Mains cables, Mains conditioning etc.. Help a brother out

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bigboss said:
Hi-Fi system running on batteries?? Never heard of it until now! :O

For less current hungry units it might work like phonostage or digital streamer...not sure you can on amplifier as the peaks of current required...
 
acalex said:
bigboss said:
Hi-Fi system running on batteries?? Never heard of it until now! :O

For less current hungry units it might work like phonostage or digital streamer...not sure you can on amplifier as the peaks of current required...

I use a rechargable battery pack on my Musical Fidelity phonostage. Compared to the supplied plug the battery makes a huge difference in sound quality. The charge probably lasts for at least 10 hours of playing.

David.
 
davidpr said:
acalex said:
bigboss said:
Hi-Fi system running on batteries?? Never heard of it until now! :O

For less current hungry units it might work like phonostage or digital streamer...not sure you can on amplifier as the peaks of current required...

I use a rechargable battery pack on my Musical Fidelity phonostage. Compared to the supplied plug the battery makes a huge difference in sound quality. The charge probably lasts for at least 10 hours of playing.

David.

Did you make it yourself or you bought a pre-made?
 
sorry i should have been clearer, the amp a sonic impact is a portable amp that can be used with a portable cd player at the beach etc..so it runs on 12 volts transformer or aa batteries, my pre amp goes through the mains..i tried the sonic impact amp with batteries installed in the unit through my hifi...there really wasnt much improvement..the reason i tried the batteries in my sonic impact amp was to see whether i should invest in a flash mains conditioner..my reasoning being batteries must be a very clean source of power, thereby a great improvement would be heard, this didnt happen..and if it didnt happen why would it beneficial for me to buy a exspensive mains conditioner? as my new power amp is a quad and runs obviously on the mains..99% of amps do! lol...maybe 99.9% so i remain unconvinced!
 
Hi BC

I'm answering your question over here so as not to re-route the other thread any more.

I have the Atlas on test atm.....will post view after a better assessment. I thought it had passive circuitry and MOV spike protection (according to a press release), but spoke to John Carrick this morning, and those are for an upgraded product that hasn't been released yet. So atm, this is a very high quality block that is surge protected with a silver fuse.

The Clearer Audio is similar, but has unrestrictive passive filters through Super Supressors as well as Gate Keeper surge protection.

To properly clean up the mains you need conditioning, power re-generation, or a balanced mains transformer. You can do a certain amount with filtering.
 
Indeed, a good power strip will make sure you get all the current which you can get from the main, should protect your equipment in case of voltage spikes and should avoid interferances from outside. It won't clean your main or resolve voltage problems.

I had a power plant at home and this one was getting the AC from the main, transforming in DC, cleaning, retransforming in AC and feeding the amp with a clean and costant 50Hz sinus wave of constant 230V...
 
CnoEvil said:
Hi BC

I'm answering your question over here so as not to re-route the other thread any more.

I have the Atlas on test atm.....will post view after a better assessment. I thought it had passive circuitry and MOV spike protection (according to a press release), but spoke to John Carrick this morning, and those are for an upgraded product that hasn't been released yet. So atm, this is a very high quality block that is surge protected with a silver fuse.

The Clearer Audio is similar, but has unrestrictive passive filters through Super Supressors as well as Gate Keeper surge protection.

To properly clean up the mains you need conditioning, power re-generation, or a balanced mains transformer. You can do a certain amount with filtering.

Cool, thanks a lot.. Yeah let me/us know how you get on i'm very interested to hear what difference it makes.. Are you tempted to compare with cheaper ones like clearer audio? I just e-mailed the guy at clearer audio so see what he says the improvements are as you go up the ranges. Also about whether using powerline adapters has detrimental effects or not.. You've answered everything I need to know really.. I guess I could just start with power cables as you cant go wrong with those surely as it's just higher quality components and improved shielding? cheers :cheers:
 
BigColz said:
Cool, thanks a lot.. Yeah let me/us know how you get on i'm very interested to hear what difference it makes.. Are you tempted to compare with cheaper ones like clearer audio? I just e-mailed the guy at clearer audio so see what he says the improvements are as you go up the ranges. Also about whether using powerline adapters has detrimental effects or not.. You've answered everything I need to know really.. I guess I could just start with power cables as you cant go wrong with those surely as it's just higher quality components and improved shielding? cheers :cheers:

I'm old fashoned in that I think you can't beat a phone call....where the answers you get can trigger more questions, which can then be answered.

