I’m the first crasy guy to install this setup: Direct electricity line at the top of my mainbord electric home with Furman Pro + Puritan156 + Antigone from Dr Acoustic. The triple setup = TOTAL SILENCE with TOTAL PROTECTION. All stuff have minimum #2 AWG power cable between each one. Conclusion: Total silence, open soundstage and day & night with the clarity with my same speaker. 😊
I have an excellent high-end integrated amp and CD player. I bought a Furutech NCF duplex wall outlet, Furutech frame, Furutech carbon fiber wall plate, and an Audience Adept Response aR2p-T4 power conditioner. And the improvement is night and day! I can’t imagine listening to my stereo without power conditioning. Audience makes some of the best power conditioners available. Two other friends who have dedicated lines also noticed a huge improvement with their Audience power conditioners. I heard good things about the Puritan 156 power conditioner but never auditioned one.
Very interesting tips, to me by far the most important is protecting what you already have. Having lost computer equipment to surges; its somewhat frustrating to see individuals who spend thousands on electronics without considering series mode surge suppressors. (Zero Surge, SurgeX, Brickwall) If one is already spending that much on the gear itself, an extra few hundred dollars to ensure against loss shouldn't be an issue. As someone who doesn't consider themselves an audiophile; I can still appreciate going a step beyond to enjoy higher end audio, thank you for sharing.
I noticed an immediate all-around positive change in sound quality after installing a PS Audio P3 regenerator. I have sensitive speakers and the mono blocks are class D. I don't exceed the current capabilities of the P3 when listening at reference/sanely loud listening levels (75-83db avg with
Stetzerizer EMI meters use their own measuring system. I only recommend using the Greewave EMI meter or the Satic SaticShield EMI meter. Both Greenwave and Satic also make their own filters. I prefer the Greenwave filters. Just turning on a desktop PC can add 1000 mV of EMI back into the line. Satic also makes a surge protective and EMI reduction for the whole house called the Satic Power Perfect box.
The big one is power factor correction. People fill their homes with reactive loads which cause a shift in phase between voltage and current. Protection is a must. Where I am most power is above ground. So lighting is a very high possibility.
This was SUCH an honest video! It reminded me that the best way to regulate power and noise is not at the outlet/component level, but at the mains /service level and with the isolation of outlets. By the way, someone behind you keeps staring at me.
Great job covering so much information in the video. I love how they recommend a really expensive power cord to go along with the power conditioner. So I have a transparent power isolator with hopes that it's of benefit, at least the surge protector is a given benefit. Also have a surge protector in my circuit panel. Transparent pc has some attractive curves and is incredibly heavy and came inside a really cool looking suitcase. Power cable also came in a really cool looking suitcase. 20 years ago I bought a Monster power conditioner, with a really cool voltage meter on the front, mostly to clean up power to protect TV set circuitry and especially now with smart TVs. That would seem to be a worthwhile benefit that you never hear about from power conditioner companies. So my next conquest is decent interconnects which I am taking my time on, maybe something from Deutschland.
Yeah...a TV would theoretically be a great place for a power conditioner if it improved performance. Unfortunately, many of the power conditioners used in AV applications have been shown to ADD noise. Maybe it's cheap parts... LEDs...or who knows what... Maybe it's their attempt to be protection too. That's why I noted the Brickwall and Surgex...I think those are the best for providing extra protection to those pieces without any added noise or issues. It's certainly possible though that some audiophile power conditioners can help video performance, but I just haven't seen/tested it yet.
If you want surge protection just get a whole home surge protector installed at your panel for a fraction of the price. I also unplug my components when I remember to.
On the Puritan 156, you can change the cheapest inlet for the IEC inlet socket VIBORG (Pur copper with 3 layers of silver & 1 layer of gold) Better than Furutech Rhodium too because the rhodium is poor conductor. Don’t forget to install huge AC cable(#5) or better. Garden hose is not the same of FIRE HOSE. With the electricity, it’s the same comportement. Huge is better !!!
