Not all power current is the same!

Every house has wall sockets with current. But not all sockets are the same! Choosing how you connect the different power cords of your Hi Fi chain, can really make an audible difference.

1)Choose a socket as close to your fuse board as possible. If you are building a new house or want to take the trouble, draw a dedicated line directly from the board to the socket. Do not use the line for anything else if possible.

2) Avoid other power consumers on the same line. Be careful with light dimmers, refrigerators, computers, washing machines... even if they are not on the same socket, shutting them down can make a difference. (in the case of light dimmers, they have the smallest influence when totally off or totally on. Between 10% - 90% you will have the same bad effect)

3) If you use a distribution cable, put the source(s) closest to the line that enters the distribution block, then the pre- amp , then the power amp.

4) If you have bipolar connectors, experiment with turning it around one component at a time.
(use the tune method to hear the difference). Start with the source, then pre-, then power amp.
If you have 3 poles on the connector. Try to find a socket that allows you to turn it. Once you have found the best combination, turn the plug of the distribution unit. Even that can make a small difference.

5) Most of the time the grounds in the components give more trouble than gain. Try eliminating them in all components but the preamp.

This is as far as you can go for free. The next steps may cost a bit of effort and money, but may well be worth it:

6) Change the multi stranded power cables by single cores of at least 1,5mm or 2,5mm for a poweramp.

7) Experiment with net filters or power supplies. They have most effect on the weak current consumers. My experiences were best when the poweramp was on direct current while the others were separated by filters.

And now for the freaky ones:

8) Change the power supply by a special silent battery power supply. Do not charge while listening....

9) Putting a rheotor on the line to regulate the voltage to the exact expected voltage is also in this category. (sounds great)


I o not require the steps above to be happy, but I definitely need step 4. If I am listening to a system that is not "balanced" in the socket arrangement, I get tired and irritated easily by the sound. It happened frequently that I noticed something strange in the sound. Then, after checking the markings on the plugs I found out that for example the cleaning woman had used one of the sockets for vacuum cleaning and put it back in, the wrong way!


Step 4 really only has one 'perfect' solution. For a source, amp system there are 4 combinations. Two are bad , two are good, one of which is the best.
This gives us a 50% chance that you are hearing the best your system can do, if you did not take care of it yet.

For a pre- power amp system, there are 8 combinations, and you only have two good ones !
There is only 25% chance that you connected it right 'by accident' , so test it, if you did not do it yet.

As always use the tune method described in my post on comparing sound to do a reliable audio test.