Come see Nordost at AXPONA 2017!

axpona logo

Nordost is pleased to be a part of Axpona this year, held at the Westin O’hare in Chigago Friday, April 21– Sunday, April 23. Visit us in room 446, and take advantage of this great opportunity to experience live demonstrations and cable comparisons, featuring Nordost’s extensive range of products. While at the show, make sure to see us at our sales booth in the Market Place to check out our special show offers on select Nordost products.

Dealer Spotlight: Ljudmakarn

By Bjorn Bengtsson

Unknown

Ljudmakarn, or “Sound Maker” in English, has a long history of supplying the people of Sweden’s capitol with the highest quality products available on the hifi market. Since this Stockholm staple was founded in 1973, it has gone through several different phases, changing as the industry changes. In 1999, when mass-market mall audio shops started to invade the hifi scene, the owner, Mr. Kaj Lundberg, decided to move away from low-priced, entry-level products, and began to invest in high-performance devices.

Unknown-2

In order to sell these exclusive hifi products, you need to be able to provide passionate, compelling demonstrations and a friendly, knowledgeable staff. Ljudmakarn boasts several demo-ready systems (wired with Nordost cables) in their two-story shop. However, visitors are encouraged to book a demonstration in advance, so that the staff can customize a system tailored to their needs. Kaj and his staff believe that whether the perspective customer is interested in speakers, components, or cables, it is important that they feel confident that the demo system they are listening to has been carefully put together to highlight the product in question. If you would prefer an at-home audition, the Ljudmakarn staff is more than happy to accommodate that as well. 

Unknown-1

At Nordost, we are very grateful for the nearly two decade long partnership that we have enjoyed with this loyal retailer. Over the years, Nordost has been invited to present at several organized events at Ljudmakarn, both dedicated to Nordost products alone, as well as events that are in conjunction with other high performance audio manufacturers. We’re looking forward to 20 more years working together!

Unknown-4 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Taking The High Ground” Chasing Ground Noise From Your Hi-Fi System

By Anthony Chiarella

For all the times we improve our HiFis by upgrading components, some of the most satisfying enhancements are absolutely free. And perhaps no other “Tweak” offers as much sonic benefit as chasing ground noise from your sound system.

Back in the days before streaming—or even CDs—most of us suffered some sort of ground noise from our analog rigs. Between the low output of moving coils, the high gain of phono preamps, noise leakage from turntable motors, etc., most pre-digital audiophiles needed to roll up their sleeves and chase hums and buzzes from their systems. Typically, this was (…and still is) accomplished by using ground wires to connect the tonearm and/or turntable to the preamp chassis.  However, there were also occasions where certain cartridges needed to be placed at a great distance from power transformers, not to mention that certain cartridges wouldn’t work with some turntable motors.

turntable-1149496_960_720

The scenario above illustrates an extreme case of grounding issues, but, to some degree, EVERY system is prone to the effects of component grounding. This means, of course, that EVERY system can be improved by paying careful attention to grounding.

For starters, let’s understand the problem. A three-prong electrical cord carries the positive (+) and negative (-) legs of the AC voltage, while the third wire is “Earth” which typically connects the chassis to true ground, which, in theory, reaches through the foundations of your home and into the earth itself. Simple, huh? Problem is, the walls of a typical house contain a birds’ nest of wires—electrical and otherwise—and some of your outlets might not make a proper, solid connection to ground. To complicate matters, not all components are grounded in the same manner, while some are not grounded at all! Throwing together bad household wiring and components, with different grounding schemes, creates a “Perfect Storm”, which allows hum and noise to pollute your system.

Fortunately, there are simple and effective solutions to grounding issues. Let’s start at the AC outlet. In most systems I’ve seen, the single biggest problem is the quality of the AC outlet. Think about it: we spend a fortune on AC cords and power conditioners, and then plug them into a decades-old AC socket with corroded conductors (which probably have little “grip” or connection integrity), and we expect our systems to sound their best? For under $15, a 20-amp, Hospital Grade AC outlet will vastly improve power delivery. Why? Well, first of all, these receptacles are much more robust than the sockets which were installed when your house was built. Heavier metal conductors (which, given the fact that they’re brand new, are corrosion-free), thicker insulators, made of superior dielectric materials, and the fact that “Hospital Grade” sockets are designed to grip the blades of the AC plug more tightly, better prevent life-saving machinery from being accidentally disconnected from the outlet. Simply put, there is no more cost-effective means of improving your system than replacing your AC receptacle.

outlet-303731_960_720

Just as important, you’ll need to make sure your AC receptacle is installed correctly. The positive, negative and Earth wires must be connected to the proper terminals on the AC receptacle. This can be easily accomplished with an “AC Receptacle Tester” which is available at any hardware store. I bought mine on Amazon for under $7.

