Don Quichotte
500+ Head-Fier
Hi. I am getting some weird results in my system and I'm wondering what is the scientific explanation for this. Maybe some of you can help me understand - or at least try an educated guess. If so, please post.
System:
- CD player with an output impedance of about 500 ohms, measured by the procedure mentioned on the Sowter site (unbalanced), then
- short (~30 cm) diy interconnects made of some guitar cable and cheap connectors,
- ALPS pot, 50 kohms,
- diy interconnects (2 meters long), same guitar cable and cheap connectors, and finally
- active studio monitors, input impedance 10 kohms as stated in the manual, input trimmers set on full volume
Phenomenon I don't understand:
I have accidentally connected the cables in reverse position with respect to the pot, so the signal went from the CD player to the output of the pot, through the pot, then the from the input of the pot to the active monitors and heard the following:
1. with the pot in normal position: perhaps better bass control but too little bass, the low one in particular (coming form a bassy player and Mackies!), more linear and perhaps somewhat more relaxed mids, less involving, apparently less dynamic, slightly rolled-off highs
2. with the pot in reverse ("wrong") position: better frequency extension, especially much more bass (even too much sometimes, but still preferable to the normal pot position), significantly warmer mids (again, perhaps a little overdone), a bit congested, highs OK, more dynamic and involving, obviously better texture of the sound (such as the friction of the cello bow against the strings and the resonance of its acoustic body), acoustic instruments are much more believable in terms of tonality, texture and dynamic presentation
Overall, I prefer the "wrong" pot position and I don't understand, shouldn't it sound much worse? Also, is my CD player in danger because of me using the pot in reverse position? I have already listened to this configuration for several hundred hours for the past ~2 years, so I guess it should be OK, but somebody told me it's not good for the player...
P.S. In case it helps (read only if you feel some more info would be beneficial):
a) before I bought my current Stax and K1000 phones, I was using my 120 ohms K501 directly out of my CD player's output through a 1kohm pot. My actual CD player sounds much much louder in this configuration than my previous Technics 770 one, although both are rated at 2V output. In all the other configurations (for example player --> Stax amp --> Stax phones on in the speakers) the sound is normally loud
b) reducing the sound level by turning the trimpots on the back of the monitors (pot wired in reverse) results in obviously warmer, sweeter, less dynamic, less extended frequency wise, less detailed and somewhat congested sound
c) with the pot in normal position, connecting the wiper to the ground through a resistor (I don't remember the value) resulted in a sound that was tonally inbetween the options 1. and 2. above ("normal" position and "wrong" position pot), but detail, texture and dynamics similar to option 1. ("normal" position pot)
System:
- CD player with an output impedance of about 500 ohms, measured by the procedure mentioned on the Sowter site (unbalanced), then
- short (~30 cm) diy interconnects made of some guitar cable and cheap connectors,
- ALPS pot, 50 kohms,
- diy interconnects (2 meters long), same guitar cable and cheap connectors, and finally
- active studio monitors, input impedance 10 kohms as stated in the manual, input trimmers set on full volume
Phenomenon I don't understand:
I have accidentally connected the cables in reverse position with respect to the pot, so the signal went from the CD player to the output of the pot, through the pot, then the from the input of the pot to the active monitors and heard the following:
1. with the pot in normal position: perhaps better bass control but too little bass, the low one in particular (coming form a bassy player and Mackies!), more linear and perhaps somewhat more relaxed mids, less involving, apparently less dynamic, slightly rolled-off highs
2. with the pot in reverse ("wrong") position: better frequency extension, especially much more bass (even too much sometimes, but still preferable to the normal pot position), significantly warmer mids (again, perhaps a little overdone), a bit congested, highs OK, more dynamic and involving, obviously better texture of the sound (such as the friction of the cello bow against the strings and the resonance of its acoustic body), acoustic instruments are much more believable in terms of tonality, texture and dynamic presentation
Overall, I prefer the "wrong" pot position and I don't understand, shouldn't it sound much worse? Also, is my CD player in danger because of me using the pot in reverse position? I have already listened to this configuration for several hundred hours for the past ~2 years, so I guess it should be OK, but somebody told me it's not good for the player...
P.S. In case it helps (read only if you feel some more info would be beneficial):
a) before I bought my current Stax and K1000 phones, I was using my 120 ohms K501 directly out of my CD player's output through a 1kohm pot. My actual CD player sounds much much louder in this configuration than my previous Technics 770 one, although both are rated at 2V output. In all the other configurations (for example player --> Stax amp --> Stax phones on in the speakers) the sound is normally loud
b) reducing the sound level by turning the trimpots on the back of the monitors (pot wired in reverse) results in obviously warmer, sweeter, less dynamic, less extended frequency wise, less detailed and somewhat congested sound
c) with the pot in normal position, connecting the wiper to the ground through a resistor (I don't remember the value) resulted in a sound that was tonally inbetween the options 1. and 2. above ("normal" position and "wrong" position pot), but detail, texture and dynamics similar to option 1. ("normal" position pot)
