Ataira CG in a Modest System - An Assessment

[kennyb123]

Originally Posted by jimtranr

I’m blown away. Totally. Utterly. Irretrievably.

Thanks for sharing your observations, Jim. Really nicely done.

[miner]

As the overused cynical quote goes: “A thousand flies can’t be wrong.” I am looking forward to my delivery.

[Formerly YB-2]

What comes in the box with the Altaira CG? Does one need to also order grounding cables or are they included?

[Masterlu]

Originally Posted by Formerly YB-2

What comes in the box with the Altaira CG? Does one need to also order grounding cables or are they included?

All ground cables are extra; Altaira does not require a power cable.

[jimtranr]

Originally Posted by kennyb123

Thanks for sharing your observations, Jim. Really nicely done.

Thanks, Kenny. It's the Altaira who's writing the observations. I'm just pressing the appropriate letters on the computer keyboard.

[jimtranr]

It may not be immediately apparent, but the picture here has changed.



Alpha CGC/SGC ground cables have replaced the Venoms running from the laptop and the DAC to Altaira. And SSF-38 stainless steel feet now undergird the chassis grounding hub.

At my age, every minute--make that "second"--counts, so I haven't taken the time to separately evaluate the sonic impact (if any) of replacing Altaira's feet or of substituting the Alpha one-meter cables for the Venoms. When I received a package last Monday from Poulsbo containing screw-on stainless steel pucks, black-jacketed wire, and an STIS v3 banana plug, I simply set to work assembling and connecting everything, beginning with Altaira's new feet.



In order to make the connections, I had to unplug the DAC and its interconnects (the ground spade connection to its rear panel screw, especially with cable less flexible than the Venom, is a bit of a task requiring space and gobs of patience), so once I put everything together, I gave all of the cables involved at least a few hours to settle before I commenced any listening that could be deemed "critical."

My first, and lasting, listening impression of the newly-configured setup was...immense quiet. Yes, as indicated in my initial post, the Venom-to-Altaira combination had achieved a substantial lowering of the noise floor. But with the sources-to-Altaira Alphas (and the stainless steel feet) in place, the background silence dug deeper. It became the quiet of 'enry 'iggins' undiscovered tomb (apologies to Lerner and Loewe).

In listening to my usual suspects, what has emerged out of that eerie quiet is a more detailed and precise delineation of: venue space and scale; vocal and instrumental tonality, texture, and inflection; rhythmic and microdynamic nuance; attack and decay that, where appropriate, enhances the sensation of dynamic punch, growl, thump, and rumble; and previously-masked or muffled upper-frequency content (e.g., stick on wood block, brush-on-cymbal shimmer).

What that abstract prose doesn't convey is what I believe drives this hobby (or, if you will, avocation), at least for most of us: The gratification of the desire to get as close to a given performance as the recording producers and mixing engineers will allow. However close I thought I was in relating what I did in my original post--and I consider it "damned close"--the upgraded configuration with an all-Alpha grounding loom--is the "close" that you want your enemies to occupy. The performance space--and its output--is even "more in the room," engaging this listener to a degree I hadn't experienced with my bedroom system until now.

Happy camper, aye.

[Masterlu]

Jim… Outstanding, I smiled the entire time while reading your latest review.

[Vintage Pete]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

Jim… Outstanding, I smiled the entire time while reading your latest review.

Outstanding indeed. I'll never be able to compose a review like that, especially the illustrations. But I'll do the best I can.....

[Puma Cat]

Once again, a truly excellent and superbly-written review, Jim.

As you have a C-J amp, something I'd consider is mounting a chassis-ground terminal to your amp. I did this with my C-J LP70S. I simply took a sharp drill, and drilled a hole larger enough to install a ground terminal on the rear panel. I checked with an ohm meter that it made a connection to (chassis) ground. You can do this by putting one probe of the ohm meter onto the ground post, and the other probe onto the ground pin of the power cable IEC receptacle.

You can see the ground terminal here near the fuse out light.


Here it's shown with an Alpha ground cable attached.


Last, EtherREGEN owners will find that connecting a ground cable from ER to Altaira also provides a notable reduction in noise.

[jimtranr]

Thanks, Ivan, Pete, and Stephen. You're way too generous.

The MF2500's power cord is hardwired, so I'll have to measure continuity from the plug's ground pin to the chassis. That task is still a bit of a way off due to location logistics, my inherent laziness, and my focus on a related project that requires a long heart-to-heart with my penny jar now that the TP-Link WiFi Extender has bequeathed Ethernet access to the bedroom system without requiring the wrath-incurring drilling of holes or running of visible Cat 6 from the downstairs cable router to upstairs. Once that conversation is resolved, I'll tackle the amp.

Meanwhile, my mind-blowing experience with Altaira has left me wondering about the standards and listening context we use to evaluate the performance of audio system components and the quality of the recordings we listen to. Clearly, my modest--and, in places, antiquated--system is punching way above the level I'd assumed prior to the dive into Shunyata-configured chassis grounding. Same with some of the recordings I'd written off as so-so. Reviewers--especially those who do it for a living--may want to take notice.