Sure is My approach. May not suit you but for me it’s as pure as I like. But I only have a humble system seen over on my channel. My approach and also. I appreciate the way you worded the title in your video. What a wonderful way to get some quality. FREE advice lol 1 commercial 25kw 3 phase commercial SMA solar system I am only allowed to export 5 kW back to the grid good news for me is because I have three phase we’re allowed to export 5 kW over three phases so that’s 15 kW in other words what that means for me is that we are pretty heavy users of electricity. We have HVAC doing our shed and our house and other things as well but we still pocket about $2000 from the energy company as pure cash every year and I think it’s great considering I did nothing for it 2 there, two batteries, one that feeds our general purposes, and a separate one and all the separate one does is running to my listening room. Remember, my listening room has been custom built for example, the cabinet, the houses, my amplifier and equipment is anchored into my concrete foundation, isolated from the rest of the slab so that I can play music as loud as I want and I can have that absolutely kidney massaging base rippling through the house and there is no way in the world that my tone arm will have the slightest bit of vibration affecting it. That’s dedication. 3 remembering this feed directly from that battery goes through its own sub board and of course through a Jands 3phase distro which delivers for me a total of 12 x 2400 watt circuits so plenty of room to step up to mono blocks etc. as you can imagine. Remember, this is pure electricity, that I am creating here. This is separate. This does not even have a connection to the outside world and or to the grid from here. 4 my weapon of choice is a kikusi power conditioner. You may not know it, but this is a weapon of choice used by many musicians where we can exactly dial in voltage and current required and highly stable and accurate. What’s really interesting, is compared to other units that you can buy including the hi-fi world there’s no buzz Ham or other noises. Remember I’m the person who with someone plugs in a USB wall charger to charge up a phone. I can hear that frequency humming away and I hate it so as a result, anything like that will be housed in a room, which is of course, separated, viral double brick and soundproof insulation system in between from this point obviously, we will now move directly to the GPO’s in the room 5 from here, we just moved down into a pretty stock standard type of polarity filter, and from there will just branch out to the necessary power distribution as required. Now, I realize I have not gone down your traditional path from manufacturers like PS audio, but there is a reason for that, and the reason is pretty clear that I make in the videos and yes, my little humble amplifier may not be anything to make a big Howdy doody about But the point is, I’m still young enough to make my way to the top of the hi-fi world, and achieve some great things, but without losing focus on the simplicity of enjoying music, I really love a nice clean signal chain moving coil is not my department for all the benefits that can come from it is just a Further link in a chain that I don’t need failing on me the clear audio maestro is one heckuva moving magnet stylist to have on my turntable and I don’t see anything changing into the rest of the community on RU-vid. I think we can all agree unless we’re going visiting each other‘s homes and sitting down and appreciating all the acoustic treatment and magic we’re doing and don’t forget the holy Grail of pressings that we so work so hard to find clean and prepare to play, let’s just enjoy what we can on this wonderful community. Great video as always it’s always enjoyable reading through the comments. Stay safe and keep them coming.
A while back, I had a hum situation with my turntable connected to a phono-preamp connected to a Denon X4500H AVR. The AVR power cable does not have a ground. I was using a power conditioner at the time. I ended up trying out PS Audio's entry level power regenerator. This got rid of the hum.
As I mentioned in a caption... The most common "benefit" people get from these power conditioners is better grounding since you can plug them all into the same outlet. In the case of an AVR, you often have TVs and cable indirectly connected, so that brings a lot of equipment into the equation where it's tough to have everything into the same outlet. Glad you found something that worked in your situation. It highlights what I said in the video about finding the right solution for your specific variables and needs. Often, you can put an isolation transformer device on your TV/cable line if you are getting a hum with an AVR. This will often solve the hum problem on a tight budget.
I use a Tripp Lite Isobar plug-in-unit and a lot of NCF products. Pure silver cables into a pure silver wired distributor box. I’ve achieved no noticeable line noise.
I recommend Isol 8 mini sub axis for most users with most gear on the market. That is the best value and most natural sound I have found. Second best is Isol 8 substation integra, then Puritan 156. Then Audioquest niagara 5000. Those are the most versatile/best value boxes on the market IMO. If i could afford it, I would maybe try something like a StroMtank 2500 model, which I guess is maybe the best ever, or if they have a higher model.
