[Vince in TX]

Just a tip for you...get a good rack and get that gear off the floor. The vibration that the speakers are putting into the floor from pressurizing the room have a notable impact on sound quality. Vibration causes the presentation to sound unclear, unfocused and blurred and slurred. And carpet is the worst material to put electronic amplification gear on, adding fuzziness and grain. Even an affordable stand from Pangea made of MDF will make a big difference.

Simply adding the feet to my subs and my X-Static speakers made a big difference in clarity.   I was surprised.   I didn't expect that getting them up off the carpet would make that big of a difference.   Now I'm going to look for a base for my Rythmik servo amps.

[Early B.]

Now I'm going to look for a base for my Rythmik servo amps.

Build them. Attach outriggers to wood slabs...

[Vince in TX]

Build them. Attach outriggers to wood slabs...

Oooh.   Where did you get your outriggers?

[Early B.]

Oooh.   Where did you get your outriggers?

https://soundocity.com/shop/outriggers/corner-outrigger/

[corndog71]

I got these for my X-Statiks.  They worked well with the Isoacoustics Gaia III.

https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-OA-4-Outrigger-Speaker-Spike-Set-with-Steel-Base-4-Pcs-240-771

[Stephen Scharf]

Simply adding the feet to my subs and my X-Static speakers made a big difference in clarity.   I was surprised.   I didn't expect that getting them up off the carpet would make that big of a difference.   Now I'm going to look for a base for my Rythmik servo amps.

Yes, it's impressive the improvement it can make. I put some of Norm Varney of A/V Roomservice EVPs under my REL sub, and it made a significant improvement to the system because it kept vibration the sub from coupling mechanically to the floor, which then couples mechanically to the drywall, and then drywall resonates at...70 Hz. Adding the EVPs brought one of the most notable improvements I've made because it made the room...quieter.

[Hobbsmeerkat]

Had a little fun this evening.
Spent a bit of the evening playing with a couple power cables on the Tsakiridis tube preamp.

Gear:
Surface Pro 3
Holo Spring DAC with B24
Tsakiridis Alexander tube preamp
GK10 battery chip amp.
NX-Studio + servo sub stands.

I tested the B16 to start vs a generic power cord & an Audio Art cable, same as the ones I tested in previous posts on the DAC.

Generic cable:
It was like looking thru a fogged and smudged window. Everything sounded unfocused and vague.. if not a little muddy in more layered tracks.
The depth of the soundstage collapsed quite a lot. There is still plenty of width, but there's no depth.

Audio Art Cable:
Much cleaner overall compared to the generic cord, no fogginess, but still rather "unfocused" compared to the B16.
I can start picking out some of the depth and details better. But it lacks the crispness. Things that sound like a spiral on the B16, instead sound like a zig-zag, so definitely getting closer, but still not quite there.

B-16:
Clean and crisp with plenty of depth and layering within the soundstage. I can't complain about it.. yet... 
Its easy so visualize what's happening in the song and "see" the imagry it paints.

I wouldn't mind testing a B24 in the future as well, but I only have one at the moment on the DAC.
I think we may have a burned-in unit I can borrow & compare it to..
Maybe that's something I can do this weekend.

[Catharus]

I just put in an order for three B24 cables.

I saw the notes about breaking in the cables. How do I do that in the fastest way? High volume? Is running 24/7 bad for any reason?

Anyone order cables recently that can talk to how long your lead time was?

Also, these will be my first power cables other than the generic black ones. Is there anything special I should pay attention to? @Hoobsmeerkat mentions soundstage depth, placement in imaging, and details.

Many thanks. I’m excited.

[Hobbsmeerkat]

Best way to burn them in is to run power through them 24/7 for about 10 days.
Volume doesnt need to get any louder than a whisper or speaking level, but you can always turn it up a bit when you're not home or want to listen in to see how they are progressing.

For the first 80-100 hours they tend to be a bit "bright" but by the 100 hour mark, that should all be gone, and the soundstage will continue to open up, as the dielectric materials finish settling until about 200-250 hours of use.

[routlaw]

Why not just plug them into a light bulb or similar device. With power chords I can't for the life of me understand an audio signal running through the gear they power would make any difference. Wouldn't they just need current running through them non stop? Thanks

[Catharus]

Many thanks @Hobbsmeerkat. I probably won’t have the patience to wait that long until I start listening. But it is good to know that I can get a sense of the final sound in a week of 24/7 usage even at low volume.

