Something New Has Arrived :~)

[fas42]

2 hours ago, Crom said:

The immediate thing I noticed once I'd plugged it in (very heavy lifting alone!!!!) was that the bass improved. Fuller...there was just more of it but not in a bloated way. It was punchier too. Better bass transients in a system that I already rated as pretty responsive. Then there was better texture across the board. acoustic instruments just sounded more...acoustic. The cohesion comment came from how the instruments hung in space better. I place great importance in the soundstage on my system and this definitely improved it. Not really the scale of it, but the fact that it was all a little more differentiated. I can quite honestly say that this was my favourite upgrade of last year (etherregen comes second).

 

Quite typical of the sort of gains when the delivery of mains power to components is improved - most gear has power supply sections which are not engineered well enough, and everything you do to give this area a helping hand will benefit the subjective SQ. Impact of the bass line is often an obvious gain ... it just has more "guts" to it, 😉.

[fas42]

What's going on is described here, as well as giving details of a DIY build, https://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=18441&sid=8fde56b5616010155d6f2364fe935806

 

[fas42]

Just to note that the local audio friend uses isolation transformers in both his rigs; three in total - modest units, but dead quiet. He works in the field of maintaining the electrical equipment used in a large hospital, so has easy access to quality items that really do the job.

[fas42]

4 hours ago, Jon Herron said:

I first experienced the importance of really clean power when I was the product development manager at Madrigal Audio Labs, back in the 90s. We developed an AC Regeneration system that provided isolated, incredibly clean power for the voltage gain portion of the big N°33 monoblocks. The first time it was brought online, I was hooked.

 

Most of the improvements we made during product development were incremental in nature. The AC Regeneration system was not. It was one of two "you've gotta be kidding me!" moments for me during those years.

 

...

 

I share Michael Ritter's opinion about the importance of really clean power. You don't know what you are missing until you have experienced it for yourself. Don't knock it until you've tried it.

 

The bowl you over moments come when the audio chain becomes clean enough ... making sure that the power supplies within the gear are working as well as was intended are a major component of achieving that. It does turn out that there are other factors as well, but I'll keep quiet about it here ... 😜.

[fas42]

25 minutes ago, dtgpeter said:

 

 

Over the last few years we’ve been lucky to have been able to experience Tim Marutani’s 512 Engineering product evolve to what it has become today.  Andrew Jones and I had used one version or another of the product at trade shows as far back as 2017.  While usually exceeding the cost of our entire demo system, we were constantly amazed at how the improved quietness, clarity and reduction in grain allowed us to “look deeper” into the music.  Hotel power is notoriously bad, but we never had a problem with the 512 in place, and were always able to perform impressive demonstrations.

 

You have very likely not heard everything your system can do if you are not using one of these transformers.  While obviously very expensive, most people deeply into this audio hobby pay way more for much less.   

 

 

Being able to "look deeper" into the music is the natural outcome of the "sorting out" 😉 process of a setup - using an extremely capable isolating transformer obviously is an excellent add-on for getting there, but is not essential. My first good system 'worked' with no isolating devices in the mains line, but the electronics had good designs for their power supplies; meaty, and multiple transformers within. Would it have been more robust with better isolation? Indeed it would have, especially these days - the more you can fully shield the components from external interference, in every area, the better.

[fas42]

22 minutes ago, sandyk said:

 

 It appears to be way more of a problem in 60HZ 117VAC countries, or in high rise apartment buildings with lifts etc. elsewhere

 

My first guess is that half the voltage means twice the current drain - same impedance in the circuits then causes double the level of noise voltages.

[fas42]

3 minutes ago, One and a half said:

Also if your house has many other contributors to generating rubbish.

 

Insidious, small scale, but numbers are a problem.

  Vampire SMPS like, microwave, phone chargers, routers, wifi extenders, TV & computers. 

Intermittent monsters

  Fluorescent lamps, oven, cooktop, washing machines, fridge, aircon, light switches

Worst offenders

Energy 'efficient' LED clusters, audio equipment - especially digital, just due to proximity

 

Audio Friendly house items

 Candles

 Soft furnishings

 Good earth (ground)

 Gas appliances

 

 

 

When I visit the local audio mate, he shuts the whole house down 😁  - as much as he can. So, now he only normally organises a listen when the rest of the family are absent - no carry on, "Why can't I go onto the Internet ... ?!!" 😄

[fas42]

24 minutes ago, sandyk said:

 I get your point about CY2.

 I do have a different DIY filter in line with my 15W Class A's separate Regulated PSU which also has 2 separate toroidal transformers inside it that supply my Preamp 18-0-18VAC , but I would never use a filter in line with a high powered amplifier.

 I do not feel the need to do any more in this area judging by what I have seen at the output of my Preamp at maximum volume using my CRO at maximum sensitivity,in conjunction with a very low noise  x10 gain Preamplifier where the result is more like a blurred line with what appears to be a tiny amount of almost invisible SMPS crud from the nearby TV .

 

I devised my own design for a mains filter, which doesn't rely on items like current limited cores - this should be usable on the highest powered amps, because there was nothing to saturate, or limit peak currents. Note, it was not universal; the parts were such to match the, very typical, input side of the component's power supply.

 

Quite effective ... I injected massive 240V arcing noise into the mains, nearby - without filter, spluttering galore from the speakers; with, dead quiet system.

[fas42]

16 minutes ago, One and a half said:

Oh, 'mine's bigger than yours', ok.🙄

 

I find people's behaviour fascinating - if I don't describe what I do to achieve better sound, I'm abused - if I do contribute some comment relating to how I dealt with an issue mentioned in a post, I'm abused ... funny ol' place, this world ... 🙂

 

Note the tagline ... 😝

[fas42]

Again, for those who have a DIY bent, and want to try the Felicia method for creating your own isolation and balancing filter, which I mentioned in an earlier post - which should achieve most of what a commercial product can do ... I checked the cost of the key raw ingredients, available locally, and on the first site that came up, that should tally to about $AU1000 for a 4kVA capable effort. A lot cheaper for lower power requirements of course, but shows how much an energetic enthusiast can save, if they want to experiment ...

 

Would be certainly how I would go about it, if motivated.

[fas42]

37 minutes ago, cjf said:

I'm sure I am not understanding but how is this device a 5VA unit when the Input source assuming standard single phase power at 20A wall plug only generates 2400VA unless my math is wrong? It appears to also only have a 20A Input receptacle also. I didn't think transformers could create more power on the output than on the input unless they could somehow operate at above 100% efficiency ?

 

 

 

Simply means that the unit can handle loads up to 5kVA while still working within specifications - can handle 5VA, 50VA, 500VA, or 5,000VA while still being well behaved.

 

The real world value of this high performance capability is that it is very low impedance to any high current demands of anything plugged into it - meaning high powered audio amplifiers won't be degraded in performance when the mains current is filtered by such a unit.