I wasn’t using the crappy jumpers that come with the speakers either, I had I nice set made up that were terminated with quality spades and banana plugs. I also appreciated the extra set of binding posts on the BHK, which made bi-wiring a breeze, and made for a much better connection than trying to connect two pairs of cables to the same binding post.
High end cabling. Without it, the step from canned sound to magic isn’t possible.
I’m not sure this move had too much to do with high end cabling. The Acrotec speaker cable I used was not all that expensive when I purchased it years ago. I originally used it for a pair of subs I had, because of the heavy gauge of the wire. It’s been sitting in a closet for years, because I didn’t consider it good enough to use for single wire hook up. It’s perfect for bi-wiring the lower frequencies though, which really woke my speakers up.
In my experience many components make various important differences and improvements, from regenerators over preamps to speakers.
But the last bit, the cascaded layers of not only flat sound events but bodily sound events in a soundstage, the kind of holographic, spherical imaging, the important last bit of ambience and depth… in my experience it’s most achieved by very special cabling top to bottom, tubes, proper sub integration, speaker placement and high frequency interfering field canceling. It’s quite easy to achieve a close top erfechte step before that, but not the last.
Still shaking my head at the improvement brought about by bi-wiring my Von Schweikert speakers. Lesson learned. When the manufacturer states that his product sounds better bi-wired, take note. If I had to quantify the increase in SQ, I would place it at 30% or higher. I was hoping to make gains in the lower frequencies, which happened in spades. Better pitch, definition, and authority… check. But what I wasn’t expecting was everything else taking a giant leap forward. Musical timbre is so much more realistic and satisfying, and there is a better sense of the venue or recording studio the musicians are preforming in. Also unexpected is how much more natural a relaxed everything sounded. There is a real ease and purity that didn’t exist before. Kinda kicking myself for not figuring this one out sooner. 
Interesting side note on what prompted me to experiment with my system. I visited an audio dealer to pickup some ic’s I wanted to audition, and made the mistake of listening to their quarter of a million dollar Rockport, Boulder, Esoteric, Nordost system. The listening experience recalibrated my perspective on what a high-end system is capable of. Unfortunately when I returned home and listened to my system, I was underwhelmed. Yes you’d expect a system costing many multiples higher than yours to sound better, but this new found perspective revealed to me that something was fundamentally wrong. My first thought was, my system is minus a preamp, so perhaps that’s a major factor, putting that aside though, what else could it be? I’ve tried different ic’s, and yes they make noticeable differences in the flavor of the sound, and sometimes even elevate the overall musicality, but they didn’t account for what I felt was missing. Next I wondered about the quality of the jumpers and speaker cables I was using, so I experimented with connecting the MG Audio cables to the lower binding posts first, then jumpers to the upper/high frequency binding posts, in order to get a bead on how they influence the sound. The bass didn’t improve like I thought it would, and the top end definitely took a nosedive. This told me the jumpers may also be holding the lower frequencies back, since they mucked up the top end. This then prompted me to try bi-wiring the speakers with the MG Audio back on top, and some heavy gage cables hooked directly to the lower binding posts. I think the heavier gage wire was definitely a plus, but I think the bigger benefit came from eliminating the jumpers and going with two runs of speaker cables.
Although my system still doesn’t approach anywhere near the level of the Rockport/Boulder system, I’m no longer underwhelmed of dissatisfied in the least, because things now sound fundamentally correct to me. The music now has the proper drive and authority in the bottom end, accompanied by an ease and grace, and a sense that musicians and instruments are real 3D entities occupying space, instead of mere cardboard cutouts, which was missing prior to bi-wiring.
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Just to parallel your experience, my Kef’s have three pairs of binding posts per side . I initially went single run cables with two pairs of jumpers and I wondered what happened to the music. I sourced a pair of bi wire Siltech’s and Installed them. What a difference! I recommend trying multiple runs as an experiment. It worked on my setup.
In the last year the item that has made the biggest difference for me in my system is the Decware ZROCK2. It’s judicious choices for adjustable EQ combined with fun tube-rolling and a lot of experimentation has been like room treatment in a little black box for me, allowing me to dial in a full-bodied sound in two rooms now that can be problematic and into which I am not able to introduce real room treatment.
