years ago.

 

cheers,

Terry

 

 

Edited December 8, 2025Dec 8 by GC Hifi

This "outsiders" perspective article made me think of this thread (in a positive way) a couple of times 😉

https://www.ft.com/content/680ac312-67fc-4cbf-bbab-9facafc132d7?shareType=nongift

BTW stepping into the comments section is not for the faint of heart.

Edited December 12, 2025Dec 12 by zenikoy

1 hour ago, zenikoy said:

This "outsiders" perspective article made me think of this thread (in a positive way) a couple of times 😉

https://www.ft.com/content/680ac312-67fc-4cbf-bbab-9facafc132d7?shareType=nongift

BTW stepping into the comments section is not for the faint of heart.

Thanks for sharing @zenikoy !

Perhaps it all boils down to a personal journey. To this day, I dare say that these M7s were the best decision I ever made in audio. Despite my busy schedule lately, whenever I enter this room, I inevitably lose track of time as it seems to fly past. I believe that with music, almost any setup works—so long as the tunes connect with us emotionally. I often find joy listening to my AM radio in the car or an MP3 through my headphones, especially when a song from my childhood is playing. It’s this connection to my past and the warm, rich sound of valve electronics that truly captivates me.

However, with a proper setup and high-quality electronics and cabling, I found myself enjoying more and realised how much I hadn't heard previously from the car radio or an MP3 device. That said, I will continue to explore both cost-effective and high-end gear for better synergies with my overall current setup.

Edited December 12, 2025Dec 12 by AccMagi7s

Let me clarify what I mean by "proper setup." It starts with the room and acoustic treatment, which are the foundation for achieving a great sound field and clarity. The speakers are the next crucial element, key to shaping the overall experience. Electronics and cabling, often a matter of personal preference, serve as the finishing touches—adding subtle synergy rather than defining the core sound.

My goodness…!

What have I done?!?

3 minutes ago, AccMagi7s said:

My goodness…!

What have I done?!?

The first thing that comes to mind is that you have put together a very special Hifi system.

@AccMagi7s how’s the sound with those new mono blocks?

They said “there are many ways one can skin the cat!” correct…, zlion of ways! However, a righterveay is limited and one can only journey themselves to see the light!

I have heard from CH Precision, Boulder, Solutions, Pillium, Kondo, ..., and of course the Gryphon to name a few… Goldmund was here in 2020…., too! Perhaps the previous speakers was inadequate..?! Perhaps the new Goldmund are different…, for the better that is!