Something happened with my Electric in the Storm the other night

[Shadowfax]

This is going to sound weird but we had an electrical storm a few days ago. My system was off and had not been on for a few days. We live in a neighborhood with underground wiring so rarely lose power unless they turn us off to fix another location. The storm the other night caused us to lose power for a minute, then several on and off surges before coming back to normal.

Last night I fired up the system and dropped a disk in the player that I have listened to hundreds of times and a few times since having this current setup. (Yokeshire - Mask of Shadows) Everything sounded different. More live, more micro detail, more bass. My wife kept asking me if it was the same disk. I have a second disk of same group that has a few alternate versions of the same songs but not the same track listing and order. I was playing the right disk. It was as if someone snuck into my home and placed a Denali and a Tube Amp in my system. Really hard to explain. I played another unrelated but very familiar disk and same results. Then I played an old album and again similar results.

So the question is, could whatever happened electrically after the power surges result in my incoming power being cleaner and quieter? The sound difference was as if I was using new or different components but the only thing that changed was power surges during a storm.

 

[Michaels HiFi]

This is going to sound weird but we had an electrical storm a few days ago. My system was off and had not been on for a few days. We live in a neighborhood with underground wiring so rarely lose power unless they turn us off to fix another location. The storm the other night caused us to lose power for a minute, then several on and off surges before coming back to normal.

Last night I fired up the system and dropped a disk in the player that I have listened to hundreds of times and a few times since having this current setup. (Yokeshire - Mask of Shadows) Everything sounded different. More live, more micro detail, more bass. My wife kept asking me if it was the same disk. I have a second disk of same group that has a few alternate versions of the same songs but not the same track listing and order. I was playing the right disk. It was as if someone snuck into my home and placed a Denali and a Tube Amp in my system. Really hard to explain. I played another unrelated but very familiar disk and same results. Then I played an old album and again similar results.

So the question is, could whatever happened electrically after the power surges result in my incoming power being cleaner and quieter? The sound difference was as if I was using new or different components but the only thing that changed was power surges during a storm.

Maybe something blew that you weren't aware of and they changed that part out - like at a local substation near your neighborhood?

 

[2FarGone]

Maybe something blew that you weren't aware of and they changed that part out - like at a local substation near your neighborhood?

This seems likely to me - a marginal component in the electrical distribution system may have been emitting noise into the lines and finally failed in the surge. When the faulty device was removed, so was the source of the noise.

This scenario well illustrates the impact that noise on the lines can have on the way your system sounds. IIRC, Michael Fremer had the opposite problem. The power company did some work near his home, and to his great consternation the sound of his system tanked. As I recall, he spent a fair amount of $$$ on power treatment to correct the problem.

 

[Shadowfax]

This seems likely to me - a marginal component in the electrical distribution system may have been emitting noise into the lines and finally failed in the surge. When the faulty device was removed, so was the source of the noise.

This scenario well illustrates the impact that noise on the lines can have on the way your system sounds. IIRC, Michael Fremer had the opposite problem. The power company did some work near his home, and to his great consternation the sound of his system tanked. As I recall, he spent a fair amount of $$$ on power treatment to correct the problem.

This is actually awesome since I got a very positive effect. I knew I wasn't crazy.

 

[Mr Peabody]

Strange incident, glad it was a positive.

 

[Kingrex]

Wet ground? Utility replaced fuses that 1 is a new fuse and 2, cleaned the contacts. Local transformer damaged and replaced. Lucky you.

 

[JCS123]

Careful Shadowfax, you're going to have maniacal audiophiles trying to sabotage the power grid to get that last 1%!

 

[Shadowfax]

Careful Shadowfax, you're going to have maniacal audiophiles trying to sabotage the power grid to get that last 1%!

I think it's a good nod to Power Conditioning being really important.

 

[Speedskater]

I would think that some defective equipment in the neighborhood was generating electrical noise. With the power outages, it finally failed.
In the past, I could hear a distant mechanical noise, after a wide area power outage, the noise was gone.

 

[crwilli]

I am glad that you had no damage and came out ahead from the storm. It’s nice to read of a happier ending.

Last year, I experienced a local TS and my home had a surge from a nearby lightning strike. We have no idea what it hit but it took out routers on two floors, multiple DC motors in recliners/beds, made dimmers inoperable and worst of all, took out the input power circuits of one of my mono blocks and the matching linestage - both of which had to be sent across the Altantic for repair. $7000 later on repairs and shipping they returned many months later and are fantastic again. The system sounds great again.

However, I still feel there are gremlins in my house electric system as dimmers continue to work intermittently even after being replaced. Now I am having my home ground system and both boxes checked by an electrician and every switch and dimmer in the home replaced as part of a 20 year old refresh and design.

 

[JDC]

However, I still feel there are gremlins in my house electric system

Same here. When I simply plug in my iPhone in the kitchen, the kitchen light sometimes goes out.... The house was built in 1950 and is probably not up to code.