Technical jargon and industry shorthand can be intimidating and confusing when you are just becoming familiar with a hobby—and hifi has PLENTY of it! We thought we would save you a trip to your google-machine, and spell out what some regularly used acronyms mean when talking specifically about your vinyl set-up!
ASF (Anti-Skating Force)—
This is the equal but opposite force that turntables use to counter the frictional vector force that pulls the tonearm towards the center of the record (also known as “skating”).
VTF (Vertical Tracking Force)—
The amount of “weight”, or downward force, that the cartridge stylus exerts on the grooves of the record. This force can be measured by the stylus force gauge, and adjusted by sliding the tonearm’s counterweight forward or backward to achieve a specific weight range specified by the cartridge manufacturer.
SRA (Stylus Rake Angle)—
the angle at which the stylus is raking the record grooves. The optimal SRA angle is the angle at which the record grooves are cut (in most cases 92 degrees).
VTA (Vertical Tracking Angle)—
the angle at which the cartridge stylus sits in the record’s grooves when viewed from the side of the tonearm (this in turn, determines the SRA).
PRaT (Pace, Rhythm, and Time)—
This is often used to qualify how good or realistic audio equipment is at sound reproduction. Does it make you move? Is it toe-tapping?
For more information about turntable-related terms and turntable set-up in general, check out our Complete Turntable Set-Up Guide!
If you ever find yourself in the beautiful foothills of the Adirondacks, just South of Lake George, a stop at Adirondack AV in Queensbury, NY is a must. Adirondack AV opened its doors in 2008 and initially only specialized in custom installations. Jason Tavares came on board in 2009 while teaching at the college level and pursuing his PHD in European History. In 2010, Jason decided to become part owner and added to their already successful custom integration division, a HiFi division which he has managed to grow 20% year after year. This success comes as no surprise, as Jason brings his passion for keeping the thrill of music alive to the business every day.
I had the pleasure of visiting Adirondack AV recently where the peak foliage outside added to the good vibes felt on the inside. When you step through the doors of Adirondack AV, you will find yourself immersed in a two-channel heaven with walls adorned with artwork from Jason’s talented wife. You will find brands such as Magico, Triangle, Harbeth, Klipsch Heritage, Luxman, Clear Audio, Tsakaridis Devices, Grandinote Silva, and of course Nordost, just to name a few. Walk through the shop to enjoy the various sound rooms with products that have synergy, but, as Jason describes, are not “all vanilla”. Some of the brands you’ll see at Adirondack AV are a result of another one of Jason’s passions: travel. With frequent trips to Romania to visit family, Jason has the opportunity to expand his repertoire of quality gear with brands that are not well represented outside of Europe, such as Soulines turntables which he picked up during a side-trip to Serbia. After meeting the owner in Belgrade and listening to music, things clicked, and he became a distributor for the first time.
Now, if you’re more of a city slicker, then you cannot miss a visit to their urban location, HiFi Loft; a true boutique experience with the same gear that offers the best in music reproduction. The NYC location started in Manhattan in 2015, moved to Brooklyn when it outgrew that space, and will soon be returning to a much larger location in Manhattan in January 2021. Like the Brooklyn location, which was equipped with an intimate stage for live performances, Jason has every intent to keep live music a part of the mix in their new Manhattan home.
At Adirondack AV and HiFi Loft, Jason and his staff will give you an experience where the accuracy and emotion of music comes through, conveyed by their experience and love of music. As Jason said it so very well, “in the end, it’s the music.”
If you have gone through, or are currently in the midst of, constructing your ideal sound system, you have come across the term “grounding”. Achieving a clean reference ground is postulated as the holy grail when it comes to having the ultimate high-end audio system. However, it is important to understand that when talking about “grounding” you could potentially be referring to three separate things: earth ground, signal ground, and chassis ground. Here, we are going to look at all three ground variations, to clarify the differences between each one, and hopefully help you identify which “ground” you need to address in your home system.
Earth Ground refers to a direct, physical connection to earth, or an electrically neutral body. By connecting a ground wire in your system to “earth”, whether it be directed to an artificial ground or natural ground, you are providing a path for extraneous current. When earth ground is being addressed, you are effectively draining the system of unwanted, “spurious” current that is circulating through the circuit and adding noise to the background. In order to confront problems with earth ground in the system, Nordost offers two solutions: the QLINE and the QKORE (specifically the QKORE1 and the primary side of the QKORE6).