I would be careful using UPSs and batteries. I might do a shootout with the AQ and Shunyata pieces since 3mA carries them and I can borrow anytime, but I'm already familiar with them in various systems. They definitely have happy customers with those pieces.
@@AudiophileJunkie Yes I have owned the lowest level audioquest and especially a couple of shunyata at the lowest levels, and I was not so happy with that sound. Yes they both did they own very opposite thing which was kinda interesting. But yeah it did not sound natural only HIFI. AQ Niagra 3000 model really starts to do some good stuff, and the top Shunyata models are actually quite good but I do no like the value they offer. Yes UPS totally kills the sound and generally HiFi battery cleaners usually have some serious issues in terms of dynamics/naturality. I agree with you, that most powerbars/especially reconditioners harm the sound to some degree. And yes there are many top condtioners that sound pretty decent, but the only reason I don't recommend them are because of the price and that many go in a certain HiFi sounding filter direction. Yes it would be awesome to watch to test that gear out and give your opinion.
This has always been a debate and it’s a matter of opinion since some claim they don’t work or do anything , but speaking from personal experience I can tell you it did help my system. I had a serious buzzing, hum problem when I lived in an apartment. I bought PS audio unit for $2,600 plus dollars but it was the worst piece of gear I ever had in my system. Sold it and bought a Shunyata unit and never had any issues since. I have an older house so I recently updated my electrical panel and added a whole house surge protector. Make me feel a bit more at ease.
Yep.. Ground issues are very common and something that can give you an audible improvement before you even play music. The best option and higher value for dealing with ground loops can be debated, but at the end of the day, if you solved a problem with no other downsides, then that's all that matters.
I have both the Graham-Stetzer filters and gthe Steterizer meter and a Trifield meter, as well as a dedicate circuit for my system. I have about 10 G-S filters around my house in spots that showed high levels of noise. An Environmental Potentials EP-2050 is mounted on the electrical panel. The result? Both the Trifield and Stetzerizer show readings from the single digits to low teens. The filters address a lot of the internally generated noise (SMPS, refrigerator, CFL/LED, etc) give a clearly measurable lowering of noise.
Yeah I noticed the same. It doesn't mean the lower readings will translate to better sound, but it does provide some tangible evidence of "cleaning" certain things up before it hits your gear. Theoretically, most gears power supplies can deal with either scenarios, but it never hurts to make things better as long as you have the budget.
So I am an electrician, just finished my Red Seal up here in Canada and what people need to realize is that your entire home's electrical wiring is one GIGANTIC antenna. Branches of wiring going through 3d space all centrally terminated on your panel. Now of course, those are different frequencies and any gear worth it's salt should be filtering out most if not all of that from the signal path before rectification for amplification. I agree totally with your assessment of power conditioning and can only surmise that folks living in rural areas where there are voltage spikes or brownouts when certain other equipment nearby in industrial centers turn on may benefit from power conditioning. There's also homes that were poorly wired with back-stabbed plugs that jumper to each other and if you see the little side plate on the side of receptacles (that's your ENTIRE power going through that flimsy metal) you'll easily guess why there's usually a decent voltage drop at your chosen 2-channel plug if it's shared with other receptacles. I would definitely tackle that beast before any 'conditioning.'
Great to get an electricians take and your input is similar to what other electricians have told me. The biggest variable is how material all that stuff is to your gear and can additional filters help or hurt your gears' power supplies. It's come to the point where you almost have to try before you buy since there are so many variables and no universal solution/best value for everyone.
I had one cheaper Panamax M5300-PM Power Conditioner did a average job filtering ac. Overpriced conditioners everywhere for what you are getting. I suggest you try a cheap APC battery (buy used and replace lead battery with same type) outlet on your source:dac, has benefit of using it straight battery mode which is leaps better having one main device on one outlet. Magnepan lrs+ and gan amp, so i got the top shcitt to hear what i'm hearing is legit:immediate improvement claim.