Even though this component wasn’t initially in my opinion properly marketed and seemed suspicious to those of a “purist” bent (I used to be one of those) its effect on my system and my listening enjoyment has exceeded my expectations by a large margin. I’m now working on setting up a strong second system, and I have another of these on the builder’s work bench now.
In my case the DSjr by a large margin.
The original PS Audio Power Plant Premier. Since then they’ve improved, but nothing prepared me for the difference that truly clean power first made.
in chronological order, my biggest bang items were:
- adding a pair of REL subwoofers. made my speakers sound like a million bucks. And turned me into a true believer in subs. I had previously thought they were for Dub fans and HT movies. Man, was I wrong.
- a new PS Audio power cable for my Bryston power amplifier. I was a disbeliever in power cables too, along with subs…at first listen, my wife and I both immediately noticed the sonic improvements, especially in the lower frequencies. tight.
- upgrading speaker cables - started with Furutech Evolution II’s > Audio Sensibility Testaments > AufioQuest Aspens > MIT Shotguns.
- Adding a new bryston BDA2 DAC. wow. this was a game changer. Now replaced to PWD.
- Adding a power conditioner. Bryston’s BIT20. and installing a 20amp circuit.
- recently inserting a tube pre-amp - Aesthetix Calypso…yet to be given solid listen.
next on the list:
Direct Stream Sr.
upgrade 20amp power cable.
new PS Audio wall socket
AC12 power cable for new DAC.
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After achieving great success with bi-wiring, I decided to experiment further with speaker placement, since everything fundamentally changed after doing so. These Von Schweikert VR 35’s really like being close to the rear wall, as that’s how they were designed, so I pushed them even closer. Besides upgrading all of my electronics to PS Audio gear, and bi-wiring my speakers, this has been the next biggest improvement I’ve recently made in my system.
It’s taken awhile to get here, with all the hours of breaking in new gear, and allowing the many software updates to settle in, along with a few key tweaks, but the level of enjoyment and satisfaction I’m deriving from my system now, has made the journey well worth it.
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Moving to a house that didn’t have so much glass.
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post is now removed
Joining the PSAudio community. Component wise, replacing my Rotel preamp and power amp with PS Audio SGCD and M700’s. Eagerly anticipating the addition of a couple of REL S/3 subs.
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Welcome! Should be quite a step up. Let us know how things develop.
Thank you for the welcome though I joined last year in April. Same time when I replaced the amp and pre-amp. I can see how the first sentence in my previous post could easily be misinterpreted. What I meant to say was that the exposure to the PS Audio community made the biggest difference in my setup. And of course, the amps helped as well.
In addition, this past year, I have discovered a lot of music (thank you to the PS Audio community and @lonson’s amazing spinning thread and all the people who contribute to it).
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Nice! Please send pictures when you get the subs and let us know what you think.
Shall do.
I am asking for forgiveness, my English is poor.
Earlier I tried to get a good sound at the lowest cost - I am an electronics engineer and I myself designed amplifiers and loudspeakers. Time, however, escapes (I am 60) and I realized that without serious decisions, I may not have enough time to enjoy the good sound. Encouraged by a friend (he is a distributor of PS Audio in Poland), in November 2017 I bought DMP, DSD and P5. In the next months I bought the Wireworld Platinium HDMI cable, SR BLUE Quantum fuses for DMP, DSD, P5 and recently 4 silver Verastarr Grand Illusion Signature power cables. I bought HDMI cables without testing (I do not regret this purchase, I would do it again), I bought the fuses and power cables after the tests. Each component has a significant impact on the SQ - the most expensive are power cables, but their impact is right for the price.
I do not listen to music at the moment because I am building new loudspeakers: closed housing (110 cm high, 43 mm thick wall, 45 kg mass without speakers), Scan Speak speakers (beryllium tweeter D2908 / 714000, 18 cm midrage 18M / 8631T00, 28 cm woofer 28W / 8878T01), active system - each speaker controlled by Hypex NC 500 amplifier. In a few days I will start listening again - mainly SACD, classical music, jazz and rock from my youth - 70s.
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Very cool. And your English is excellent. It’s great you have the skills to build some of your own equipment. Keep us posted on how things turn out.
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