i keep forgettin'

could it be old age that makes me keeping forgetting my once formidable trouble-shooting skills?

i had a few house invitations lined up but unfortunately TNB acted up on me. for the past 3 days the AC supply was quite terrible. so when it was restored to normalcy yesterday, i still felt something amiss when i switched on my system... where's the headroom, drive and dynamism of my stage III ASP gryphon, the raison d' etre that i fell in love with it?

i tried listening to my system at different times of the day. even at 1am last night, the sound didn't sound convincing. not only the sound lacks the above-mentioned winning elements, the gain is also noticeably lower (at least 5db!). the laziness in me didn't bother to dig up my fully-documented tips on trouble-shooting (which i posted here 2 years ago entitled when things don't sound right, if you readers could remember). so i just thought the AC wasn't fully restored.

i postponed twice my appointment with a prominent audiophile, who is very keen to listen to the stage III. and i am close to postponing tomorrow's appointment with two audiophiles who are also very keen.

not until i call mr. audio research - mr. yoon tuck chee of audio art - for some sage advice. he just gave me some tips, which i knew all along but have completely forgotten: unplug the power cord from my LS26 preamp and let it rest for 10-20 minutes. as simple as that. the point is to completely discharge the preamp.

it turned out that all i need is that. so simple.

this anomaly has been in existence with all ARC preamps, even the LS25, Ref1 and now LS26 and Ref 3. once in a while, especialy when there is a AC surge or AC abnormalcy, one has to completely switch off and unplug the preamp and let is rest for 10-20 minutes.

should i whack i own backside for forgetting such a simple trick? i think i full deserve it!