Tacima influenced by location?

[visionary]

Reading the wide variety of opinion on this topic (nothing new there, then

) I found myself wondering, before I do anything about it:

Does the benefit depend on your location? for example, I suspect the mains will be "cleaner" in a detached house on a spacious plot compared to a semi or terrace or flat where there is far more potential interference nearby. Surely this will affect the level of "improvement" or otherwise.

how about a straw poll among the fans and the detractors?

 

[Anonymous]

It all depends on the state of your mains (wherever you are), although a vaillage location may have cleaner mains than central London; it also depends on the state/age of the wiring in your house, as well as how many noisy appliances (eg fridge) you have plugged into the same ring circuit as your hi fi. Many more variables will be suggested by other members. But generally speaking, if you have clean mains to start off with, you are unlikely to benefit much from a mains conditioner. The downside of something like the Tacima is that you are not meant to plug heavy duty components like power amps into it, but pre amp, CDP etc are fine. If you system has high current draw (eg high power components), a Tacima could strangle the dynamics of the music because it restricts current flow from it. Better off to invest in a better (read more expensive) mains conditioner like the Isotek range beginning with the Minisub upwards. But as I said, you may not need a mains conditioner, and the Tacima is not expensive so you may want to experiment first.

 

[idc]

AKL is spot on. I am in my 4th house in 9 years and they have ranged from flat to detached in the countryside to semi at the edge of a small town to the middle of a housing estate and the mains has varied with each one. The worst was the detached in the village. By worst I mean that it was the oldest wiring with the vaguest supply (we could see bulbs dimming slightly sometimes) and having a mains conditioner made the most difference to the sound there. The best is the middle of the housing estate. That house had relatively new wiring (less than 10 years old). I have no idea where the nearest transformer was/is for any of the houses.

But it is not just about the local mains or state of the wiring in the house. It is also about other appliances in the house and where they are. Apparently fridges and PCs are the worst for causing 'noise' in the mains.

I think that a conditioner in one house could perform differently to using it in the house next door, though I have not tried such.

The issue with regards to the tacima and amps AKL mentions can be dealt with by use of a conditioner such as The Silencer from Russ Andrews. It plugs into any socket. I use mine in the first socket on a mains extension with the rest of the hifi and a computer plugged in after it. Works fine and is not too expensive.

 

[Anonymous]

Yes. They're at the best in tropical locations with a nice pool and cocktails at the ready.ÿ