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LED lighting & amplifiers


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LED lighting impacting the sonic quality of your amp or impacting component life seems very unlikely, unless it is dangerously faulty.    Depending on the class of your amplifier and power supply configuration, nothing from an external led is going to make it onto the signal path.   The only credible external noise source I've ever heard discussed before is the idea that some HV appliances (like microwaves) can put a DC component on home circuits that can potentially cause power supply transformers to hum.  In which case you buy an amp with DC blocking (yours probably already has it).  So throw away those monastic beeswax candles and let the light shine!

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Bill, thank you for your input.  Being at the bottom of the food chain when it comes to an understanding of electronics, I earnestly heed the advice of those more knowledgeable.  I have already begun thinking about swapping the two LED bulbs for incandescent and the dimmer for a standard on/off switch.  But, with the Equi=Tech 2RQ I'm using for line conditioning & surge protection, I honestly cannot interpret any difference in sound with the palms lit versus the lamps off.  And, I do believe that the relaxing ambiance it produces adds to my engagement in the music.  Maybe I'll just settle back down and enjoy my system & records.

Play on  

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Hi Steve, I definitely agree with your assessment of incandescent bulbs with a dimmer switch.  I find some LEDs to be very nonlinear. Especially as you try to dim them down. They can be really flaky.   But don't worry.  Even crappy leds won't harm your amp caps.  😄

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On 8/17/2021 at 2:39 PM, TomicTime said:

Pete - sounds like you are on the right track ! This photo is of the condo room. The RT 60 is a .65, with the recording studio control room standard being .62. I plan to get there with a whisker of absorption behind the listening chair this coming fall.

No fancy treatments….yet. Steve Edwards also has a very natural, lived in but sonically excellent room for his Quattro.

Best  to all.

 

Jim

5182E584-B79B-4F7D-AFA2-BDD5644CF1E1.jpeg

Is that drone footage?  Nice.

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On 8/20/2021 at 6:00 AM, Bill said:

LED lighting impacting the sonic quality of your amp or impacting component life seems very unlikely, unless it is dangerously faulty.    Depending on the class of your amplifier and power supply configuration, nothing from an external led is going to make it onto the signal path.   The only credible external noise source I've ever heard discussed before is the idea that some HV appliances (like microwaves) can put a DC component on home circuits that can potentially cause power supply transformers to hum.  In which case you buy an amp with DC blocking (yours probably already has it).  So throw away those monastic beeswax candles and let the light shine!

I am not sure…

The D part, of LED,  is for “Diode”…  and I could imagine a class B type of crossover jiggle when the diode shuts off.
I would assume that that gets filtered by in the power supply, but it would be spikes at 60/120 Hz.

I used to use an older 2250Hz avalanche transceiver which would  make a racket near an outlet, especially if a motor was running... Like a vacuum or refrigerator.

I would think an O-scope on the power line and flicking the LED lighting on and off would be a decent way to determine if there are voltage giggles into the power mains from the LEDs.
It seems possible, and there would be a rational causal reason other than the wavelength of the light, or solely magical stuff.
 

Anyhow…
Back in the day…

The Mrs said, “What are you doing.”
I said, “trying fix this 50 Hz hum.”
She said, “It sounds good to me.”
I said, “If I can hear it, then it is bad.”
… so no hum on CDs, only on the turntable…
She said, “What have you tried.”
I said, ”I have turned off everything except for the refridgerator and the lights in the room. And I have used star grounds and every other ground loop scheme I know of.”
She flipped the lights off…
I let out a wide eyed, “WTF”.
So I got out the avalanche transceiver and it too was going wild with a 50 Hz hum…

I retired up too the attic and low and behold, there was a single  wire went from on halogen globe to the next and the neutral was another wire… no Romex.
And it formed a big coil or loop… which was causing a magnetic field to oscillate up and down around/through the phone cartridge’s coil.
So I took the wire tools up into the attic and made it into more of a twisted pair where the neutral followed the load wire back.

An hour later the Mrs said, “Where did the hum go?”
I told her, “it recoiled back… I changed the field from a B into an A+”.

 

The LEDs would be electrical field deal though, and not a magnetic field… if in fact some were shown to even do it at all.

And the amp’s supply would have to be a bit meager in its filtering, to let in those 60/120 Hz spikes. 

Edited by Holmz
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Wow, some of this is above my pay grade, lol.  I understand the basics, though.  I'm also lucky, but it hasn't been more than 2k to have my isolated circuits for the system.  Yes, we did it when they were building the place, but even if I did a retrofit, it wouldn't necessarily be over the top expensive as long as you can easily snake the wires etc..   It's the cost of a top power cord or even a power filter.  Everyone I know who has a dedicated line and keeps the router etc... OFF the stereo's grid, has loved the results.  I'm just surprised more aren't doing this.