So, for under $25 (combined cost of AC Receptacle and Tester), you can dramatically improve the quality of the AC that reaches your system and ensure that your system is properly grounded. Congratulations! You’ve just established a foundation for greater system performance. You’ve also eliminated most of your system’s potential grounding issues! (CAUTION: working with AC power and your home’s electrical system is potentially hazardous. Please consult a licensed electrical contractor.)

Once you’ve optimized your AC, it is time to look at your power distribution. A common mistake is to use a cheap “outlet strip” intended to connect a computer, printer, etc. These devices have terrible contact integrity, tiny-gauge wiring and—worst of all—current-robbing, noise inducing surge suppression and protection circuitry.

Now, take a look at your components’ AC cords. Are they all three-prong, or are some of them two-prong varieties? We’re trying to determine if you’ll develop “ground loops” due to a combination of grounded and ungrounded components. Plug all your components into the outlet strip and power-up your system. With no source playing, and using a normal volume setting, put your ear close to each speaker. What do you hear? A gentle hissing sound is ideal, as it suggests that your system is properly grounded; on the other hand, any sort of hum indicates grounding issues.

Lg-QRT-qb8 mark II-us

To address ground problems, you can introduce a product like Nordost’s QBASE into the system.  Instead of using any sort of filtering or conditioning circuitry, which could adversely affect power delivery, Nordost’s QB8 creates a “Star Ground” topology to optimize system grounding and minimize hum and noise, while its shape and construction are designed to control resonance and further improve sound.  The real key to a product like this, is it controls ground flow between components.  We can all tell how signal flows throughout our system (For example, we know the signal goes from our turntable, to our phono stage, to our pre-amplifier). What we don’t know is which direction our ground is going; although, we can pretty much tell it goes in the direction of the component with the lowest chassis impedance— meaning sometimes it can flow directly opposite of the signal creating noise and hum.  As an entry point into Nordost’s AC power system, the QBASE can offer dramatically quieter and more lifelike sound quality, because it forces ground to flow in the direction of the integrated amp or pre-amp.

Ground optimization is truly a triumph of brains over bucks. With careful attention to the quality and proper wiring of your AC Cords, you can achieve a dramatic improvement in the sonic production of any system!

Nordost at the Sound and Vision Bristol Show – Recap

It was great to take part in another Bristol Show, the UKs longest running audio show!  This year, in the Nordost room, show goers were able to sit through several demonstrations, including Sort Kone, QRT, USB and Power Cord comparisons. Thank you to all of our friends in the industry who decided to wire their systems with Nordost cables, and to our wonderful distributor, Atacama, for representing us so well! If you weren’t able to make the show, here are a few images of Nordost cables in action throughout the weekend.  


IMG_0119IMG_0017 IMG_0018 IMG_0023 IMG_0026 IMG_0011IMG_0027 IMG_0040 IMG_0060


ELAC had their system wired with Heimdall 2:IMG_0352IMG_0179 IMG_0212


Esoteric used Valhalla 2 cables to help their room stand out:IMG_0370IMG_0251IMG_0211


Musical Fidelity used a combination of Tyr 2 and Frey 2 cables:IMG_0334IMG_0305


Quad used a wide array of Nordost cables, from our Heimdall 2 Ethernet Cable to our classic Blue Heaven Power Cord:IMG_0196IMG_0192IMG_0153

Nordost Playlist – March 2017

Nordost is lucky to have a wonderful team of representatives and product trainers who travel around the world educating and demonstrating the effects of Nordost’s products. As part of these demonstrations, it is our job to find an interesting and diverse selection of music to showcase our cables, power devices, sort system and accessories. Whether at shows, visiting our dealers and distributors or even in our own listening room in our headquarters in Holliston, we are constantly getting asked what music we are playing (or if our audience is not so bold to ask, we can see their Shazams working overtime). So we thought this would be a perfect opportunity to share our favorite songs of the moment. Some may be classics, some may be brand new, some may not even be to your taste, but one thing is for sure …it’s all great music.

Here are some of the songs that we will have on rotation this March.

playlist_March_17

  1. Hearts Don’t Break Around Here—Ed Sheeran— ÷ (Deluxe)
  2. Ne Me Quitte Pas—Wycleff Jean—J’ouvert (Deluxe Edition)
  3. Green Light—Lorde—Green Light
  4. Conceptual Romance—Jenn Hval—Blood Bitch
  5. The Pacifist—DJ Vadim, Yarah Bravo—USSR: The Art of Listening
  6. Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)—Ruby Amanfu—Standing Still
  7. Block Of Ice—Thee Oh Sees—The Master’s Bedroom Is Worth Spending A Night In
  8. Keep Your Name—Dirty Projectors—Dirty Projectors
  9. Slide—Calvin Harris ft. Frank Ocean and Migos—Slide
  10. Levo—Recondite—Iffy