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Free Advice<br />
for a while now. There’s a reason.<br />
The best sound can be had from<br />
professional-level I/O cards, which cost<br />
considerably more than <strong>the</strong> CardDeluxe.<br />
However <strong>the</strong> CardDeluxe will sound<br />
better than most of <strong>the</strong> sound cards<br />
you’ll see in PC stores, and it can even<br />
record in 24 bits and 96 kHz sampling<br />
rate. Shut down all unneeded peripherals,<br />
disconnect from <strong>the</strong> Internet, and<br />
record onto a high speed hard disc that<br />
has been freshly reformatted.<br />
I am building a new music/family room.<br />
The music system has 10 plugs, including<br />
tape decks and spotlight.<br />
Should I have <strong>the</strong> electrician set up five<br />
of your hospital grade connectors in tandem<br />
on one circuit, or is this overkill? Would one<br />
or two (for <strong>the</strong> power amp/ preamp/ CD /<br />
turntable) suffice with <strong>the</strong> balance of equipment<br />
on regular connectors?<br />
Ron Kennedy<br />
DEUX-MONTAGNES, QC<br />
Ron, if your electrician puts in that<br />
many plugs, he will daisy-chain <strong>the</strong>m,<br />
and from <strong>the</strong> third outlet onward <strong>the</strong><br />
quality will deteriorate.<br />
A better choice, though admittedly<br />
a more complicated one, is to have him<br />
put in two lines (<strong>the</strong> labor costs a lot more<br />
than <strong>the</strong> wire), and daisy chain from<br />
each Hubbell on those circuits to cheap<br />
outlets. Add a Gutwire Stingray power<br />
bar (4 outlets) and you have a total of<br />
seven good connectors and four ordinary<br />
ones. In <strong>the</strong> Hubbell closest to where <strong>the</strong><br />
power line comes in, plug in <strong>the</strong> power<br />
amplifier and <strong>the</strong> power bar.<br />
Naim is giving me no end of trouble,<br />
when <strong>the</strong>y tell <strong>the</strong>ir authorized dealers that<br />
customers will “blow up” a Naim amp if you<br />
connect it to any o<strong>the</strong>r preamp !<br />
Have you done this before and is <strong>the</strong>re<br />
any risk? I am now worried that I might<br />
damage my new Copland preamp! If <strong>the</strong>y<br />
were trying to scare me, <strong>the</strong>y succeeded!<br />
David McGuire<br />
DALLAS, TX<br />
We’re not sure why <strong>the</strong>y do this,<br />
David. Spectral also does something<br />
like this: <strong>the</strong>ir warranty is void if you<br />
don’t use <strong>the</strong>ir cables, or <strong>the</strong> ones from<br />
MIT. There’s no danger of damaging<br />
<strong>the</strong> Copland, and (although our lawyers<br />
wouldn’t want us to get too categorical)<br />
we don’t put much stock in <strong>the</strong> warning<br />
about <strong>the</strong> amp ei<strong>the</strong>r. It sounds like a<br />
grain of truth that got expanded into a<br />
whole beach by <strong>the</strong> time it got to <strong>the</strong><br />
dealer.<br />
The possibility is this. If <strong>the</strong> amplifier<br />
is very wideband but was designed<br />
on <strong>the</strong> assumption that <strong>the</strong> preamplifier<br />
would limit <strong>the</strong> bandwidth, <strong>the</strong>n it may<br />
misbehave. Specifically, very high frequency<br />
signals (available from analog<br />
and SACD/DVD-A, but not CD) may<br />
cause slew-rate distortion.<br />
That’s a worst-case scenario. Translating<br />
that into <strong>the</strong> amplifier “blowing<br />
up” is, we suspect, a case for <strong>the</strong><br />
X-Files.<br />
I have a peculiar problem with my<br />
sound system which I cannot resolve. My<br />
system consists of an NAD 5300 integrated<br />
amplifier, Cambridge Audio DiscMagic and<br />
S-700 DAC. All components are powered<br />
through a hospital laboratory-grade voltage<br />
conditioner.<br />
On occasion <strong>the</strong> volume will momentarily<br />
dip (no more that a tenth of a second) to<br />
inaudibility and <strong>the</strong>n back to normal volume.<br />
This occurs at all volume settings. I was told<br />
to run ground wires from both CD player<br />
components to <strong>the</strong> amplifi er ground post.<br />
It now happens much less frequently, but<br />
never<strong>the</strong>less it still does.<br />
This problem has existed before I<br />
upgraded to <strong>the</strong> S-700, but would occur<br />
once or twice when listening through a CD.<br />
When I upgraded to <strong>the</strong> S-700, <strong>the</strong> sound<br />
would cut out maybe two to three times per<br />
cut on a CD.<br />
Roland Auffrey<br />
CAMPBELLTON, NB<br />
The cause seems evident, Roland: it<br />
has to be <strong>the</strong> transport, not <strong>the</strong> DAC,<br />
since <strong>the</strong> problem existed before <strong>the</strong><br />
DAC arrived. All sorts of problems can<br />
throw a transport off stride, but <strong>the</strong> fact<br />
that grounding reduced <strong>the</strong> problem<br />
points to one likely cause: static electricity.<br />
The effects of static on electronic<br />
equipment, and especially on equipment<br />
with digital controls, are often underestimated.<br />
We once lost a $900 computer<br />
hard disc just by touching it with an<br />
index finger, much as God touches Adam<br />
on <strong>the</strong> ceiling of <strong>the</strong> Sistine Chapel. A<br />
similar spark would lock up a solid state<br />
preamplifier so solidly we had to unplug<br />
it for a full minute before it would work<br />
again. And we’ve seen momentary CD<br />
dropouts as well. All we needed to do<br />
was touch a light switch.<br />
But that doesn’t happen to us anymore.<br />
We are regular users of antistatic<br />
fluid. We don’t buy <strong>the</strong> commercial<br />
<strong>version</strong> for $8 a litre, but a home-made<br />
substitute: fabric softener diluted 4:1<br />
ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 17