Snail stuff

[lugano]

This is a weird one... I was shopping around at our local Carrefour dept store, looking for something that could help me reducing RF on a budget, when I came upon this item. It sells for 5 CHF (about 4 $) and for that price you get 3 of them. It's made out of inox and its purpose is to serve snails (escargots). You typically place the escargots in these extrusions. The weird combination of a inox plate with all these irregularities made me unusually think more than I'm used to, and here I go, spending 4 bucks on a set of three. I came home, placed one piece under the CD player, one under the DAC and one over the PS Audio GCC.250...a ton of mud went away. Real voodoo, but if you can get it, for 4$, it's worth the try !

 

[ralflar]

Wait-a-minute. I respect you too much to laugh out loud. Is it possible that the PS Audio amp sits on a shelf below the DAC-1 and the CD player?

 

[lugano]

Wait-a-minute. I respect you too much to laugh out loud. Is it possible that the PS Audio amp sits on a shelf below the DAC-1 and the CD player?

The amp must be there where it is now - if it goes further down I will miss part of its beauty and - more than that - the remote won't work. The problem with PWM amps is that they often turn your FM Tuner into a useless piece of gear and this is what I was trying to solve.

 

[ralflar]

What I was trying to say was, I wondered if DAC and CD player are located above the amp, not if you could relocate the amp. I thought that your intention must have been RFI shielding. Having just visited your system I see that the amp is located above the DAC. Did you try a plate under the amp or over the DAC?

 

[lugano]

Did you try a plate under the amp or over the DAC?

Unfortunately, I discovered the culprit - and there is not much that i can do.

The cable company injects some insane voltage into their lines, and if I connect the tuner to the rest of the setup, it will make my whole gear hum, even if the tuner is not powered on. Screw 'em. The only solution as of now is to pull out the antenna cable from the tuner during serious listening (shutting it down does not help).

 

[ralflar]

Ground loop!? I remember reading about hum problems some people reported when their cable boxes were connected to both the wall and the amplifier. Decoupling devices are available. I forget what they are called.

 

[risabet]

Cable inputs hum like a bastard!

Not that I know what a bastard hums like, anyway. The one I use on my cable input is the Jensen VRD-1FF and it totally killed the hum. They are $59.95 at

Jensen VRD-1FF

 

[Peter Hogan]

Unfortunately, I discovered the culprit - and there is not much that i can do.

The cable company injects some insane voltage into their lines,

Hi,
The voltage is caused by the cable wire running for miles in proximity of the high voltage AC cables on the phone poles. The inductive coupling between them causes the voltage you are referring to. Phone wires are subject to the same effect.

Peter