AC Filtering, Grounding Boxes, Linear PSU and Balanced Power.

[Johnseye]

On 6/7/2017 at 10:39 AM, austinpop said:

 

I have a B&K 1604a arriving today, so after plugging it in, I will report how loud my "hmm" is!

 

Did you get any benefit from this device?  Or was your quiet as a mouse comment referring to that you had no hum and this device could add no benefit?

[Johnseye]

A great strip would be the Shunyata Venom PS8.  High quality outlets and cable with no conditioning.  Overpriced for a PDU?  Sure, but it's great.  TrippLite is "good enough".  You probably don't need anything better, but if you believe in power cords and outlets get something great.

[Johnseye]

6 minutes ago, archtype said:

Thanks again for your suggestions.  I shall be upgrading my Topaz for a 2.4kVA 0.0005 pF unit (ordered but not here).  

My question again:  Is there a place for modalities designed to block "leakage current" (other than filtering AC main with ultra-low capacitance IT)?  I would guess that most commercially available power conditioners have them built in already--part of the "Black Box".  For those not relying on third party all-in-one "black box" power conditioning solutions, do you find benefit from modalities designed to directly address "leakage current", or is a good IT enough?

 

What model did you choose?

[Johnseye]

9 minutes ago, allhifi said:

 

Hi Marce: I'm not denying it exists, however, it affects me not. It simply has no influence on my SQ experiences (expectations, denials, beliefs etc. (I do indeed stroll to a different  beat)

 

 

Really?  You should start a consulting business.  If you are immune to all bias your services are in high demand.

[Johnseye]

1 minute ago, allhifi said:

 

Sarcastic or not, I really, really should. However, what you fail to recognize and clearly  appreciate is how "my" experiences can be gauged, or evaluated --remember the term "collective wisdom"?

 

If I, general but critical listener's, respected reviewer's (if any remain) and the most (what should be the most) telling component of all --the sheer strength of elapsed time itself (if listening interpretations are consistent)  should demonstrate, if nothing else, a  valuable "Collective Wisdom". 

 

pj  

 

Seriously.  If you are truly immune to bias then you have a gift.  There are folks with perfect pitch, which can be learned, who setup audio equipment.  I don't know if you can truly be immune to bias.  I suspect not, but if you believe it, more power to you.

[Johnseye]

Not sure if this was already linked in the previous pages, but here's a good discussion and measurements of an Entreq grounding box.  Bottom line is that it raises the noise floor.  Perhaps some people like the sound of that.

 

http://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/entreq-signal-grounding-preliminary-measurements.476/

 

 

[Johnseye]

5 hours ago, YashN said:

 

Pseudo-science crap: it is well-known that Amir doesn't know how to properly do measurements with the Audio Precision gear.

 

Well I'll at least give him kudos for conducting the test and providing measurements.  I haven't seen anyone else do that.  All I hear is "sounds great to me".  That's all good and fine but I'm not going to support or invest in something just because it sounds good to someone.  I'll need to hear it for myself or see actual measurements like Amir provided.  Also, I'm not sure why you would call the measurements he took pseudo science, and what he did wrong.  Please elaborate.

[Johnseye]

8 hours ago, YashN said:

 

This is ridiculous.

 

What you should do instead is ask yourself whether the measurements were well-made at all.

 

Do you know?

 

I probably know as much as you whether his measurements were "well-made". I asked you to elaborate on why you called his measurements pseudo science 2 weeks ago and am still waiting for your reply.  Here it is again.

 

I'm not sure why you would call the measurements he took pseudo science, and what he did wrong.  Please elaborate.

[Johnseye]

9 hours ago, Speed Racer said:

Speaking of isolation transformers, I found that my 2 channel setup was using no where near a tenth of the power my Topaz 2.5kVA isolation transformer could provide. So I decided to wire it to do balanced power which would make it a 1.25kVa balanced isolation transformer.

 

Before plugging anything in, I measured: hot to ground and got 62vdc; neutral to ground and got 62vdc; and hot to neutral and got 124vdc. My "Kill A Watt" measured 124vdc as well. So plugged components in one at time and all worked as expected.

 

The first thing I noticed was that the Topaz is now silent. No more audible buzz. The second thing I noticed was that it ran much cooler. Theoretically, the power line noise should be reduced even more. I can't say that I hear any difference...but I can't say that I don't. If there is a difference, it is certainly subtle. However, the difference running without the isolation transformer is not subtle. I still say the biggest gain my system gained in sound quality was when I first put everything on the audio side on the same power strip plugged into the Topaz isolation transformer.

 

Anyway, going to balanced power has been an interesting experiment. I have a second Topaz isolation transformer that I can use to test for sound quality differences at a later date. For now, I am content.

 

 

 

How did you wire it to do balanced power?

[Johnseye]

On 8/1/2017 at 0:26 PM, YashN said:

 

I don't think you know as much as I do at all.

 

If you're convinced by blatant mis-measurements, that's your problem. If you think just by showing a graph of mis-measurements, that this is more important than actually knowing whether the measurements are well made and whether the grounding was properly done using the AP gear, that's your problem too, not mine.

 

The reasons have been discussed at length elsewhere and there's also an excellent post about how making proper measurement can be hard by iFi in this very forum.

 

mmerrill can chime in if he wants to, but I doubt you'll understand what he says either.

 

Prove it.