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On 8/25/2021 at 4:35 AM, Holmz said:

I am not sure…

The D part, of LED,  is for “Diode”…  and I could imagine a class B type of crossover jiggle when the diode shuts off.
I would assume that that gets filtered by in the power supply, but it would be spikes at 60/120 Hz.

I used to use an older 2250Hz avalanche transceiver which would  make a racket near an outlet, especially if a motor was running... Like a vacuum or refrigerator.

I would think an O-scope on the power line and flicking the LED lighting on and off would be a decent way to determine if there are voltage giggles into the power mains from the LEDs.
It seems possible, and there would be a rational causal reason other than the wavelength of the light, or solely magical stuff.
 

Anyhow…
Back in the day…

The Mrs said, “What are you doing.”
I said, “trying fix this 50 Hz hum.”
She said, “It sounds good to me.”
I said, “If I can hear it, then it is bad.”
… so no hum on CDs, only on the turntable…
She said, “What have you tried.”
I said, ”I have turned off everything except for the refridgerator and the lights in the room. And I have used star grounds and every other ground loop scheme I know of.”
She flipped the lights off…
I let out a wide eyed, “WTF”.
So I got out the avalanche transceiver and it too was going wild with a 50 Hz hum…

I retired up too the attic and low and behold, there was a single  wire went from on halogen globe to the next and the neutral was another wire… no Romex.
And it formed a big coil or loop… which was causing a magnetic field to oscillate up and down around/through the phone cartridge’s coil.
So I took the wire tools up into the attic and made it into more of a twisted pair where the neutral followed the load wire back.

An hour later the Mrs said, “Where did the hum go?”
I told her, “it recoiled back… I changed the field from a B into an A+”.

 

The LEDs would be electrical field deal though, and not a magnetic field… if in fact some were shown to even do it at all.

And the amp’s supply would have to be a bit meager in its filtering, to let in those 60/120 Hz spikes. 

So your light circuit formed a single loop inductive coil sufficient to drive your phono cartridge?

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That room was about 14x25’ and the lights formed about 180 square foot coil.
It was not a super loud 50 Hz, but if you were listening to it, you give it a thumbs down.

As it was only on the turntable, the Mrs said, “Well i’ve told you that CDs do sound better.”

it is hard to argue.

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19 hours ago, Holmz said:

That room was about 14x25’ and the lights formed about 180 square foot coil.
It was not a super loud 50 Hz, but if you were listening to it, you give it a thumbs down.

As it was only on the turntable, the Mrs said, “Well i’ve told you that CDs do sound better.”

it is hard to argue.

Ha! See, whatcha gotta do is move yrself & the Mrs into a Faraday cage.  And then all will be well.  😄

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  • 7 months later...
On 8/7/2021 at 11:42 AM, Richard Vandersteen said:

LED's do cause noise and is well known.  Ripple and heat are what damages electrolytic caps.  Turning a component on and off is the ultimate  max ripple which caps are designed to handle but there is no evidence to support this practice as an advantage.  It is recommended to bring the voltage up slowly if they have been off for years.  Film caps do form and change sonics over time but last almost forever.  Most electronic devices last longer if they are left on except for tubes or LED's.

RV  

Curious. Running a tube system here, when I turn off my stereo I will drain whatever charge remains within the output capacitors until no sound/output is heard. Is this correct/proper?

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3 hours ago, Oregon said:

Curious. Running a tube system here, when I turn off my stereo I will drain whatever charge remains within the output capacitors until no sound/output is heard. Is this correct/proper?

That sound exactly what my VTLs do. They play for about 10 seconds when I turned their power off… which was a between the heaters stopping their glowing and the power caps loosing their energy..
Distortion started to be apparent after maybe 5-7 seconds… less if I crank the volume up.

So that kind of makes me hesitant about believing that power cord would help those particular amps.

I don’t think that there is any choice, and it is probably safer to have then discharge?

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I personally can't understand how the power cords change sound (good or bad), but they always do.  I have noticed LESS of a gain with the M5 amps and the Quatro's amps.  The Ayre gear was affected positively, but again, I have noticed larger differences with other companies products.  I wish I knew more, or maybe that's the blessing in disguise.  Find companies you trust and stick with them, until you find something that it designed as well etc...  Proper engineering probably also mean much long life and fewer complaints about break downs.  Companies LOSE money if their gear isn't reliable.  Kills the brand and the stores who have to waste time on it. 

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