I use batteries. Power station is just perfect for powering my doc and headphone amps plus my powered computer speakers. The best upgrade you can have sonic wise.
Cleanest power maybe, but most equipment is designed to run just fine with almost any quality power. I think the ground is what lowers the noise floor and gives the biggest benefit when you can use one outlet. The Tesla wall battery would be an intriguing test though.
Best way to test a power conditioner is to ask the salesperson at the store to demo using a scope the line noise before and after insertion. If they cannot do this, move to another store. At the NW Audio Show in the UK last week the hotel electrical system was extremely noisy, lots of rooms with hifi gear. A simple test was shown. Mike from Puritan showed live before and after Puritan power conditioning views of the line noise. A simple low cost scope application for a PC or laptop was used. At a dealer in Wisconsin I saw several side by side tests performed, many conditioners failed the test. Some at 3 times the price!
We'll have to cover this in a zoom interview where you can share more details. I think a lot of people would like to know how to do it and diagnose issues.
I'm very interested in your findings here Jason. I'm using an old shunyata Hydra 8 and I think it's really quite good. Better than a lot of the modern stuff that's out there at the moment. I could really hear a difference in the presentation with it in. But as you said and it seems to be right for me no transformer insight in that unit. I also had a p.s. audio P20 for a while and did not like it at all.
That's exactly the PC I'm using now for my HT gear (and was using prior to the Inakustik except amps went straight to the wall). It did no harm and was at a minimum a high quality distributor. I didn't notice anything to warrant pimping it to others, but I never felt bad having it in my system for many years now. I also found the same with the PS Audio stuff. It just doesn't apply to my gear and situation...and none of my friends either have it. I'm encouraged by this Inakustik and almost certainly at this point keep it because I can plug my amps into it without issue so far. Things could change as I test it more, but finally having everything into one outlet is a noise floor benefit from a grounding perspective that I doubt I will give up.
If you use high power inverters you will have no power restriction.....in fact, better bass and dynamics than directly from the wall. My friend is using the Ecoflo Delta Pro inverter for his whole system (so completely off the grid). He is using Parasound JC-1+ mono blocks to drive his Apogee Duetta speakers........to get even better sound he is using the Puritan line filter after the inverter......and it does not restrict the dynamics either. He also uses a separate ground rod for his stereo system (buried outside his listening room) and uses the Puritan ground filter as well. You cannot have a lightning problem with this kind of set up as you are not connected to AC nor to your main house ground. The sound quality is way, way better than Stromtank (just another inverter).....or probably anything else. The whole shebang he has is around $7K. You just have to get an inverter......it is mind blowing. However, all inverters sound different. He was using the Yeti 3000 and the Ecoflow blows it away......but any inverter will blow your mind. You can buy a $2000 watt inverter and a couple of car batteries and charger for less than $800.....and it will blow you mind......you need a low distortion sine wave inverter and you need it to not turn on its fans till it gets to half power or so (we don't like the sound of fans....do we?)
There's no limit to what you can spend and effort to make your power technically "better". I don't doubt your suggestion for an empirical improvement in certain areas. The problem is that not all equipment will care...perform differently...or reveal a huge difference sonically...plus most people have budget constraints so spending thousands on power conditioning versus better gear/speakers with that budget is part of the equation each person has to balance. I've never found a battery I would ever think of using on amps, but maybe you found a good solution. I haven't tried that yet.
Very informative and educative analysis. Loved it. I don't have any problems with the hum noise in my audio room. My problem is more related to harshness and distortion especially with high frequencies. Cymbals sound nasty and thin. Voices with high pitch notes sound extremely sibilance and harsh too. That was not the case a month ago. I have a dedicated line grounded with a 20A breaker. Does the Inakustic or something like the Puritan Audio 136 or 156 could address and resolve this problem? Thanks for any input.
Hard to say... It could be something going bad with a tube or other piece on the chain. Power issues typically don't change things that drastically out of the blue, but you never know. More investigation is necessary.
