Why does my hi-fi sound different at different times of the day?

[gbhsi1]

For some reason my hi-fi sounds different at different times of the day, is there a reason for this? Sometimes it sounds fantastic & other times...well....not very good at all. Any ideas? or does everyone experience the same fluctuations?

 

[Frank Harvey]

Many reasons. One many people claim is electrics - less people use electric late evening compared to peak times which are 7/8pm.

Also, background noise varies. If you're near a road, there'll be and constant more traffic noise during the day and peak traffic times, but late at night there's less traffic around, and less frequent.

The less background noise there is, the more you can hear of what your hi-fi IS producing.

 

[a.g.]

I believe that background noise plays a massive part. I only realised how much there is when I went outside at about midnight the other day and noticed how quiet it is. Then again I do live in London (but not on a busy road).

 

[gbhsi1]

Will living in a block of flats be the cause too? Whilst your on this forum, could you help me with speaker cable selection. I currently have the Chord Carnival Silverscreen bi-wired to my neat motive 2's. I love the sound but when the neat motive's are pushed it can, and in some recordings, sound too harsh and forward...which in turns makes me turn the volume down. I have tried several cables (and attentuators...but that sucks the life out of the recordings) throughout the years but just can't seem to get it right, although the chord silverscreen has come close. Do you think I should upgrade to ..say...chord odyssey 4?? I can't really find any place which offers home trials, that would be great as I can try before I spend money.

 

[Frank Harvey]

I have found the Rumour and Odyssey cables sound more refined than the Silver Screen. If you can, the best thing to do is to see if you can get a loan of a dem set to try in your system - a bit of an expensive exercise if it doesn't do what you want!

 

[gbhsi1]

Thank you very much. I will look around and see if anyone provides this service.

 

[aliEnRIK]

"Why does my hi-fi sound different at different times of the day?"
Theres generally a lot more 'mains noise' present during the working days than at night. Mains conditioners certainly help the matter but the poorer ones will struggle more with large amounts of RFI present

 

[SteveR750]

I always assumed that alcohol was the best noise filter you could buy, hence a better sound generally in the evenings..

 

[Anonymous]

Here it's really bad in the summer, due to the heat everyone has the A/C on, the population triples so the demand of the elec is high, the result was the sound would go off. The things I did to help was a dedicated spur, which doesn't really help, but keeps everything else of that line and the add a regenerator, not a conditioner as such but at regenerator AC>DC>AC, doing this Ive found helps stabilise the sound a bit better throughout the day.