[kawhia]

Does anyone have any experience with the Acoustic revive RTP 4EU Absolute? It is quite a lot more expensive.

 

[Mr X]

It arrived today and plugged everything in. It's too early to say anything about bass, energy, separation or details but there's one thing that sprung out immediately.
I keep hearing about people hearing power conditioners and noticing more "relaxation" in their music, or even they felt like the music was playing at a slower pace. I always wrote those impressions off as audiophile nonsense..

Well that's exactly what hit me the first two songs I played with the PSM156 in the system! Music sounds less busy and honestly like it's being played back at a slightly lower pace. Very odd but this relaxed presentation allows me to focus on any part of the music I like.

Always been sceptical of power conditioning but this one is a keeper for sure!

Its an awesome piece of kit but is also a rabbit hole - I now have 2x 156 and 2x GM City and 1xroutemaster and all source devices now running Ultra cables


Give it some burn in time and it gets better. Which cable did you opt for with your PSM.

 

[lauthoerer]

Its an awesome piece of kit but is also a rabbit hole - I now have 2x 156 and 2x GM City and 1xroutemaster and all source devices now running Ultra cables

Would you mind detailing your chain? What goes into what? Which sonic effect is coming from which device?

 

[Mr X]

Would you mind detailing your chain? What goes into what? Which sonic effect is coming from which device?

I've built it up slowly cost and budgeting in mind but also to enjoy and listen for incremental upgrades each time which each has given. The last major change was slowly swapping my cables to Ultra

Cinema Room I use a PSM156 and GM City with

Trinnov Altitude, Trinnov Amplitude 16 (requires 2 sockets), Trinnov 8m, Kaleidescape Strato C and Terra server


Music Station I use PSM156, GM City and Routemaster with

Chord Dave, Chord Mscaler, (both modded with optical links and bigger caps) HIFI Rose 130 Streamer with Fibre connection, Roon NUC

 

[lauthoerer]

Cheers. So that is Wall socket > GM City > Route Master > PSM156?

Not quite sure where/how these are connected to each other... (I've seen the pics and read the product info, but still not sure where the cables are plugged into)

I'm asking as I'm currently upgrading my power supply from an Audioplan Finefilter S > PowerStar S2 > PowerCord S chain to a conditioner, originally planning to try a PSM156 but that seems to be pretty scarce at the moment (no supply in Germany). The dealer I was talking to (CM-Audio) was nice enough to supply me with a Lab12 gordian in the meantime and an array of power cables to get me going. Super nice and knowledgable person there.

I'm two days in, so jury is still out, but first thing I tried was to tackle the (very prominent) hum in my tube amp that was especially an issue with higher impedance HPs (HD820, VC). Immediate result was: no change. At least I could directly pinpoint the source of the hum in the connection to the DAC, being able to "play" sounds by tapping the RCA jack to the output of the DAC. What did reap immediate results was using a Puritan Classic+ Cable for my DAC (instead of the Audioplan). This reduced the hum, but sadly didn't get rid of it completely. So next step will be using more/other power cables for the HP8 as well as for the rest of my chain. Already gave a heads up to the dealer

Maybe the GM/RM would be consecutive steps to take...

 

[plumpudding2]

Its an awesome piece of kit but is also a rabbit hole - I now have 2x 156 and 2x GM City and 1xroutemaster and all source devices now running Ultra cables


Give it some burn in time and it gets better. Which cable did you opt for with your PSM.

Just the standard one. My only grounded socket is 8 meters away so it's plugged in an extension chord anyway.. if i ever move to a house with grounded sockets everywhere I'll probably try the ultimate cable!

 

[Mr X]

Cheers. So that is Wall socket > GM City > Route Master > PSM156?

Not quite sure where/how these are connected to each other... (I've seen the pics and read the product info, but still not sure where the cables are plugged into)

I'm asking as I'm currently upgrading my power supply from an Audioplan Finefilter S > PowerStar S2 > PowerCord S chain to a conditioner, originally planning to try a PSM156 but that seems to be pretty scarce at the moment (no supply in Germany). The dealer I was talking to (CM-Audio) was nice enough to supply me with a Lab12 gordian in the meantime and an array of power cables to get me going. Super nice and knowledgable person there.