I would make up a list of questions and then ring him....ie. everything to do with where the improvements come from and why he does it in the way he does.
 
CnoEvil said:
BigColz said:
Cool, thanks a lot.. Yeah let me/us know how you get on i'm very interested to hear what difference it makes.. Are you tempted to compare with cheaper ones like clearer audio? I just e-mailed the guy at clearer audio so see what he says the improvements are as you go up the ranges. Also about whether using powerline adapters has detrimental effects or not.. You've answered everything I need to know really.. I guess I could just start with power cables as you cant go wrong with those surely as it's just higher quality components and improved shielding? cheers :cheers:

I'm old fashoned in that I think you can't beat a phone call....where the answers you get can trigger more questions, which can then be answered.

I would make up a list of questions and then ring him....ie. everything to do with where the improvements come from and why he does it in the way he does.

Yeah I hear what you're saying.. At the moment I REALLY want to know if powerline adapters effect it as this was the way I was going to hardwire my streamer/xbox/NAS etc etc :?

Maybe I could still do that and get a regenerator/balanced mains for the hifi but sounds expensive :doh:
 
This is an even bigger subject for a 'heated debate' than interconnects. Personally I don't have an issue with the theory of using shielded cables wherever possible with hifi set-ups given the normal tangled spagetti that spills from most sperates systems and the potential for interferance. I also like spike and surge protection for obvious reasons.

However, I am less keen on the theory (or is that psycho-babble?) that surrounds the issue of conditioners, or for that matter extra-thick or multi-strand mains cables. Firstly, because the mains ring going all over your house isn't 'conditioned', extra thick or multi-stranded, and nor is all the electricity that comes from your local sub-station pimped (you either have AC current or you don't). But secondly, because the claims simply can't be backed up by scientific or unsighted genuinely double blind tests. For that reason Russ Andrews got himself into all sorts of bother a few years ago with the advertsing standards people as he simply could not back up the claims his advertsing made - hence now it simply says something along the lines that lots of his customers have noticed an improvement - but not that those improvements are actually real rather than imagined.

So my bottom line is if you can find some of these products going cheap on ebay then fine, go ahead. Likelwise if you want shielding and surge protection, then that's good too. But spend silly money on all this? Not a chance!
 
BigColz said:
Maybe I could still do that and get a regenerator/balanced mains for the hifi but sounds expensive :doh:

It is very expensive, and imo should be left until everything else has been sorted, to see what sort of a problem you have.....no harm in asking questions though, and Darren is knowledgeable and helpful.

Russ Andrews sell their PowerBlock that can have various levels of filtration added.......but if you don't have an in-grained problem, may be overkill. I think they rent out a "sniffer" to assess your problem. It is very easy to haemorrhage money this way, so very careful assessment of any benefits is vital.
 
CnoEvil said:
BigColz said:
Maybe I could still do that and get a regenerator/balanced mains for the hifi but sounds expensive :doh:

It is very expensive, and imo should be left until everything else has been sorted, to see what sort of a problem you have.....no harm in asking questions though, and Darren is knowledgeable and helpful.

Russ Andrews sell their PowerBlock that can have various levels of filtration added.......but if you don't have an in-grained problem, may be overkill. I think they rent out a "sniffer" to assess your problem. It is very easy to haemorrhage money this way, so very careful assessment of any benefits is vital.