That's really strange, but it could be the power. If you want me to put you in touch with someone who can get you an Inakustik, send me an email and they may be able to help you determine whether the Inakustik will help.
The best thing on a budget is to use a high quality power distributor into 1 outlet. You will at least get the grounding advantage. If your budget allows that outlet to be a dedicated line, then I would add that next. If you can then swing whole house protection, I would do that...or... selectively use the protection based models I mentioned for your high price pieces that aren't amps. If the transformer in your amp hums, you can get the AVA humdinger cheap next. Then, I would upgrade to something like the Inakustik that will give you DC protection, filtering and the right parallel and series combination for each gear. That's close to the path I took as my budget and experience allowed.
@@AudiophileJunkie thanks for taking the time to reply. Im in a studio apt and have 1 dedicated 15a outlet, my amp direct into 1 socket and an older PS Audio power regen into the other (preamp/dac/streamer/subwoofer)…next upgrade will be power related.
You should be fine the way you do it now. The PS audio isn't my favorite by any means, but it should be doing no harm in your setup and allows you to still use 1 outlet for everything. I doubt you'll be able to do much better, so I wouldn't sweat upgrading in that area.
Con mediciones realizadas con analizador de audio "audio precision apx555" en la salida de altavoces de etapa de potencia pass labs 250.8 y plinius sa-103, siempre hubo mejoras conectando a la red (Europa-España) un transformador 1:1 aislamiento y balanceado. Hubo ganancias en dinámica (insisto, medido en la salida de altavoces, que es realmente donde se ve el beneficio) y una clara reducción de ruido. Todo lo que necesita la gente, por lo general es eso y se consigue con trafos industriales de altísima calidad por un coste menor a 700 euros, para trafos de 2000VA. Las cifras de precio de inakustik por sus productos, son un insulto a la inteligencia. Gracias por el video
You're telling people who aren't engineers and electricians to build their own isolation transformer?... and basing whether products that are produced by qualified individuals as overpriced just from the cost of the one part? The Inakustik does more than an isolation transformer which can hum. The Inakustik has DC blocking to prevent even the toroid transformer in your amps from potentially humming.
Thank you for your informative video. Any suggestions what kind of power conditioner I should use for my jl fathom F212 v2 and my mc901 mono blocks and another 7 channel mcintosh amp I used niagara 7000 and synergistic powercell sx but didn't like none for protection and make sure give enough power to all the components. Thank you
At a minimum, I would use a whole house surge protection device. I'll be featuring one in an upcoming video. I'm not a fan of those power conditioners, so I'd look at a high quality power distributor to go with your whole house protection device (Richard Gray is one that I recommend). Otherwise, you should be good with this Inakustik...see my review video I just released.
I haven't tried these, but I've bought other things from this company. I would get the ones without any filtering - www.audiophonics.fr/en/multiplug-power-distribution-c-242.html
So, nothing about surges and their effect on electronics operation, performance and longevity? The damage they do to circuit boards and how they degrade over time causing your equipment to not work harder, less efficient and prone to overheating? Getting AM radio over your electrical wiring since they act like an antenna? Copper being better at shielding to EMIs yet prone to RFIs and aluminum wiring being the opposite? You're missing some key info there...
It's already a near 30 minute video that is more comprehensive than most RU-vid videos. I did address surges and protection. Not sure how you could have missed that. You can't make a product 100% immune to degradation or failure over time anyway. I could go into hybrid conductors that include the likes of carbon for certain applications to address what you bring up even more than what you suggested. However, that's out of the scope of this macro video. There's nothing that is perfect for all applications and I can't cover every scenario, but if you want to learn about what conductor material to use in certain applications, I can do zoom interviews with experts I know in this area who have tried just about everything. It's just not a high demand topic for most who just need/want to know the basics.
@@AudiophileJunkie I guess I must have missed it then, to what extent, I'm not sure. It's not south for my information as it is for others that don't know. I'm a low voltage installer of over 15 plus years starting in residential home theaters and moving to commercial offices, call centers, schools and hospitals where they use alot of APC products for their servers and such along with mostly proper grounding.