A signal ground is an analog or digital ground that is attached to every signal being transmitted between devices in a system. Since these devices are usually powered separately, it is inevitable that there will be small differences between their potentials, causing small currents to circulate in order to compensate. These currents add to the background noise, obscuring low-level detail in music reproduction. Furthermore, as there are usually multiple signal ground paths in a system, those ground paths can pick up on each other’s interference. Nordost’s QKORE3 and the secondary side of the QKORE6 attract those currents, leaving a clean reference point for the signal ground.
A chassis ground refers to the connection that establishes an electrical link to a metallic enclosure. Describing chassis ground can be confusing because, when speaking about audio equipment, a chassis ground can differ depending on manufacturer. A chassis ground can be connected to the earth ground if it’s meant to prevent electrical shock, or the signal ground when intended for shielding. It can also connect the earth to signal ground, or it can even float. No matter how the chassis ground is connected to the earth and/or signal ground, the previously mentioned products and solutions offered by Nordost will help your system address the chassis ground. Additionally, Nordost’s Tonearm Cable + can help address the chassis ground, depending on how the ground whip is implemented.
Nordost is happy that we can continue to make our time spent at home a little more enjoyable with the gift of great music. Our products aim to allow you to enjoy your favorite performances as they were intended to be heard. Like you, we here at Nordost are music lovers. Each one of us has our own style… we listen to a wide variety of artists and genres but, in a way, we appreciate them all. We thought that we would share a few of the songs on our own personal playlists with you each month. Some may be classics, some may be brand new, some may not even be to your tastes, but we hope that there is something here for everyone.
Here are some of the songs that we will have on rotation this November.
You can now listen to our monthly playlist here: TIDAL | SPOTIFY | QOBUZ
Run—Joji—Nectar
BULL$HIT—Evann McIntosh—BULL$HIT
Bluebeard—Cocteau Twins—Four-Calendar Cafe
anything—Adrianne Lenker—songs
The Court Of The Crimson King—King Crimson—In The Court Of The Crimson King (Expanded & Remastered Original Album Mix)
Are you going to tell her (feat. MC Zaac)—Tove Lo—Sunshine Kitty
Cry Everything—Kindness—Something Like A War
Lost without You—Freya Ridings—Freya Ridings
Spend Some Time—Amaarae, Wande Coal—Spend Some Time
A: During the manufacturing process, as insulation is extruded over the conductors, gases can become trapped. This, combined with the high electrical charges often found in new cables, can result in a brittle and bright sound that lacks the detail and depth desired for music reproduction. When cables are burned-in, the trapped gases are dissipated and small impurities in the conductors’ metal begin to act like a diode, favoring current flow in a particular direction.
Q: What changes are audible in a system when cables are properly burned-in?
A: Your system will be capable of producing a fuller and more natural sounding performance. You may also notice an increase in the detail and nuance in the music, as well as a greatly improved dimensionality in your system’s soundstage.
Q: How is using a designated burn-in machine better than using your system to naturally burn-in your cables?
A: Naturally burning-in cables within your system takes an extremely long period of constant play time. Additionally, the music that we listen to can never expose cables to the complexity of signal or the frequencies that a burn-in machine is capable of.
Q: How often should you burn-in your cables?
A: Minimally, you should burn-in your new cables when they are first purchased. However, if cables are left unused for a prolonged period of time they become stagnant and should be reconditioned accordingly. Even through everyday cable use, electrical equipment experiences current leakage, imparting a charge onto your cables. By having your cables treated with a burn-in machine, you are conditioning them and allowing the charges to neutralize once again.
At Nordost, it is our goal to be a resource to our fellow music lovers and provide you with the information you need in order to make the most of your home hifi system. To do that, we offer downloads on a variety of topics that we think will help them to do just that. Our newest such download will give much needed information on turntable set-up.
