Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

displayname said:
Buying input request:
I have a lead on a reasonably priced and local Puritan power conditioner. I've heard systems with these units, it is more advanced than my current power conditioner, and it would honestly fit better in my rack.

However, I've been really considering saving up for a VPI. This power conditioner would likely push the new turntable into a 2026 purchase. Possibly longer if prices increase or new models are introduced.

Should I jump on a good deal of a quality piece, or keep my eye on the turntable horizon?
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Putting aside the conditioning aspect of the Puritan, how's your power grid's stability? You've a lot of nice equipment; the non-sacrificial surge protection might be worth it first if your electricitiy is wonky. Otherwise, I would go for the VPI, as well.

bdm105 said:
Oh yeah that makes sense. I'm not going to get it. The metal plater really bugs me
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Why would you want an acrylic platter over a metal one? Even at just 3 lbs, a metal platter should be an upgrade. Should add a bit of body to the sound and bring better pitch stability.
 
This is gonna sound dumb, but go with me....

There's a corner of my living room that is a cable rat nest (cables for FR/SR in HT system and L/R in hifi). I can just loop them up and put some velcro cable ties but they'll still look kinda ugly. Any tips for "hiding" cables?
 
ngower said:
This is gonna sound dumb, but go with me....

There's a corner of my living room that is a cable rat nest (cables for FR/SR in HT system and L/R in hifi). I can just loop them up and put some velcro cable ties but they'll still look kinda ugly. Any tips for "hiding" cables?
Click to expand...
For surrounds, at least, I have seen some people successfully tuck the speaker wire under the baseboard.

Do you have so much excess wire for each channel that you can loop it as described? Is the extra length necessary or could you trim the wire to be a more exact fit? Could help decrease the mess.
 
ZiggsMBK said:
Putting aside the conditioning aspect of the Puritan, how's your power grid's stability? You've a lot of nice equipment; the non-sacrificial surge protection might be worth it first if your electricitiy is wonky. Otherwise, I would go for the VPI, as well.
Click to expand...
Yeah, really don't have a lot of power issues. At least not that I've presciently noticed. I do have AQ Hurricanes on most of the devices as well. At some point I'd like to get to all AQ power cables into a Puritan. I like the Niagara products as well, but I haven't seen enough justification in the price difference between the AQ and Puritan lines until you get to N7000, which is in a wildly different price category.

I have become a believer in the benefits of cables, especially working from the wall out. But at the same time, it's honestly just not as fun. If I had now power conditioning in place, I might be more willing to go "boring" but honestly I just have this pull to the VPI brand, and if I can make it happen, I wouldn't mind that being a nice 40th bday gift to myself. Even if it's after the fact.
 
ngower said:
This is gonna sound dumb, but go with me....

There's a corner of my living room that is a cable rat nest (cables for FR/SR in HT system and L/R in hifi). I can just loop them up and put some velcro cable ties but they'll still look kinda ugly. Any tips for "hiding" cables?
Click to expand...
Hard to offer decent advice without being able to see it, but there are few things I think of when I am trying to address a rat's nest.
1 - build you own cables so you can custom cut the lengths. This lets you do really precise runs.
2 - box it up: aka put it in a cabinet of some sort
3 - Cable sleeves. Same concept as the cable ties, but visually makes everything into one big cable.
4 - running along the rack structure. If you can get a cable sleeve and run it along the back side of the rack of the leg, that can make a huge difference.
5 - combing the ideas of 2, 3 and 4, you can do the single back panel. Just run a well dressed panel down the back of the rack. Some units do this as part of the design. (ex: RGR Series - VTI Manufacturing) Could be wood, mesh, even fabric. Just something that looks more like it's part of the rack for the cables to hide behind.
 
ZiggsMBK said:
For surrounds, at least, I have seen some people successfully tuck the speaker wire under the baseboard.

Do you have so much excess wire for each channel that you can loop it as described? Is the extra length necessary or could you trim the wire to be a more exact fit? Could help decrease the mess.
Click to expand...
I overestimated length by maybe a foot or two to give some extra slack knowing they'd be covering long distances., but also just the nature of the way my setup is positioned that some will be longer than the other. I could custom-build a shorter run in some areas but that seems like a waste of money and resources. Mostly just seeing if there's any alternative to just looping the cables a bit and hiding them behind my consoles? Maybe I'll find some kind of hanging hok or w/e and have the "spools" hanging off the back of my HT console so they're out of sight.
 
ZiggsMBK said:
Putting aside the conditioning aspect of the Puritan, how's your power grid's stability? You've a lot of nice equipment; the non-sacrificial surge protection might be worth it first if your electricitiy is wonky. Otherwise, I would go for the VPI, as well.


Why would you want an acrylic platter over a metal one? Even at just 3 lbs, a metal platter should be an upgrade. Should add a bit of body to the sound and bring better pitch stability.
Click to expand...

If metal was better why would they have acrylic in their higher tier?
 
ngower said:
This is gonna sound dumb, but go with me....