Yeah.. Another thing I just thought if i got cables with better shielding at least that would jurrastically improve any interferance the cables have with each other (in a tangled mess).. It doesn't seem to matter how loud I turn my amp up the hardly noticable humm seems to stay the same. It's when I go up and down in the volume it makes a little puff noise.. This could just be due to the electronic volume control though and isn't exactly an issue. When music is playing even at very low volumes you can't hear it.. I will try unplugging my router/wifi/powerline adapters to see if that makes a difference. Also looking forward to demoing the response d two's vs my studio 115s, chord epic vs Tellurium black.. Got a mate coming and going to do some (not so serious) blind test to see what he notices.. Few bottles of red are in order I think :rockout: :cheers:
 
BigColz said:
Yeah.. Another thing I just thought if i got cables with better shielding at least that would jurrastically improve any interferance the cables have with each other (in a tangled mess).. It doesn't seem to matter how loud I turn my amp up the hardly noticable humm seems to stay the same. It's when I go up and down in the volume it makes a little puff noise.. This could just be due to the electronic volume control though and isn't exactly an issue. When music is playing even at very low volumes you can't hear it.. I will try unplugging my router/wifi/powerline adapters to see if that makes a difference. Also looking forward to demoing the response d two's vs my studio 115s, chord epic vs Tellurium black.. Got a mate coming and going to do some (not so serious) blind test to see what he notices.. Few bottles of red are in order I think :rockout: :cheers:

Look forward to your thoughts.
 
CnoEvil said:
BigColz said:
Yeah.. Another thing I just thought if i got cables with better shielding at least that would jurrastically improve any interferance the cables have with each other (in a tangled mess).. It doesn't seem to matter how loud I turn my amp up the hardly noticable humm seems to stay the same. It's when I go up and down in the volume it makes a little puff noise.. This could just be due to the electronic volume control though and isn't exactly an issue. When music is playing even at very low volumes you can't hear it.. I will try unplugging my router/wifi/powerline adapters to see if that makes a difference. Also looking forward to demoing the response d two's vs my studio 115s, chord epic vs Tellurium black.. Got a mate coming and going to do some (not so serious) blind test to see what he notices.. Few bottles of red are in order I think :rockout: :cheers:

Look forward to your thoughts.

Yes will be the first time i've been able to do so many side by side comparisons with no other variables! and no time restictions :cheer:

I may have just bought a Russ Andrews Classic Powerkord with Wattgate 320i connector... £55 delivered so around half price :clap: So another thing to try side by side next week :cheers:
 
This mains regenerator is getting very good feedback on another forum and it can double up as a UPS if an extra battery pack is purchased but it can just be used as a 1500w stand alone mains regenerator and it seems like good value compared to some others .

http://upsmart.co.uk/ag1500-regenerator-1500w-psu-p-1742.html?osCsid=99c3570c316a88b1c7ccfcaa2abcbf0e&cPath=1_96

I have no personal experience of them but it would be worth a phone call for more info .
 
BigColz said:
I may have just bought a Russ Andrews Classic Powerkord with Wattgate 320i connector... £55 delivered so around half price :clap: So another thing to try side by side next week :cheers:

There's no stopping you now!
evil.png
 
A couple of quick thoughts of the Atlas Block (post 10) here: http://www.whathifi.com/forum/hi-fi/new-amplifier-my-long-journey?page=40#comment-2804851
 
Change wall socket especially switched ones, for this model, MK non switched, proper brass internals, for your Hi-Fi or AV set up. So much better sound. Lowers the noise floor and less interference, opens the sound. Better value than £85 gold plated ones, the greater sound diff. is due to the no switch not the gold plating, while your at it remove the fuse on the plug and solder a length of fuse wire in it's place. And of course use at least a Tachima mains conditioner, it DOES MAKE A Diff.
 
benjaminlross said:
If you have a mains conditioner like the Tacima 6 way - can you use normal kettle leads from that and retain the benefits of the cleaned mains, or do you also need separate power cables?

i've the Tacima 6 way..very happy with it and i also use a mains for my amp which i bought on e.b. for about £35.. :shhh:
 

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