Audiotunesx, a few years ago I went from running my system straight out of the wall to using a Burmester 948 power conditioner. I achieved a fantastic improvement in consistency, transparency, delicacy and detail retrieval, but something wasn't quite right - a sort of softening of the sound and clipping in dynamics. So a frustrating improvement and deterioration at the same time.
A couple of years ago, I investigated the benefits of balanced power, and took a bit of a punt - installed a dedicated consumer unit, high grade wiring and spur just for the audio/av system, and hard wired a 4kVA balanced power transformer into this from which the audio/av system is powered.
Frustration for about a month, with all the bass gone and treble burning my eardrums - this in retrospect I discovered was 25kg of cold copper in the transformer gradually warming up.
Then a month passes, and the sound transforms - all the delicacy, transparency and detail retrieval of the Burmester was retained, and surpassed, but now in conjunction with unlimited dynamics and preservation of leading edge of notes with full sustain.
Really getting that "after midnight" sound 24/7.
This is the rock solid foundation that the Entreq Silver Tellus/Apollo ics are building upon, and I really was skeptical that there could be any room for improvement prior to the Entreq UK dealer installing the rig in my system.
Wow, was I incorrect. Each step in upgrade (Silver Tellus grounding box with Eartha Silver i/c from preamp, then this Eartha Silver i/c changed to Apollo i/c, then addition of Apollo i/c from Straingauge energiser box (eff. my phono stage) and Apollo i/c from cdp, and next most likely two Apollo i/c's from each monoblock) has been a revelation.
I would summarise the improvements as a further reduction in noise floor from the already-low level achieved by balanced power, a solidifying of the soundstage - projecting it slightly forward and fixing it rock solid btwn the spkrs, relegating surface noise from vinyl to a layer well behind the soundstage to be insignificant. Amazingly, the effects amount to an increase in excitement and ease at the same time.
In my system at least, it appears noise is the limiting factor, and balanced power followed by Entreq grounding is really revealing what my system is capable of.
A couple of years ago, I investigated the benefits of balanced power, and took a bit of a punt - installed a dedicated consumer unit, high grade wiring and spur just for the audio/av system, and hard wired a 4kVA balanced power transformer into this from which the audio/av system is powered.
Frustration for about a month, with all the bass gone and treble burning my eardrums - this in retrospect I discovered was 25kg of cold copper in the transformer gradually warming up.
Then a month passes, and the sound transforms - all the delicacy, transparency and detail retrieval of the Burmester was retained, and surpassed, but now in conjunction with unlimited dynamics and preservation of leading edge of notes with full sustain.
Really getting that "after midnight" sound 24/7.
This is the rock solid foundation that the Entreq Silver Tellus/Apollo ics are building upon, and I really was skeptical that there could be any room for improvement prior to the Entreq UK dealer installing the rig in my system.
Wow, was I incorrect. Each step in upgrade (Silver Tellus grounding box with Eartha Silver i/c from preamp, then this Eartha Silver i/c changed to Apollo i/c, then addition of Apollo i/c from Straingauge energiser box (eff. my phono stage) and Apollo i/c from cdp, and next most likely two Apollo i/c's from each monoblock) has been a revelation.
I would summarise the improvements as a further reduction in noise floor from the already-low level achieved by balanced power, a solidifying of the soundstage - projecting it slightly forward and fixing it rock solid btwn the spkrs, relegating surface noise from vinyl to a layer well behind the soundstage to be insignificant. Amazingly, the effects amount to an increase in excitement and ease at the same time.
In my system at least, it appears noise is the limiting factor, and balanced power followed by Entreq grounding is really revealing what my system is capable of.