Folks:
My outside wiring leading to the house from utility power and electricity meter wiring burned out after 40 years of service. The utility company said that I had to call an electrician as it was my responsibility. An electrician came and made the repair and utility company came out and turned on the electricity. I didn’t think anything of it until I turned on my stereo. I have all PSA equipment including FR-30’s. I am considering upgrading to PMG stuff after upgrading to PMG Pre, which easily outperformed the BHK Pre.
Well, the SQ has deteriorated in obvious ways. The soundstage collapsed and bass is anemic. Midrange lost transparency. I hope that this is just another burn in that is required. I remember when an electrician installed dedicated lines and they required burn in. Is this the case or am I screwed?
Thanks for your suggestion. Polarity was good. But my 2 P20’s showed slightly higher “distortion in” from 2.1% to 2.8% on both sides. The P20’s brought it down to 0.1% “distortion out” as before the repair.
Joe—I recall a similar scenario with Michael Fremer’s house power. He produced a couple in depth videos and wrote articles about his experience including the solution.
What type of meter did you have and what did they replace it with? Was the replacement a smart meter? These Smart meters put out a ton of RF.
I’m sure burn in is a contributing factor to the deterioration in sound.
I rejected the Smart meter the utility company wanted to put in and received a non communicating meter, which actually improved the sound of my system.
Thanks for the info. The original was a clocklike, mechanical meter. The new one is digital. (probably smart).
However, the SQ is slowly coming back. Bass is coming back but lacking detail. Sound stage is beginning to sound 3d. To me it seems like a burn in. I may get better SQ as original contacts and wires were messed up and corroded. It may take 100-200 hours of burn in to get it back.
I believe it’s burn in. Similar phenomenon here with cable: a falling tree limb tore the cable connected to the pole. There was enough slack that the cable could have been reconnected and crimped, but the tech opted to run a new cable from the pole to the house (about 200 feet).
Immediately resuming watching the image had fuzzy elements that it did not before, and the sound was more thin than before. Both picture and sound improved over the next two weeks and after two weeks seemed about where it had been before.
I think your correct. It’s been about 35 hours of usage on my stereo since the power was rewired and the SQ is settling in. Bass is coming back and soundstage is building. I notice more midrange low level detail, but drop dead transparency is not quite there yet. There is more to go.