A correctly set-up turntable, tonearm, and cartridge can make a world of difference when you sit down to enjoy your favorite vinyl. With this in mind, we have put together a series of helpful hints to properly set-up a turntable. This Complete Turntable Set-Up Guide includes information on turntable adjustment and maintenance tips, accessory recommendations, a comprehensive breakdown of turntable components, and even gives step by step cartridge mounting and alignment instructions. Each one of these topics will help you achieve the best possible sound from your analog-driven system in no time.
You can now find the Complete Turntable Set-Up Guide both on the Downloads page of the Nordost website, or right here!
We have another great review to share with you, and this time it’s on our QKORE Ground Units! Nordost’s QKOREs are parallel grounding devices which provide an artificial “clean” earth for hifi audio systems using both electrical and mechanical approaches, and people LOVE what they do to their systems. In fact, in his review in High Fidelity, Wojciech Pacuła went as far as to say that the QKORE is the “best-built device of this type on the market”.
“…connecting all elements in our system to the artificial ground is equivalent to replacing any of its elements with a superior one. But – and here it starts to be interesting – we get more of everything that we already have in the system, not something completely new. In other words, the sound we worked for, polished and refined, will be improved, not changed.” – Wojciech Pacuła, High Fidelity
With theaters closed across the nation and streaming services rising in popularity more rapidly than ever, cinema fans are spending less time in ticket lines and more time upgrading their current entertainment space into a state-of-the-art home theater. While it seems as simple as going to the store and buying the biggest TV with the highest quality display and calling it good, many have found that it takes careful consideration to replicate an authentic cinema-like experience. Factors such as lighting, audio, acoustics and comfort all play a substantial part in creating the ultimate home theater. That’s why we’ve reached out to the experts in home theater systems from New York to Austin to provide you with some tips for creating an authentic cinematic experience at home. So sit back, grab some popcorn and learn how to create the home theater of your dreams.
Invest in quality equipment
When it comes to the ultimate home theater, the screen and projector can make or break the experience. Home theater projectors need to have at least a 500,000:1 contrast ratio to make the “dark scenes” truly dark and suspenseful. Otherwise, the blacks will appear grayer, than truly dark. In addition, silver or gray screens help increase the contrast ratio, while still providing a bright and colorful image. If you like scary movies, this tip is for you! – Go Outdoor Movies
Replicate the real thing
To build the home theater of your dreams, it should be as close to reality as possible. Recreating the movie experience as intended. At Bang & Olufsen, we strive to recreate the experience as the Director intended for the audience to have a true, life-like adventure; nothing more, nothing less. – Adam Rejino, Manager at Bang & Olufsen SOCO
Ensure your screen supports your projector’s resolution
Ensure that the screen you pair with your projector actually supports the projector’s resolution. There is a lot of bad information and false claims out there about a projector screen being “4K Ready” or “4K Compatible”, but that does not mean that it will actually resolve 4K. A screen surface needs to be texture-free in order to not distort the geometry of a 4K pixel (which is 4x smaller than a 1080p pixel) and ensure that you get the full fidelity from your projector. – ProjectorScreen.com
Take advantage of integrated smart home tech
Homeowners going beyond the ‘norm’ and pushing the boundaries of the home-cinema space have started using integrated smart home technologies. By connecting all in-home devices such as speakers, projectors, televisions, LED lighting, and security systems over an encrypted network to an intelligent control system, the user gains the ability to see the advanced functionality of the home. The possibilities in this space are limitless. Imagine pretty much anything you would want to do is activated via voice or wall-mounted touch screen. Specifically, in the home cinema space, we’ve seen this integrated tech being used for :
Voice-activated lighting control
Zoom enabled cinema rooms
Augmented reality and reactive video programs
Advanced sound space control
Voice-activated audio presets
While no amount of tech in a home cinema is a replacement for a grand design, homeowners looking to push the limits are having these networked smart systems installed in their cinemas and their entire homes. – Limitless Sights and Sounds
Incorporate sound-absorbing materials