@routlaw: How were you thinking of connecting the light bulb to the IEC15 connector? There might be adaptors but they must be pretty specialized.

[Hobbsmeerkat]

Many thanks @Hobbsmeerkat. I probably won’t have the patience to wait that long until I start listening. But it is good to know that I can get a sense of the final sound in a week of 24/7 usage even at low volume.

It's definitely worth checking in regularly as they burn in.

[NoahH]

I rechecked this thread and forum and could not find answers on this - apologies if it exists and I missed.

Has anyone tried swapping IEC connectors on the B24s? I pretty strongly buy that connectors have as much of an effect as cables (tube connectors are a good example) and am curious what gains folks have seen (if any) with higher level power connectors.

[Hobbsmeerkat]

The B24s are much more difficult to disassemble as they're made differently to the B16s, accessing the connector to remove it is probably going to be a challenge. The B16s ends are pretty easy to swap out.

That said, if someone sends us a connector they want to use, we can make a cable using it so long as you shoot us an email or leave a note with the end.

And just as a side note, we're looking into offering EU plugs in the future as we e been getting a fair number of people asking for them.

[NoahH]

The B24s are much more difficult to disassemble as they're made differently to the B16s, accessing the connector to remove it is probably going to be a challenge. The B16s ends are pretty easy to swap out.

That said, if someone sends us a connector they want to use, we can make a cable using it so long as you shoot us an email or leave a note with the end.

And just as a side note, we're looking into offering EU plugs in the future as we e been getting a fair number of people asking for them.

Hobbs - that sounds great. I think I will take you up on that.

Have you guys tried other plugs at the factory? I am most interested in Furutech.

[Hobbsmeerkat]

Hobbs - that sounds great. I think I will take you up on that.

Have you guys tried other plugs at the factory? I am most interested in Furutech.

Danny has and he liked the Furutech ends as well, and the ends we used are quite similar to their entry level connectors. They mostly plastic, with the only metal being the connectors and the screws used in their assembly.

I own one of the early prototypes which uses hand woven cables and Furutech ends, it's a pretty solid cable even compared to the B16.

And most people who have also sent ends in have sent in Furutech ends, Including some really nice Furutech 20Amp IEC connectors for use in a B24.

[Catharus]

I got my three B24 cables hooked up and running for 48 hours or so. It took eight days from ordering to putting my eager paws on them.

Unpacking them, I noticed that the lengths were closer than the expected one foot difference. A tape measure told me the five foot cable was exact length and the four foot cables had about a half foot of bonus length. Cool.

Installing them was a bigger hurdle than I expected. While I can see that high end cables can be very stiff and the B24s are flexible compared to such a standard, compared to generic black power cables, routing and bending the B24 cables is hard. If your setup has six inches of free space behind your components, you will have an easier time than I had. My major problem was the length of the heat shrink. If that had been an inch shorter, I would have had an easier time.

After a couple of hours of cable wrangling I got my system fired up with the new cables. I had low expectations due to all the talk of burn in. But, I could immediately tell that something had changed. The most spectacular change is layering of soundstage depth. I can so easily tell how sounds are stacked in front of each other.

I’m actually a bit worried that the talked about break in process will change this for the worse. Anyway, I’m in the honeymoon phase so we’ll see how this holds up over the coming weeks.

Thumbs up for the 30 day trial. I would not have taken a chance on these cables without it.

[Early B.]

I’m actually a bit worried that the talked about break in process will change this for the worse.

Don't worry -- break-in won't make things worse. Wait a while longer and your system may sound even better.

[Early B.]

Have you guys tried other plugs at the factory? I am most interested in Furutech.

I sent GR Research some Furutech FI-48 NCF plugs a few months ago to build the "ultimate power cord" for my DAC. However, I never bothered to compare it to the 2 or 3 other B-24's that I have, so I don't know how much of an improvement the NCF plugs were, if at all. It would be an easy experiment to swap out power cords and report back, so one day I might do it. 

[NoahH]

I sent GR Research some Furutech FI-48 NCF plugs a few months ago to build the "ultimate power cord" for my DAC. However, I never bothered to compare it to the 2 or 3 other B-24's that I have, so I don't know how much of an improvement the NCF plugs were, if at all. It would be an easy experiment to swap out power cords and report back, so one day I might do it.

That would be really cool to hear. The NCF stuff is generally well reviewed, so I would hope for a good impact (particular given the price of those parts).