There's a corner of my living room that is a cable rat nest (cables for FR/SR in HT system and L/R in hifi). I can just loop them up and put some velcro cable ties but they'll still look kinda ugly. Any tips for "hiding" cables?
Click to expand...
I think you're in a rental if memory serves.....but my brother actually had a hole cut in his baseboard and put a plate like this and snaked the cables behind the wall. i want to do that with my speaker cables at some point to go behind my fireplace...
 
MikeH said:
I think you're in a rental if memory serves.....but my brother actually had a hole cut in his baseboard and put a plate like this and snaked the cables behind the wall. i want to do that with my speaker cables at some point to go behind my fireplace...
Click to expand...

I’ve helped family do something similar but under suspended floors. Most period homes here have those, more modern are often solid concrete, and unless you’ve laid a floor on top it’s really easy to just lift a floorboard or two to do it.
 
Joe Mac said:
I’ve helped family do something similar but under suspended floors. Most period homes here have those, more modern are often solid concrete, and unless you’ve laid a floor on top it’s really easy to just lift a floorboard or two to do it.
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yea it doesn't seem hard to do in my house, i just haven't gotten around to it! always too many other things to do that take priority...
 
displayname said:
Yeah, really don't have a lot of power issues. At least not that I've presciently noticed. I do have AQ Hurricanes on most of the devices as well. At some point I'd like to get to all AQ power cables into a Puritan. I like the Niagara products as well, but I haven't seen enough justification in the price difference between the AQ and Puritan lines until you get to N7000, which is in a wildly different price category.

I have become a believer in the benefits of cables, especially working from the wall out. But at the same time, it's honestly just not as fun. If I had now power conditioning in place, I might be more willing to go "boring" but honestly I just have this pull to the VPI brand, and if I can make it happen, I wouldn't mind that being a nice 40th bday gift to myself. Even if it's after the fact.
Click to expand...
If you're not having issues with noise or the electrical in your place, power conditioning can wait until the end. As already mentioned, you'll get more out of improving your components. I'd even round out my cables before worrying about the power conditioner if you're issue-free. The boring stuff is going to be the last 10% or so of your system.

I was a cable skeptic until we added the Audio Sensibility tonearm and power cable to the system. Yeah, they make a difference.

I understand your draw to the VPI tables. They're nice pieces. Auditioned a Prime a while back, and the only reason we passed on it was because the blind guy--me--couldn't manage the unipivot tonearm. Found it too fiddly. Fortunately, we ended up with a pretty nice consolation prize in the Acoustic Signature. I still like to admire them, though I drool after some of those Transrotors now. It's a problem.

Sounds like a great birthday present to me. Go for it! Wife and I bought the Bryston amp as our 21st anniversary gift. It might arrive in time, it might not. Doesn't matter to us, shouldn't matter to you. You'll enjoy the hell out of it when you do get it.
 
ngower said:
I overestimated length by maybe a foot or two to give some extra slack knowing they'd be covering long distances., but also just the nature of the way my setup is positioned that some will be longer than the other. I could custom-build a shorter run in some areas but that seems like a waste of money and resources. Mostly just seeing if there's any alternative to just looping the cables a bit and hiding them behind my consoles? Maybe I'll find some kind of hanging hok or w/e and have the "spools" hanging off the back of my HT console so they're out of sight.
Click to expand...
I am going to assume that you have premade speaker cables then? Something that you can't just trim to the right length and then put your banana plugs or spades back onto?

bdm105 said:
If metal was better why would they have acrylic in their higher tier?
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Beats the hell out of me. IMHO, Delrin and metal are superior to acrylic. I do love the huge sound of a good high-mass turntable, though, so personal bias is in full effect here.
 
MikeH said:
I think you're in a rental if memory serves.....but my brother actually had a hole cut in his baseboard and put a plate like this and snaked the cables behind the wall. i want to do that with my speaker cables at some point to go behind my fireplace...
Click to expand...
Yeah I'm in a rental. The ywould almost certainly never notice something like that because these things are just painted over in perpetuity for like a hundred years.
 
ZiggsMBK said:
I'd even round out my cables before worrying about the power conditioner if you're issue-free. The boring stuff is going to be the last 10% or so of your system.
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Yup, interconnects and speaker cables have been top tier on the watch list too. This is all exactly what I needed to hear honestly.

Power conditioner isn't needed. Don't get distracted. Once I've got cash lined up I can debate between cables and TT, but the turntable really has my attention at this point.
 
ngower said:
This is gonna sound dumb, but go with me....

There's a corner of my living room that is a cable rat nest (cables for FR/SR in HT system and L/R in hifi). I can just loop them up and put some velcro cable ties but they'll still look kinda ugly. Any tips for "hiding" cables?
Click to expand...
Whatever you decide to do with your excess cable, do not roll them up into loops/coils. Random crossings at as many angles as possible is the way to go. Interconnects, speaker cables and power cables when looped can create a capacitive condition that can really mess up frequency response in the signal the wire is carrying in totally unnatural ways.
 
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OMC said:
Whatever you decide to do with your excess cable, do not roll them up into loops. Random crossings at as many angles as possible is the way to go. Interconnects, speaker cables and power cables when looped can create a capacitive condition that can really mess up frequency response in the signal the wire is carrying in totally unnatural ways.
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So my rat's nest is audiophile-approved?
 
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