What would a cinema be without the curtains getting pulled away from the screen? Use heavy drapery textiles covering the screen when you are not watching a movie, and let the draped curtains move from your screen to the sides when viewing. The sound-absorbing draped curtains will help to improve the sound quality tremendously in your home theater. Still too sharp sound and/or sound waves that are bouncing around? In addition to the curtains, we would recommend adding some sound-absorbing wall tiles, panels, ceiling tiles or a rug. – Unika Vaev
Make your smaller home theater sound like a larger room through the use of our absorption and diffusion technologies. You can have a low – frequency definition equal to your voice and music using our proprietary carbon and foam technologies. Your voice will stay on-screen following the action and your music will fill your room for all to hear. – Acoustic Fields
Take acoustics into consideration
Do not forget to consider acoustic treatment when planning your home theater project as the best speakers on the market can sound horrific in a room that is not properly treated. Multiple sound sources (speakers) produce a lot of sound energy especially when combined with subwoofers, and many home theaters are in small rooms with lengths and widths less than 30 ft which can be problematic if untreated. Each sound source and corresponding surface needs to be accounted for and treated with proper absorption or diffusion. The most critical areas to treat are the first reflection points in order to eliminate noticeable echoes and the corners of the room where low-end bass waves tend to congregate and cause problems. – Sound Assured
Photo courtesy of Sound Assured
Don’t underestimate the power of quality audio cables
When building a HiFi or home theater systems, homeowners often overlook quality audio cables. Cables are the link that ties your system together, ensuring that each of your thoughtfully purchased components is performing to their maximum potential. However, the most important cable of them all is the power cord. Poor quality power cords are often the limiting factors in a system, polluting it with noise introducing electromagnetic interference (EMI) and radio frequencies (RF). A high quality, optimally built power cord, on the other hand, is designed to be less prone to (and even reduce) noise, resulting in an automatic upgrade to any A/V system—a must-have in all systems! – Nordost Cables
Choose ambient light rejection materials for your ceiling
When it comes to creating your ideal home theater, Elite Screens recommends using one of their popular Ceiling Ambient Light Rejecting Materials such as the CineGrey 3D/5D in a dedicated home theater environment for the following reasons:
1) Angular reflective material does not scatter light in the room
2) Improves black levels and color purity for an enhanced contrast image
4) ISF Certified material provides accurate color reproduction – Elite Screens
Invest in comfortable cinema seating
Look for features in home theater seats that are focused on total comfort, such as powered headrests and lumbar. Your neck and back will thank you after hours of binge-watching. Attachable accessories that wirelessly charge your QI-enabled phone on the armrest or cradle a glass of your favorite wine are common additions to our customers’ home theater seats. – 4Seating
Over the past few months, Nordost has been happy that we can continue to make our time spent at home a little more bearable with the gift of great music. Our products aim to allow you to enjoy your favorite performances as they were intended to be heard. Like you, we here at Nordost are music lovers. Each one of us has our own style… we listen to a wide variety of artists and genres but, in a way, we appreciate them all. We thought that we would share a few of the songs on our own personal playlists with you each month. Some may be classics, some may be brand new, some may not even be to your tastes, but we hope that there is something here for everyone.
Here are some of the songs that we will have on rotation this October.
You can now listen to our monthly playlist here: TIDAL | SPOTIFY | QOBUZ
Nordost is lucky to have such incredibly loyal and enthusiastic customers! One great way that our fans let us know that they are happy with the work that we do is by posting pictures of their Nordost products in action. Here are a few photos that have been shared with us recently. Feel free to send us pictures of Nordost in your system, via Facebook, info@nordost.com, or #nordostcables on Instagram, so that we can continue to share them with the whole Nordost family!
@uncle_santa and his four-legged friend seem really happy with their system! “A Nordost Odin 2 octopus has taken over the headphone lounge…” 🤣 @absoluteaudioyyc is burning-in some Odin 2 cables so they sound their absolute best!The force is strong with this one, thanks to @10.onezero.10‘s Reference Bi-Wire Jumpers!@solverenolen has got the collection to match the system!@great___sound indeed!@_jason.n.n‘s Sennheiser HD 800 and Nordost Heimdall 2 Headphone Cable@norbert_sajewski is showing off his White Lightning Loudspeaker Cables! “Kicking off my Weekend Listening Sessions with the Luxman L-505uXll Amp and D-03X CD/DAC.” – @jimmy_hifi@cultoffonza‘s system is wired with Heimdall 2 and ready for listening!
