Bt mains conditioner MTU125

[admin_exported]

Hi,

Having bought one of these units about 4 months ago, connected my equipment up to it and, that was that. The music sounded clearer with more detail.

Today, I disconnected the bt and found the music sounded more dynamic but not as clear. Using a plug-in watt meter, I found that with the bt in place, the equipment was drawing about 52W. With the bt was removed, my equipment was drawing 65W. This 13W difference explained the difference in dynamics. (I only have weeeny speakers). I like dynamics!!!

Music has taken on a whole new level with vinyl now coming close to the cd player, which brought a smile to my face.

 The unit is now attached to my Rel, which has made it integrate with the proacs sooooo much better! 

The morel of the story is, if you are planning to buy one of these units, buy one which can handle more power or buy one for each component. It will not handle an amp plus pre-amp and cd player (too much power required).

PS, I have just upgraded with homemade DH labs powerplus cords and don't yet know if they have made a difference. I like to stick something in my system for a month or two and then revert back to what I had before, to compare.

 

[aliEnRIK]

Im REALLY glad you posted this lee

There are some people on here who dont believe mains conditioners etc can make ANY difference to wattage use and that they make no difference anyways

The amount of people that post about their 'tacimas' not sounding as good as it should also points to the above

GOOD post

 

[Anonymous]

Does this mean that the tacima is no good if all six sockets are used? I was thinking getting one for my - av amp (Denon 2808), CD (Marantz CD6002), BD (Sony 350), DVD (Toshiba), X-box 360 and Denon ipod dock. I normaly have only the amp and a source turned on at any one time. The others are on stand by. The 360 obviously has power going throught the 'brick' at all times and the dock has no power switch.

I'm a bit confused as to what affect the other componants could have in their 'stand' by state.

Oh! I usually turn off at the wall socket when nothing is being used, not that it matters in this case.

 

[aliEnRIK]

NSYGrinner:
Does this mean that the tacima is no good if all six sockets are used? I was thinking getting one for my - av amp (Denon 2808), CD (Marantz CD6002), BD (Sony 350), DVD (Toshiba), X-box 360 and Denon ipod dock. I normaly have only the amp and a source turned on at any one time. The others are on stand by. The 360 obviously has power going throught the 'brick' at all times and the dock has no power switch.

I'm a bit confused as to what affect the other componants could have in their 'stand' by state.

Oh! I usually turn off at the wall socket when nothing is being used, not that it matters in this case.

Generally speaking the tacima is fine for 'source' components (dvd, cd player etc)

Amps have positive and negative. The negative generally being (as above) a lowering of overall power (so lack of dynamics)

Tvs tend to look better through tacimas but again ~ your cutting power down to the tv so although it will probably look better overall it wont look as good as it could

 

[Anonymous]

Following my findings, would it be worth me trying one of these?

http://www.airlinktransformers.com/balanced-power-supplies.asp

Would this give me the best of both worlds as it has 1500VA power, rather than just 125VA?

Cheersÿ

ÿ

 

[aliEnRIK]

leenorris78:

Following my findings, would it be worth me trying one of these?

http://www.airlinktransformers.com/balanced-power-supplies.asp

Would this give me the best of both worlds as it has 1500VA power, rather than just 125VA?

Cheers

Most certainly yes

I was going to try the 2KVA one but my amp alone pulls 2.2!

 

[idc]

I'm with you Rick, excellent opening post, nice one Lee, evidenced and backed up with a sound methodology (if that is not too grand a term for such a simple experiment!)

NYGrinner, with regards to the Tacima, I have read on a number of occasions, I am sure Trevor being one, that it works with low powered kit and generally not amps. As an experiment, have your kit plugged into the mains conditioner, except the amp and see if you can get the best of both worlds.I have tried my amp with and without my conditioner and it made no difference I could hear, but then it does only output 1.3 watts!

 

[JoelSim]

I have 2 Tacimas and 12 plugs in them. D'oh!

ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

Good news.............

I just tried my system using the tacima as the mains block and the power required was about 65W with the volume on 30. Power consumption with normal mains block was also 65W

The less good news was that the two sounded the same. Maybe, I preferred the normal mains block to the tacima, which may be due to the new power cables.

My tacima is now relegated to TV duties and we shall see what a 1500VA balanced power supply will do, when I have sold the laptop on ebay.

No more swapping for a bit. It scares me. Its dusty and hairy down there!!!ÿ

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll get one and plug the sources and amp into it. Then try the amp into the empty socket which is part of the double gang behind the hifi. At the moment I have a four gang extension and swap between dock and 360 on the other socket.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi NSYGrinner,When I got the tacima I was only running the a32 with standard leads and the tacima made a difference for the better, in another house.Since then, I have moved house and got new power cords DH Labs Power Plus). I couldn't be bothered to faff with mains blocks so I installed it anyway but did not compare.I think that the new cables are cancelling out the effect of the tacima, in a good way.ÿTo my mind, if it doesn't improve your hifi, it will certainly improve the tv picture. I know others will disagree but this is my opinion and the opinions that I have read.Don't get bogged down with it all. Plug the tacima in and give it a few weeks. After this, swap back to the old block for an hour or so, playing your favourate stuff to see if there is a difference. I beleive A/B comparisons that last a minute or so each swap are a little boring and not much fun, but you may be into that.ÿGood luck, I'm sure it will be a worthy investment.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm going to get a tacima on my way home from work tonight. I'll try it as I said with the amp in its own socket for now. I intend to get a new mains lead for the amp, then take it from there.

Thanks guys for the info/advice.

As for improving the picture quality of the tv a new dfs module will do wonders. We have a Toshiba picture frame 3 which went on the blink a week last Monday. The engineer is coming out tomorrow to fix it. Toshiba are sending the part free of charge, so it'll only cost labour for fitting. The tv is 5 years old so I'm really impressed with the service. It's been a nigtmare for little laddo, no Cars on Sky+ or Olivia before nursery. Thank god for channel 5 on demand with Roary.