I'm two days in, so jury is still out, but first thing I tried was to tackle the (very prominent) hum in my tube amp that was especially an issue with higher impedance HPs (HD820, VC). Immediate result was: no change. At least I could directly pinpoint the source of the hum in the connection to the DAC, being able to "play" sounds by tapping the RCA jack to the output of the DAC. What did reap immediate results was using a Puritan Classic+ Cable for my DAC (instead of the Audioplan). This reduced the hum, but sadly didn't get rid of it completely. So next step will be using more/other power cables for the HP8 as well as for the rest of my chain. Already gave a heads up to the dealer

Maybe the GM/RM would be consecutive steps to take...

So the GM City is for people that don't want to stick a copper pole in their back garden or unable to.

You plug it into the wall socket and then connect the green wire that comes with it to the grounding post on the back of your PSM. This essentially grounds it.

If you want to take things further, the routemaster is a unit that then plugs into another GM City (So you will need a second) that is connected to the wall socket, and then from the routemaster you connect your source devices to it via the additional green cables to ground each product.

I thought I had relatively clean power as I live fairly remote in the UK but when I added a 156 my ears picked up the improvement immediately. The next improvement was the GM City. The route master was less dramatic but again gave me a touch more benefit. The icing on teh cake was changing many of my classic plus cables to the ultra. That was another significant gain ONCE burned in.

As mentioned I did this over time so that I could both enjoy each change and then measure the difference with my ears

 

[lauthoerer]

Got it. Very clear now. Thanks!

Thinking about using one GM City with my tube amp or DAC separately (using one of the RCA inputs) to ground it, so they don’t „buzz“ each other…

It’s really only the tube amp that’s humming, so don’t think it’s a „general“ issue.

 

[phoneslave86]

Got it. Very clear now. Thanks!

Thinking about using one GM City with my tube amp or DAC separately (using one of the RCA inputs) to ground it, so they don’t „buzz“ each other…

It’s really only the tube amp that’s humming, so don’t think it’s a „general“ issue.

It's unlikely to do anything for buzz/hum with any amp, it didn't do anything for mine and I tested it a bunch. It can suck out some ground noise in equipment in cases that have noise. The original recommended tubes for a tube amp help make the tube amp more resilient to hum/buzz. Separating the amp completely from the DACs helps. Often one still have to play around where things are plugged in for it to be happy even equipment next to eachother it can help. Ifi ground defender are very useful for testing this stuff to know what the issues are and rule things out or breaking the loop.

I am selling a Routemaster if anyone needs one. It comes with 10 cables.

 

[lauthoerer]

Separating the amp completely from the DACs helps

How would you do that? (one is feeding the other)

 

[phoneslave86]

How would you do that? (one is feeding the other)

Just changing the circuits they are plugged in to so the ground arn't connected. The ground loops from where the ground in the power cable is plugged in and also the interconnect end can cause the loop. Breaking up the loop on the end where it's plugged in to the conditioner or wall usually works but not always.

Find a different outlet that isn't connected and plug it in there. Extension cord test if needed can tell you usually if it's a ground loop if you can't find one in the room as they are often connected. EMI tester can help find non-connected circuits too. Sometimes outlets that are far away are connected as well so have to test a bunch if needed until find a circuit that's not connected the blind way. If it still does hum from a ground loop a second power conditioner can break it up too sometimes. My DACS can still interact a bit in cases with 2 PSM and 2 UPS but almost never but I have seen a little bit happen then even on different circuits. It can be pretty hard to break it up in cases. Sometimes the order of how things are plugged in completely get rid of it even in nearby outlets or just swapping it on the same outlet so it just takes a bunch of testing sometimes.

Ground defender can be put on the DAC or Amp and break it up there. I don't like putting those on my Amp so I put them on my DAC if I need one and it's seemingly transparent to me if it's only on a DAC. I can hear the coloration changed of my power cables copper connectors going to my amp from these but it's not bad just not ideal to me, and they likely quell dynamics on an amp at least in cases.

Of course it can be other things causing hum but it's most often a ground loop that makes hum. That's why I'm keeping a ground defender around till the end of days because it's useful to find out. They will block a ground loop 100 percent every time then one knows what the issue is.