After aeons of a 32.5, Asgaard maybe about to purchase a 282.
Currently the 32.5 and the Prefix have their own HiCapDRs.
I note that the 282 can power a Prefix.
Should we continue to power NAC and Prefix with separate HiCaps, or place 2 HiCaps on the 282, and power the Prefix from the 282 aux?
Please share your thoughts and experiences. Supercap and Superline are not on the cards.
Ok, I’m off to ask Bragi instead.
I can’t speak to how to power the Prefix but two HCDRs on a 282 is a wonderful thing.
Get yourself a pre owned supercap for the 282.
The answer is simply to try it, as it’s very much down to individual preference. My suspicion is that as the second Hicap adds relatively little - or at least it did with the 82 - it would be better on the Prefix. But try both and let us know.
Indeed, that submarinal logic is hard to beat HH. I wondered if anyone had found some kind of greater synergy with the Prefix run off the 282, especially if the 282 was optimised with 2HiCaps? Or whether the HiCapped Prefix was just night and day better.
It’s down to personal preference, and as we all know, one person’s ‘night and day’ is another’s ’no difference’. When I had a Prefixed Armageddon I couldn’t decide if it was best powered from the 252 or with its own Hicap. In the end I sold the Hicap to make things simpler.
The pragmatic fish strikes again! I shall be hanging on to both my HiCaps, but will certainly report back. 282 due to arrive in the New Year for extensive pre-service tests.
Loki-son and I have enjoyed an hour this New Year’s Eve listening to the various combinations. We used CfP’s 1980 pressing of Mundy’s Vox Patris Caelestis, performed by the Tallis Scholars. The results are in:
prefix powered by aux 2, 1 HiCap on 282: congested and a bit smeary.
prefix powered by aux2, 2 HiCaps on 282: better, smoother, more silky presentation, deeper bass.
prefix powered by HiCap 1, via Tuner input, 282 powered by HiCap 2: smoother, much more depth and separation. Individual voices clearly identifiable, and overall presentation more natural. Acoustics of Merton College Chapel Oxon. more believably reproduced.
Happy New Year! I wonder what a third HiCap might bring?
It irks me that the Prefix signal lead is so short.
Currently it stretches taughtly between brain and brawn Fraim such that it is in contact with the cup above the rear leg of the brain stack behind the LP12.
Brain Stack:
LP12
282(on medium legs)
Radikal
Brawn Stack:
CDX2.2 (on long legs)
Hicap (for Prefix) and Napsc (rear leg at 90 degrees to true)
250.2DR
Hicap (for 282)
Do you think there’d be any gain by swapping the Radikal and Prefix Hicap positions? (Always assuming all cables can be dressed unstressed, untrussed and not touching.)
I get the brains/brawn idea but personally I organise the boxes based on connecting them up nicely. I’ve managed to keep a high shelf under the pre-amp and streamer maintaining a larger gap between them and their PSUs. My Prefix just reaches the Supercap, 3 shelves below but the lead is just the right side of slack. No complaints about SQ. Apparently it’s possible to give a little more slack by rearranging the Prefix cable within the LP12. There is a post by Cymbiosis about this.
I agree there has to be some sort of trade off between separating psus and sources. In this instance trying to have both sources on the top shelf.
One thing I’m not clear about is how much the Radikal causes any kind of interference with the other kit given that it doesn’t have a toroidal transformer within.
Àlso how important it is to keep the LH side of the 250 away from the HiCap?
Mhm, may have to listen to that then, although my system is at the slimline level.
Yes that’s quite annoying.
I keep it far away, and on a separate mains socket.
Well, that’s the thing, when the Radikal Akurate sat under the CDX2.2, it didn’t seem to make much difference, and it was on medium legs above the 250. Changing its power cable made no obvious difference either. It’s plugged in to the same power strip as the rest of the kit, all on a dedicated spur. But, before embarking on the full-scale re-stacking rigmarole a change in placement would necessitate, I just wondered if there was any general accepted wisdom about placement?