markfugate 9 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Hi all I am also new to this site and have enjoyed reading. I was deep into Hi-Fi over thirty years ago until I returned home from work one evening finding all of my equipment except for my collection of vinyls stolen. I swore at that time I would carry my vinyls around and never play them until I was able to set up some respectable equipment. Well, short story made longer, I took a plunge and set up the following: Music Hall 9.1 turntable with the stock Goldring Eroica LX cartridge Carver C1 preamplifier Two Carver M400t amplifiers driving a pair of Klipsch RF-82 speakers in a Bi-Amp configuration. I handcrafted 30 AWG 99.9999% pure silver interconnects between all components except the speakers using only pure cotton as insulators/dielectrics. I calculated a total cable capacitance between the turntable and preamplifier of 2.4 pf - 2.7 pf. The turntable interconnects are 'loosely' a twisted pair with a two inch diameter core. This resulted in a single twist for the entire length. Initially, I had no twist on the turntable interconnects and experience both hum and noise. The single twist canceled all of the hum and noise. I used four runs of twisted plenum CAT5, one run for each speaker terminal from each of the M400t's to each connector on each speaker. This gives me an effective 15AWG between each amplifier terminal and each speaker connector. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PMAT 1,842 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Welcome Mark, Nice of you to join in. Kick off your shoes and stay a while this is a wonderful place to hang out. it's okay to start a new topic and introduce yourself. Pictures of your set ups are like candy to us. So welcome aboard and enjoy all things Carver and more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zoom 372 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Hi all I am also new to this site and have enjoyed reading. I was deep into Hi-Fi over thirty years ago until I returned home from work one evening finding all of my equipment except for my collection of vinyls stolen. I swore at that time I would carry my vinyls around and never play them until I was able to set up some respectable equipment. Well, short story made longer, I took a plunge and set up the following: Music Hall 9.1 turntable with the stock Goldring Eroica LX cartridge Carver C1 preamplifier Two Carver M400t amplifiers driving a pair of Klipsch RF-82 speakers in a Bi-Amp configuration. I handcrafted 30 AWG 99.9999% pure silver interconnects between all components except the speakers using only pure cotton as insulators/dielectrics. I calculated a total cable capacitance between the turntable and preamplifier of 2.4 pf - 2.7 pf. The turntable interconnects are 'loosely' a twisted pair with a two inch diameter core. This resulted in a single twist for the entire length. Initially, I had no twist on the turntable interconnects and experience both hum and noise. The single twist canceled all of the hum and noise. I used four runs of twisted plenum CAT5, one run for each speaker terminal from each of the M400t's to each connector on each speaker. This gives me an effective 15AWG between each amplifier terminal and each speaker connector. Welcome, Mark!! Wow, I like this guy ^^^^ the attention to detail intrigues me. Like Paul stated, we like pics, and starting a new thread is welcome, you will get full access to many more forum threads after a couple posts. I feel you pain about the theft. I built a monster car audio system of seperates in the late 80s early 90s that got ripped off along with my entire music collection. I had it along with me after a weekend party. It took me years to recover from that one. You are obviously into nice clean accurate sound, so I have a question is about your C-1. There are many threads here about modding it especially the phono section. How long have you had it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markfugate 9 Posted January 11, 2015 Author Share Posted January 11, 2015 Thanks PMAT. I'm here to learn and hope to find some like minded folks to discuss this stuff and learn from them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weitrhino 1,425 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 The turntable interconnects are 'loosely' a twisted pair with a two inch diameter core. Holy moly! That would be something to see. Pics? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gene C 1,745 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Welcome to the forum Mark! Yes, we like photos around here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blues Pwr 765 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Welcome to the site, glad you decided to join in on the fun........... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Showmodel 86 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Welcome to the site Mark. Great info to be found here. Just a word of warning though, this site can cause your system to double in size within the first couple of weeks!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Belvedere2 170 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 +1 on the C-1 mods. Very much worth the time and effort. Mine were effortless though; many helpful people on this site willing to help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markfugate 9 Posted January 11, 2015 Author Share Posted January 11, 2015 Zoom, I picked up the C1 just yesterday a few hours after the power supply in my C-4000 smoked. I attempted to plug my two M400t's into the switched preamp AC outlets. That was quite an act of 'Stupid'. Previously I had my 400's plugged into an isolation transformer leaving them powered up 24/7. Today they are back on the isolation transformer and I'm going to leave them there. I would truely appreciate some guidance with regards to fixing the C-4000. Also, I would love to be able to disable the time delay amplifier in it. I experimented with time delay for a few months and about all I was able to accomplish was mucking up the sound. I used the internal time delay amplifier for less than an hour then fed the time delay preamp outputs to a separate amplifier. I learned that I did not like the time delay. AS for pics, I will wait until I remake my cables. My setup looks quite ugly, but I believe that it sounds nice, and that's what counts. Maybe 'Beauty is in the ear of the Audiophile' is relevant here? The ugliness comes from trying to be as extreme about configuration as possible. It's not an easy trick to keep a turntable only inches from a preamp wile keeping cables as far separated as possible. And next to impossible to eliminate acoustic reflections without making the listening room like a place where the military conducts bomb testing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markfugate 9 Posted January 11, 2015 Author Share Posted January 11, 2015 Weitrhino I told you they were ugly. However, in my defense, this huge honkin wad of cotton changed in many ways over a few days time until I settled on what is in the picture. I will redo these after I receive some RCA connectors that I have ordered and make them more palatable to the eyes. There are three layers of cotton: 1. A 5 cm (2") core made from cotton batting. 