They are a waste of money and do nothing. You are better off buying the best amps, speakers etc etc you can afford. These things cannot change electricity and don't makers of high end audio know about power supplies in their products? Of course they do. I have a high end system and all the components are connected via a very cheap plastic power strip. No audible hiss even when cranked up really high with no music playing. It's the components that decide the end sound. Please don't be ripped off by these products. They make look good, but looks is all your going to get.
Ridiculous. It has NEVER been proved that AC cables or conditioners can make a difference in sound. It has no place in the signal chain, any potential noise would be eliminated in the transformer or the rectifier. If you use a really badly made cable - yes, but the rest is just an illusion. BTW: Why would you need a conditioner when your $ 1.000.000 system sounds great anyway?
Plug your amps into a power conditioner that is a regenerator or isolation transformer that's too small. If you don't hear a difference, I don't know what to tell you. Find a system with a ground loop and then plug everything into a power distributor instead of didn't l different outlets. Odds are good you'll hear a difference before you even press play. It's best not to have primitive dogmas and generations. In many cases, you are right, but almost all systems need more outlets and having ones that are UL listed with strong connections, protection and don't restrict current to amps is both a need and benefit to many.
I’ve tried the oil filled RCA’s. They really open up the sound along with the goodness of silver. I love the silver cables with Furutech NCF ends. eBay is my way to cable up. Finally reached my goal for sound because of eBay.
Wtf is that nonsense with the extra resistance at 03:10? A power conditioner outputs e.g. 220V like a normal outlet would, there is no extra resistance - to your amp, the input voltage is 220V, period. Please don't talk nonsense.
That's interesting... Wire, connectors and other things add no resistance? I guess the gauge of cable and length doesn't matter either. Where did you get your education on "nonsense"?
@@AudiophileJunkie The "wires and other things" are there to form the power conditioner circuit, which has an output of e.g. 220V / 50Hz. When you connect any equipment to the output of the power conditioner circuit, from the point of view of the equipment it's like connecting it to the power outlet on the wall, with the exception that you get a near constant 220V of clean AC (which is better than what you'd normally get from a outlet in a standard housing power grid). You are aware that the "wires and other things" are also quite different on the entire way from the power plant up to your power outlet depending on where you live? What is important is not what you have before your power outlet, what is important is what the output of your power outlet is. If your power outlet is outputting constant 220V/50Hz, then it doesn't matter (for the equipment that you connect to it) what "wires and other things" are there before it.
What power conditioner are you talking about? That's a pretty big "if" unless it's some massive regenerator. Even then, are you saying it's unaffected by the draw on the line from other equipment. Every outlet will always be the same no matter what you hook up to it? On the flip side, everything that goes into the power conditioner can impact what it puts out. These aren't some magical devices that create energy out of thin air and 100% efficient. You can actually hook up an amp to a power conditioner and see the impact it has on the other outlets. If you change the length and gauge of wire to your outlets, you can measure differences depending on what extremes you want to go to, but it's pretty extreme to say all power conditioners output the same to every outlet all the time and nothing matters or impacts it.
@@AudiophileJunkie Sorry but you're talking about other stuff now, totally unrelated to your initial claim, which was that there is "extra resistance" if you connect your equipment to the power outlet of the conditioner vs. the power outlet on your wall. I'm talking about e.g. a toroidal transformer power conditioner. All the outlets pretty much output a cleaner and more consistent voltage then what you'd get from the outlet on the wall, regardless of what you've connected to the conditioner (as long as the devices connected are within power consumption specifications of the conditioner). Yes, strong transients and voltage fluctuations of the main input are going to impact what the conditioner outputs but that's what the conditioner is there to deal with in the first place.
I use a Tripp Lite Isobar plug-in unit. It bypasses a cheap factory attached cord. It provides an immediate grounding and lightning protection. Then, use a Furutech NCF Clear Line on an open socket. Then use a silver-plated power cable from Tripp Lite that goes into a pure silver-wired power distributor. I’ve even attached a Furutech NCF booster brace to the power distributor. System sounds clean and transparent.
