[phoneslave86]

Recently I came to similar conclusion. Without PSM156 I didn't really care about speaker cables (Atohm ZEF, they are in general described as quite good in the price range). But now since I have PSM156, I everyday look at those cables and I'm strongly considering some UP-OCC copper cables. Something like Neotech Nemos-3080 or maybe even Nes-3001, or alternatively RAMM Amadeus 5 MK2. Those are the three I'm deciding between now.

Now as you wrote, there are another alternative on Aliexpress, just wondering if those are serious competitors to those three mentioned. I never gave enough credit to things on Aliexpress, but maybe that's not entirely right approach.

It's crazy what PSM156 will force you to think about.. I even removed the old bananas connectors from the speaker cables, cut a bit the ends and connected as bare cables just to see if there will be any improvement. With PSM156 in, I tend to hear every single nuance or change in the system. I know oxidation is a concern, but I think oxidation will be always there, even with spades or bananas installed over time. And I didn't change anything on the speaker cables last 10 years , so I think they will survive till I will figure out which speaker cables I will buy eventually.

If worried about oxidation just use a $20 red/gold deoxit kit or Furutech Nano Liquid.

 

[Feischmaker]

Just in case I will ask this - the Schuko EU version has marked the red dot in each plug of the PSM156. This shall determine the "live pin" position.
But as I was trying to figure out which one is live, the EU standard says there are anyway both pins connected inside, so it does not matter in which way I will plug in the cables.

Do I need to pay attention to which way to plug the power cables into PSM156 - does the red dot have any practical meaning?
Thanks.

Does it have practical meaning?
Yes. The red dot pin is supposed to be plugged into the HOT line.

Is it dangerous if i plugged it in reversed? Not at all. As you say, in the EU standard does not matter which way you plug it.

Will there be any sonic difference?
Might be/might be not. You need to test it out. The puritan sales reps recommended me to plug it in as per instructions above. I did and never test otherwise.

 

[nighthink]

Does it have practical meaning?
Yes. The red dot pin is supposed to be plugged into the HOT line.

But how do I know which one is the hot line? I read they can be assembled in both ways just because it does not matter..
So I don’t know how to tell for sure which pin is the hotline.

 

[Feischmaker]

But how do I know which one is the hot line? I read they can be assembled in both ways just because it does not matter..
So I don’t know how to tell for sure which pin is the hotline.

The way I do it:
1. Buy a voltage tester pen
2. Stick it to one hole of your wall outlet
3. If it's light up then it's the hot line
4. If not try the other hole
5. After you find which hole is hot, plug the red pin there.

 

[nighthink]

The way I do it:
1. Buy a voltage tester pen
2. Stick it to one hole of your wall outlet
3. If it's light up then it's the hot line
4. If not try the other hole
5. After you find which hole is hot, plug the red pin there.

Thanks, this is helpful for the wall socket, however the red dots are on the sockets of the Puritan itself , where I’m plugging all my equipment.

Now how to find out on the equipment side, which pin is the hot line?

Maybe it’s a lame question and I’m aware I have no electricity knowledge. But it’s not exactly user friendly instruction in the manual just saying plug the hot line into the red dot. The equipment does not state which pin on the cable coming from the device is the hot line. That’s what my confusion is all about.

 

[Feischmaker]

oh sorry i misunderstood your question.

If that's the case:

1. First, just plug the schuko plug of your appliances' cable to the psm156 in whatever way you want

2. On the other end of the cable, usually you will have a C13 recepticle like so (which you plug to your appliances).

3. just use your voltage tester pen to the L hole.

N is neutral, E is earth/ground L is Live/Hot

If you plug your schuko plug "correctly", the voltage tester will light up to the L hole

if it's not, then reverse the schuko plugged to the psm156

 

[nighthink]

oh sorry i misunderstood your question.

If that's the case:

1. First, just plug the schuko plug of your appliances to the psm156 in whatever way you want

2. On the other end of the cable, usually you will have a C13 recepticle like so (which you plug to your appliances).



3. just use your voltage tester pen to the L hole.

N is neutral, E is earth/ground L is Live/Hot

If you plug your schuko plug "correctly", the voltage tester will light up to the L hole

if it's not, then reverse the schuko plugged to the psm156

Thanks a lot! I will definitely do this. I think I even have somewhere that voltage tester pen. I remember my father gave it to me long time ago, he was sure one day I will need that. The day is here

 

[b4dm00n37]

I have the PSM-156 and the ground master city hookep on my system and the sound is better overall, but my DAC that is an Ares 2 as a transformer hum when connected on the PSM-156, or without the PSM. I've tried a ifi DC blocker on my DAC and it doesnt reduce the humming coming from the Ares 2 transformer. The hum is ausible directly when i put my ear on the chassis, also the hum is going trough the signal path.

My question is there is a solution else that I can try to reduce the hum of the transformer, or this is just a mechanical problem with my transforner. Does changing the fuse will make a diffrence ?

Thanks for your help.

