What did you do to your stereo rig today?

So, that Mutec clock cable is seemingly taking for ever to burn in and get acclimated to the system. For that reason aand others, I am having a love/hate relationship with it. On the previous page of this thread, I had mentioned the sonic changes between this cable and the other one.

treitz3 wrote: »

Main differences right off the bat....and none of this is night and day, just subtle....

Upper frequencies seem to be ever so slightly more pronounced/accentuated
Lower registers are more articulate and further defined
Improvement on visceral impact
More relaxed and, shall I say, calm background
Background sounds more pronounced/noticeable but not in your face

All of the above are still the same, but are no longer as subtle as they were, when I first put the cable in. The placement of singers and instruments, along with the image specificity has definitely improved as well. The separation of singers is now very clear and the distance between them has improved....and not by just a little bit. Extremely calm background.

One aspect that I am not sure I like, is that the tonal balance has now shifted. It does sound a little lean. More accurate, but still a little lean. Now, I will say this. The streaming rig did the same thing at one point, and while it sounded great, it just wasn't preferred. I actually preferred the tonal balance of the other clock cable, but I also prefer the aforementioned aspects of this cable. Like I said, Love/hate relationship.

Looks like might have to upgrade the PC from the SRA Signature to the Takshaka on the Esoteric transport and quite possibly the DAC as well, if I want to get that tonal balance back. That's what I ended up doing on the streaming portion of the rig and it worked like a charm. Those Takshaka's definitely bring great tonal balance and weight to the sound.

Since it is taking so long for this to burn in, I will just keep it playing non-stop for about another week, then revisit. Enjoying the tunes along the way.

Tom

You are welcome @Dr_Wu. When you target specific noise that enters the system, what you don't hear, makes you hear further into the music. I'm honestly glad I was able to help. Enjoy the music, brother.

Oh, play around with placement, if you haven't already. It does make a difference.

Tom

I researched a bit into Cardas binding posts to see why the connection is not secure. I learned that Cardas binding posts are often mentioned in discussions about reliable connections. That the binding posts are primarily designed to work best with spade lugs and while Cardas binding posts can accommodate banana plugs, they are not optimized for them. Well yeah, no chit, Sherlock! I already knew that. 4mm seems to be the norm, but Cardas accepts larger (I believe I read, up to 7mm)

So, I got to taking a closer look at them and did some experimenting. A week or two ago, I ordered a very thin 99% pure copper band and custom cut them, to fit in the ID as a shim, if you will. This did not go as anticipated, so I immediately scratched that idea altogether. So, I took a look at the binding posts even further.

What I learned is that with the spade nut in place, the banana clips would not provide a secure fitment. But when I took the spade nut (technically called a counter nut) out, I could securely mount both banana's in place without fear of them ever moving. So, I pondered for a bit and did some measurements with calipers. Long story short, I went out to the shop and bench ground off about 3mm of the back of the nut, so it could be screwed further in, onto the binding post itself. After grinding one nut, I cleaned up the inside thread pattern with a fine round file and went back to test to see if this would even work. It did! So, I spent the next hour and a half carefully grinding, finishing and polishing all of the nuts where the SC's would be attached.

I then went back to the stereo room and hooked everything back up. This time, with no need at all for rubber bands and an eraser. When I turned on the rig, I could not believe what I was hearing. All of the aspects I have worked so hard to achieve over the years came into a rather profound clarity and focus. I kind of figured that a slight change, to no change at all would happen. I am happy to say that I was completely incorrect with that assumption. What I knew was fantastic before, is now on a level that……well, it's just on another level. The image clarity/specificity/locational/aural cues and palpability is so clearly spot on now, it's kind of a shock to me. As mentioned before, an auditory revelation.

So, knowing what I know now, I am looking to upgrade all of the binding posts on the Woodmere's. Since they are tri-ampable, I will need twelve total. And, as you can guess, I am not looking at Cardas. I was speaking with an industry insider the other day about this and WBT appears to be the route I'd like to explore. I was eyeing this one -

http://www.wbtusa.com/pages/0705cun.html - WBT - 0705Cu



We'll see what the price comes in at for 12 of them…..along with the possibility of custom making a binding post plate for the Woodmere's. But from what I am hearing now? The investment will be more than worth the expenditure. Here is the "after" modification and configuration. All connections are now rock solid.

SRA Signature SC's into the bass network > Tara Labs, "The Muse" jumpers into the tweeter network > Audience Front Row jumpers go to the mid network.



Tom

But.....but......no comment about how it actually sounds. What's up widdat?

Tom