The components in my modest system have been the same for the last five years. Yet, the SQ has continually improved. A grand piano sounds like a grand piano. Vocals sound natural. No glare in the HF. The LF is subterranean. The Midrange is magical.
Thanks to continually cleaning up the power - via conditioning, cabling, etc, It's important to learn about different types of power conditioning. Especially understanding which ones are compatible with source components vs amps. Active vs Passive. Non-current-limiting vs possible current-limiting. They each have benefits when used appropriately. Sometimes different brands play very nicely together, other times not. The only way to know is to try. One size does not fit all. The same goes for cabling.
This post is about EMI.
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Component & Cable management - to reduce Distortion - from EMI & Induction.
Contributing Causes:
1) Large transformers inside component cases. e.g.: Amplifier, isolation transformer, balanced power transformer, power regenerator.
2) Cables: too close together - and/or - in parallel - and/or - even crossing at 90 degrees.I discovered that more attention was needed for component & cable management than I initially thought. I relocated the transformer-based components to opposite sides of the equipment rack - away from the cabling and source components. I built a 3-D rat's nest to separate all cables from each other.
Results: Blacker background, improved tone, timbre, imaging, etc. Subtle noisy artifacts were mitigated.
NB: Organizing the rat’s nest of cabling behind the equipment rack is for fine-tuning only. Priority #1 should be building a system where the components & cabling synergize well for a pleasing SQ.
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Interesting articles about:
EM waves - radiating: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_radiation EM fields - near & far: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_and_far_field