 

[kumar402]

I have the PSM-156 and the ground master city hookep on my system and the sound is better overall, but my DAC that is an Ares 2 as a transformer hum when connected on the PSM-156, or without the PSM. I've tried a ifi DC blocker on my DAC and it doesnt reduce the humming coming from the Ares 2 transformer. The hum is ausible directly when i put my ear on the chassis, also the hum is going trough the signal path.

My question is there is a solution else that I can try to reduce the hum of the transformer, or this is just a mechanical problem with my transforner. Does changing the fuse will make a diffrence ?

Thanks for your help.

Check if all equipment have a common ground. Yours is common grounding problem

 

[b4dm00n37]

Check if all equipment have a common ground. Yours is common grounding problem

I've tried my old Sansui Au-717 amp on the wall socket, and there is only the DAC and the DSP on the PSM-156 and the hum sound is gone from the speaker, not from the DAC transformer but I don't hear into my listening position.

So I think it's not a DC problem, but a ground problem from the Sansui. The Sansui AU-717 as a ground output behind the chassis and the power input outlet as been change from a 2 plug no ground to 3 plug with ground and the ground is connected to the chassis.

So i've test a cheap plug that I lift the ground branch from the cable and re-plug that to the PSM and the HUM is gone. So the Sansui need not to be grounded.

 

[phoneslave86]

I have the PSM-156 and the ground master city hookep on my system and the sound is better overall, but my DAC that is an Ares 2 as a transformer hum when connected on the PSM-156, or without the PSM. I've tried a ifi DC blocker on my DAC and it doesnt reduce the humming coming from the Ares 2 transformer. The hum is ausible directly when i put my ear on the chassis, also the hum is going trough the signal path.

My question is there is a solution else that I can try to reduce the hum of the transformer, or this is just a mechanical problem with my transforner. Does changing the fuse will make a diffrence ?

Thanks for your help.

It sounds like a ground loop hum, ifi ground blocker is correct for that. I have one for sale if you need one. First thing to determine it's not a ground loop between DAC/AMP then go from there. You can find out if it's a simple ground loop by getting an extension cable and trying out other circuits with the DAC or AMP. Sometimes even switches can get tangled up and cause problems for the rest in the chain for instance and set it off too. Just have to separate this stuff, ifi ground blockers work to break it up too and are useful for finding the loop. Sometimes electricity finds a way and it can take a surprisingly distant circuit to break up the loop in cases. For me ground loops are not broken up on the same outlets in the same room in many cases.

If it's not this problem there's a number of other things, usually polluted grounds in the grid not allowing grounds out + combining RCA/XLR puts pressure on some equipment and it just gets worse over time and goes from there and will have hum/buzz from unhappy transformers. Also transformer heat makes it worse, tends to all go together if it's this bad. DC blocker+ works quite a bit better than the regular DC blocker then. DC blockers work in cases but often underwhelming or ineffective, DC blocker+ noticeably better. I'm not so much a fan of them ultimately but I did find them useful at one point used a few and would use them again. It doesn't get rid of the hum when it's hot, must start it off cool then it prevents it. Best thing is to have all grounds separated and flowing out for the clean sound and as least connections as possible.

The PSM can actually get rid of ground loops in some cases by moving the equipment into different positions. In some cases it wont, to me it's surpring it could ever break up a ground loop inside there but it can. My DACs/Amps by eachother hum 6 in a row together and the AMPS put by the power cable on the bottom and the DACs in the very back with equipment in between other equipment the large hum disappeared 100 percent. That is testing with high sensitive IEMS/Headphones + over driven tubes cranked up to also detect tiny remaining hum which is a pretty good test. Ultimately it's still best separated when using a number of DACs/Amps so that's what I do to be sure, not recommending a bunch of DACs/Amps in the same PSM because it can do this.

 

[nighthink]

If you plug your schuko plug "correctly", the voltage tester will light up to the L hole

if it's not, then reverse the schuko plugged to the psm156

I did the steps and reversed all the plugs that I had in PSM156 - surprisingly they all had hot line on the N side of the C13 connector. So I reversed them all and now all the cables that come out of my PSM156 are lightning up in the L hole.

But, once I was done with this, just out of curiousity, I checked on the PSM156 sockets, if the hole marked with Red Dot is really the hot line. And the problem is it is not. Now how this can be? It looks like in all my PSM156 sockets the hot line is in the other hole as it is supposed to be.

Obviously I can't reverse the power cable from the Wall into the PSM156, because on the wall side the connector has 2 holes and 1 stick, so it can be plugged only in one way, and on the PSM156 side I can connect it also only in one way.

My question is - shall I keep it as it is now, or shall I again reverse all the cables. It's again a bit confusing. Now all my cables out of PSM156 have hot line on the L, but the PSM156 itself looks to be inverted. So basically the hot line is the other one on the PSM156 side, not the one marked with red dot.

Hopefully it can be understood, it's getting too complex to explain .
Thanks.

