Russ Andrews sat on my music...

[Bodfish]

So I got curious about the whole 'a CD player can overload your amps input and cause distortion' thing because apparently my CD player is indeed overloading my pre-amp - not that I can perceive this in day to day listening.

I purchased an attenuated RCA > DIN Kimber Sliver Streak from Russ Andrews and all I can say is thank goodness for their 60 day guarantee! The sound is so so much flatter and robbed of life - it's almost as if someones thrown a rug over the speakers! I know I'm a long way off comparing like with like as far as the ic's go (solid core copper spaced pair configuration on the DNM and stranded sliver coated copper weave on the Kimbers) but I'm staggered at the difference, especially as the DNM was about one third the price.

Has anyone else had experience of the Silver Streak (attenuated or otherwise)? Did you notice much change while the cable burned in (yes, sorry, I think thats a factor too)? Right now, I just don't think I can wait that long if it means having to listen to this dross...after all, it can't get that much better can it?!

 

[matengawhat]

i bought the russ andrew timbre attenuated to -11db to replace a chord chameleon - didn't notice any real change in sound just a lot more travel in the volume control which i really wanted

the silver could just take a long time to bed in although sold the chameleons on as only .5m and surplas to requirements so can't compare back

 

[Anonymous]

how did you find out it was being overloaded

 

[Bodfish]

There is a little table on Russ Andrews website which suggests a correlation between the volt output of a cd player and the input sensitivity of a pre-amp - which suggested I 'needed' -14db of attenutation to 'stop' the overload.

I see where you are going with this but like I said, I could not perceive any problem (far from it in fact) but I'm a curious fellow 😉 and I knew I could get my money back if things didn't work out. I guess I'm just surprised how much of a degredation there has been in the sound.

 

[Anonymous]

curious because by far the majority of cd/amp combinations need no attenuation at all and you can usually hear when you need one

must check out the RA site its not on my list of favourites

 

[matengawhat]

i bought the attenuated interconnects mainly because my amp at 10 o'clock was deafining and the remote moved in big steps now goes to about 12 which means have far more travel allowing me to be more precise with volume changes

 

[staggerlee]

Normally you have to let cables bed in anything from 50 to 200 hours. I can't comment on RA stuff as i only use their stuff for home cinema not hifi, but i notice with other brands that burn in time is required.

 

[Anonymous]

bedding in is just your ears getting used to it

think why spend money on cables if you dont know what they'll sound like in x hours might as well put youre money in the lottery

 

[Bodfish]

one off:

bedding in is just your ears getting used to it

think why spend money on cables if you dont know what they'll sound like in x hours might as well put youre money in the lottery

Not sure I get you - my ears perceive the sound improving over time? That sounds weird to me!

 

[Anonymous]

No, he just means that over a period of time your ears will become acclimatised to the new sound. So for example, if you buy a new amp and you think it sounds "bright" (i.e. more treble than your old amp) then over time your ears (actually it's the bit of your brain that deals with hearing) will adjust, and it will sound less bright. In fact, the sound that the amp is making is completely unchanged.

Of course, there is also the possibility that "burn in" of components does exist, but that does not negate the above. In fact, a number of posts by people talking about how their second hand amp sounds a lot better after hours of burning in would seem to support the idea that it is at least partly all in your head.

 

[Anonymous]

I disagree ... been married for more than 25 yrs .... my wife still sounds very 'bright' .... my brain now just switches off and my head nods in 'agreement'

 

[Anonymous]

I'm having a wee issue with my pre's pot and have been advised by AVI's reputed spokesman to put in place some attentuation to help. I'm going to try the Rothwell attenuators so will report back once I have.

 

[matengawhat]

i bought a pair of these first to try before the interconnects still have them and had thought about also trying them between pre and power amp

 

[Andrew Everard]

Little point using them between pre and power: their main function is to reduce the incoming signal and let the preamp section's volume control operate over its best-sounding sector of travel - eg without the tracking errors possible at low volume settings

 

[matengawhat]

Andrew Everard:Little point using them between pre and power: their main function is to reduce the incoming signal and let the preamp section's volume control operate over its best-sounding sector of travel - eg without the tracking errors possible at low volume settings

nearly all the companies that make these also suggest the use of them between pre and power as away of lowering the noise floor - or is that just a marketing gimmick

 

[Anonymous]

most of the attenuator thing is a marketing gimmick you only need them if you hear distortion

 

[Bodfish]

And that's why the Silver Streak has already been taken out and is back in it's box and the DNM is back in place making my system sing like it used to 🙂

 

[Anonymous]

Surely using it between pre and power will also allow you to use a higher range of the volume pot? It must do!

 

[Anonymous]

but thats not going to help anything

 

[Anonymous]

The problem I have is that I have to use my volume pot at teh bottom of it's range and it's not tracking L-R correctly. If I put in the attenuator between pre/power I can turn up the volume pot into the middle more, solving the problem (as confirmed by AVI).

 

[Anonymous]

yes should have added unless theres problems with the volume pot at low levels but thats usually in cheap amps which you wouldnt think with avi

think its a fault in some nad amps

 

[Anonymous]

older 1980s nad amps that is

 

[Anonymous]

Yeah I thought it odd too. The pre is early 90's so pretty old. I asked AVI if they could change the POT and they said that it's perfectly good but it'll be out of the accepted working range if at or near the bottom. I think it can almost be considered a design issue but that's a bit harsh! I'm going to try some attenuators as I like fiddling. If it doesn't solve the problem then I'll get a passive pre instead!

Bloody good pre this AVI though!

 

[matengawhat]

most ppl in my opinion use attenuators purly to give more travel on the volume pot - i had no problem with overloading the pre amp but just wanted more control at lower volume levels - that why i bought and use them - also i think it increases the soundstage as you are asking the amp to work harder for the same amount of volume before it hits deafining overload levels and therefore the amp is doing more within its comfortable range - i think this is some of the reasons why vinyl always sound sweeter as the volume form the cartridge is usually less than a cdp even after going through a phono stage so needs a little extra on the dial for the same amount of volume

you should really give it go - also think the poster has given up way to early on the cables - silver cables take forever to run in!

 

[Anonymous]

unfortunately thats an internet myth though it might make your amp run warmer wich is good for those cold winter nights

silver cables take exactly the same time to run in as all cables since its your hearing getting used to the sound nothing else