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!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

i have been using the gryphons exorcist for many years ,and use it religiousy..

what you have described is a phenomenon that is prasence in a equipment ,and more prominent in certain make.degauissing with powerful sweep will take care of the problem with ease..

was pleasantly surprised to find the exorcist madet to the absolute sound editor's choice this year

Anonymous said...

love your list; i think it all make sense

Anonymous said...

love your list too though i haven't seen it before.

the most significant part for me ,is checking the polarity; i didn't realized how common the problem was,and how huge-massive- the difference was once the po;larity is correct..everybody should follow your list religiously IMO