 

[BShaw]

It sounds like a ground loop hum, ifi ground blocker is correct for that. I have one for sale if you need one. First thing to determine it's not a ground loop between DAC/AMP then go from there. You can find out if it's a simple ground loop by getting an extension cable and trying out other circuits with the DAC or AMP. Sometimes even switches can get tangled up and cause problems for the rest in the chain for instance and set it off too. Just have to separate this stuff, ifi ground blockers work to break it up too and are useful for finding the loop. Sometimes electricity finds a way and it can take a surprisingly distant circuit to break up the loop in cases. For me ground loops are not broken up on the same outlets in the same room in many cases.

If it's not this problem there's a number of other things, usually polluted grounds in the grid not allowing grounds out + combining RCA/XLR puts pressure on some equipment and it just gets worse over time and goes from there and will have hum/buzz from unhappy transformers. Also transformer heat makes it worse, tends to all go together if it's this bad. DC blocker+ works quite a bit better than the regular DC blocker then. DC blockers work in cases but often underwhelming or ineffective, DC blocker+ noticeably better. I'm not so much a fan of them ultimately but I did find them useful at one point used a few and would use them again. It doesn't get rid of the hum when it's hot, must start it off cool then it prevents it. Best thing is to have all grounds separated and flowing out for the clean sound and as least connections as possible.

The PSM can actually get rid of ground loops in some cases by moving the equipment into different positions. In some cases it wont, to me it's surpring it could ever break up a ground loop inside there but it can. My DACs/Amps by eachother hum 6 in a row together and the AMPS put by the power cable on the bottom and the DACs in the very back with equipment in between other equipment the large hum disappeared 100 percent. That is testing with high sensitive IEMS/Headphones + over driven tubes cranked up to also detect tiny remaining hum which is a pretty good test. Ultimately it's still best separated when using a number of DACs/Amps so that's what I do to be sure, not recommending a bunch of DACs/Amps in the same PSM because it can do this.

Great bits of info there phoneslave, I've had a ground loop issue with my tube amp in a biamped system (tubes on the horns), and for sure the extension cord into another room solves it 80%, but it's not a permanent solution. Removing the amp from the 156 and just plugging it into the wall right next to the mains to the 156 reduced the hum 40-50%, so I'll try swapping inputs around and see what happens. For some reason now I get ground hum when the groundmaster is plugged in, even though my implementation is textbook perfect, so I've had it unplugged. I agree groundloops are witchy stuff and can be a combination and additive problem, this is what I've discovered anyway. It's a LOT of trial and error and moments of despair!

 

[rsbrsvp]

. Delete...

 

[phoneslave86]

Great bits of info there phoneslave, I've had a ground loop issue with my tube amp in a biamped system (tubes on the horns), and for sure the extension cord into another room solves it 80%, but it's not a permanent solution. Removing the amp from the 156 and just plugging it into the wall right next to the mains to the 156 reduced the hum 40-50%, so I'll try swapping inputs around and see what happens. For some reason now I get ground hum when the groundmaster is plugged in, even though my implementation is textbook perfect, so I've had it unplugged. I agree groundloops are witchy stuff and can be a combination and additive problem, this is what I've discovered anyway. It's a LOT of trial and error and moments of despair!

Mixing AES/RCA or balanced/unbalanced causes this stuff too, especially in big chain on a bunch of circuits. Audio pro told me this about my 2 10-2 lines that this is an issue in cases. Balanced end puts pressure on the coax end and the tube amp picks it up, swapping interconnects, optical and different things can help too if there is this issue in the chain and reduce or fix it completely. This applies to big chains particularly, I never saw these issues with smaller chains but I can have up to 5 DACs/5AMPs+ on 3 circuits and it can do it if stuff isn't separated and can't flow out right. The grid is unhappy, clogged grounds, and resetting it will get rid of it in cases too. Grounds just get trapped and no where to go slight electrical imbalance inside the chain is a big issue then. Electricity is very fast and can't find a way out in the mess of things. Buzzs/hums from balanced end will hit unbalanced end of the chain and you can turn off equipment and it will jump to the next one if it's bad enough, it's quite funny actually to me.

Sounds like you will be able to find a way to get it to a good enough place. It's certainly lots of trial and error and despair at times! Interestingly I've seen it hum before I turned everything off, cooled it all down completely, shut off the grid and the hum never came back for a week plugged in exactly the same as well. I worried the other day when my tube amp had a tiny noise in it that there was an issue and I cooled it all off and it has not come back for several days. Tube amps are extra freaky about this issues for sure, they get hot they can do weird things so can other equipment when I run it for 8+ hours type of thing. I use 2 RCA sets to my tube amp so if there is an issue it will usually surface for me and I have to fix it which has had me running around in circles a number of times. All part of it I say

Seems like the topic of bad power, grounds, hums really need a dedicated thread for this. So many need to discuss this stuff. Trying not to be off-topic here completely but it's generally in the mix of power conditioning what people are attempting to deal with as much as it is to get lower noise floor ect.