Moving house

...and introducing a super-spur

By John Groom

January 2003

Psychobabble is a column to explore the twilight zone of hi-fi. That strange place where the improbable meets the impossible, the fussy meets the obsessional, and the physical meets the psychological.

In the last few weeks I have moved home. This has led to a re-examination of the place that hi-fi plays in my life. In choosing a new home the first big decision was, of course, the lounge.

We found a home with a large squarish lounge built on a concrete floor that is relatively acoustically neutral. My previous lounge had been small with a wooden floor. It was an easy room to acoustically overload and a lot of work went into controlling unwanted resonances. I even went as far as placing lead weights under the stand to control the vibrations going into the floor and feed back from the speakers! This was surprisingly successful.

There are a whole series of decisions about the lounge being made other than just where to put the speakers. I have been reminded of the issues of DAF (Domestic Acceptance Factor) that resulted in moving the stand closer to the lounge suite so that it doesn’t dominate the room as much.

Juliet is a very visual person and the Naim Fraim that she drooled so heavily over in its original home has now become “cold”. To “warm” it up apparently it needs the company of bright cushions and rimu bookcases! I couldn’t bear the thought of a “lonely” equipment stand so now it’s got lots of warm company.

On a more serious level, the new home raised the issue of a quality power supply. I’ve been following with interest the discussions on a “super-spur” in the English hi-fi press over the last few years. Great things are promised.

After a phone call to Chris Kidd Electrical, we installed an ISO amp mains switch, a copper earthing rod, heavy duty earth-wire and a 25mm super-spur. All the cables needed careful checking for direction and the 25mm cable is only available as a twin so the extra earth had to be taped alongside the positive (opposite to the neutral). Yesterday, after a couple of day’s work, it was all finished.

Well, was it worth the effort and expense? You bet. New cables and connections sound initially bright and glossy. Allowing for this however the sound is now fast, authorative, big, open and simply expensive. I am not aware of any upgrade (that I could afford) that would bring me these results.

There is an irony to all of this. With a good room and an excellent power supply I have been wondering how much of the satisfaction I could still capture if I down-graded simply to a modest quality CD player and integrated amp with more forgiving speakers?

Last night I migrated to the sitting room where we have Juliet’s Pioneer system that is used mostly for radio and background music. After a bit of pottering with it (a higher grade fuse and unswitched wall socket) I realised how much I can enjoy a warmer more “forgiving” sound that is also less demanding.

As I have commented before, it is perhaps about the types of listening we want to do. At present I feel I now have the best of both worlds. A lounge system with astonishing detail that deserves attention, and a living room sound that I can soak into.

I had a dedicated mains spur installed by Chris Kidd over a year ago. The performance upgrade to my hi-fi system was astonishing! – Editor.

Other Psychobabble columns

John Groom is a psychologist working in private practice on Auckland's North Shore. John has over three decades experience in both hi-fi and psychology.

Have your say!

Tell us what you think about this article. your comments.

Talk about this article on the AudioEnz Forums.