2. A flat layer of a heavy cotton fabric that looks like cheese cloth which I threaded the silver wire through to maintain a consistent parallel distance between the individual wires. The wires are separated by 2 cm and ordered as L+ L- R- R+. This was wrapped one turn around the core. 3. A final layer of cotton batting to hold it all together. Go ahead and laugh and poke fun, but it worked. This was my fifth configuration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Community Admin AndrewJohn 8,184 Posted January 11, 2015 Community Admin Share Posted January 11, 2015 Welcome Mark. That is cool, the idea and concept of common distance separation of the conductors and use of cotton as a dialectic. This is a very cool place - glad you found us. Once in a while, one of us does/says something that goes against the grain of another's opinion - but that's cool. No worries. We're all here for the right reason. OCCD (Obsessive Carver Collecting Disorder). That unique audiophile disease. Welcome, and pictures are good - they never have to be perfect. With smart phones, it's so easy to insert a picture in a thread, hear. Use the fourth icon from the right, at the top toolbar of the default editor. It will put the pics in your post, in-line with the text, and automatically resize them. Just follow the dialog box. (the "attach files" option is a bit more clunky.) As I looked at the cotton dialectic idea, I was thinking it would really look interesting dressed up with some TechFlex sheathing and some adhesive-lined shrink-wrap to dress the interconnect ends. IT comes in different sizes, and may also compress your cotton a little, making it more robust. Welcome, and keep us posted on your project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dennismiller55 4,717 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danowood 2,167 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Welcome Mark to our home away from home. I know you will like it here and will feel comfortable among many OCCD members, it's very contagious. I can't add much to what other members have already posted and can't stress how much we enjoy pics LOL. You will find a shopping cart full of different topics from Vinyl care, maintenance, and cleaning, to technical service for carver units. Enjoy and cruse the posts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markfugate 9 Posted January 11, 2015 Author Share Posted January 11, 2015 Andrewjohn, Thanks for your comment. My design goal was to attempt to get as close to an air dielectric as possible and eliminate as many forms of dielectric absorption and potential capacitance as possible. Therefore, I am limiting myself to cotton which yields a 99% air dielectric. My very first experiment was wire in the air not surrounded by anything knowing that I would have high hum and noise. Surprisingly, I was able to reduce hum by shifting the wires around, and reduce noise using shields over the power supplies of the other components. I will make the final set of interconnects when my RCA connectors arrive. This final configuration will use cotton clothesline rope wrapped tightly with cotton twine to insulate the hot wires in the barrels of the connectors. I am also going to rework the core to make a slight upward curve to raise my preamp further above the turntable and power amplifiers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtexasdog 2,366 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Welcome Mark-enjoying your post already!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markfugate 9 Posted January 11, 2015 Author Share Posted January 11, 2015 How about that Greenbay Dallas game? I'm a "Cheesehead" living in Colleyville. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zumbini 6,140 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Howdy Mark, and welcome to the forum. Sounds like you'll fit in with our local yokels just fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RodH 4,820 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Rodgers was slow to get into the groove. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesMan57 1,308 Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Welcome to the forum Mark. Glad to have you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maddmaster 957 Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 Welcome Mark. You have found a great group of people here with a whelm of knowledge. I dare use the word intelligence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve-O 138 Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 Welcome...lots of good folks around here. There are a handful of guys helping me as I try to refurb my TFM-35X amp, and they've been more than helpful. They aren't kidding about the picture thing either...the more pics you can supply, the more helpful they can be. When you get ready to tackle your C4000, I'd recommend starting a dedicated thread and let them work their magic. Or I guess at least help you work yours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PMAT 1,842 Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 Mummy cables! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markfugate 9 Posted January 12, 2015 Author Share Posted January 12, 2015 If you're talking about my cable pic I actually call them FLATEs (Fart Loud And They Explode). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daddyjt 8,636 Posted January 12, 2015 Share Posted January 12, 2015 Welcome aboard Mark - that's a pretty cool name you got there:-) Great bunch of folks here - hang around a while, and see if it's a good fit for you... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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