Tacima mains conditioner

[drummerman]

Why is that so funny Trev? Were you there too? Share the joke?

Mmmmhh indeed.

A simple ... ' I can't believe that' ... or 'I did try but it didn't work for me (if indeed you have ... tried ... a Tacima that is?) would be nicer than those replies which resemble school bullying tactics and which seem so prevalent nowadays on this forum, usually dished out by the self proclaimed ' we fight all foo' folks on here ...

Nothing personal TrevC, you make some decent comments otherwise.

Happy weekend to all x

 

[TrevC]

Why is that so funny Trev? Were you there too? Share the joke?

Mmmmhh indeed.

A simple ... ' I can't believe that' ... or 'I did try but it didn't work for me (if indeed you have ... tried ... a Tacima that is?) would be nicer than those replies which resemble school bullying tactics and which seem so prevalent nowadays on this forum, usually dished out by the self proclaimed ' we fight all foo' folks on here ...

Nothing personal TrevC, you make some decent comments otherwise.

Happy weekend to all x

It was good natured ridicule. Of course the Tacimo can't directly affect the actual performance of anything, although it might remove a few clicks from a fridge.

 

[spiny norman]

although it might remove a few clicks from a fridge

Suddenly I understand all your posts: I didn't realise you were listening to a fridge ;-)

 

[TrevC]

although it might remove a few clicks from a fridge

Suddenly I understand all your posts: I didn't realise you were listening to a fridge ;-)

Comedy gold.

 

[spiny norman]

Comedy gold.

Why, thank you! Don't forget to tip your waitress...

 

[drummerman]

As to the Tacimas themselves, it's system/supply dependant.

With my cyrus's (cyrus'es ... cyree's?) they dont seem to make an appreciable difference. I do use PSX-R's.

With my Sony receiver/amp, it seemed to reduce hash and/or the noise floor, making music sound smoother and more focused. (That was when I first compared it. I never bothered afterwards, they are just silently and reliably doing their duty in the background)

These changes are not night and day, more akin to cable changes.

All in all I would certainly recommend the power strips. They cost little and at worst, give some protection. I also have to say I didn't notice any negative effects with amplifiers.

Thumbs up.

 

[bigfish786]

To everyone for replying do far, whether serious, Jokes or pure ridicule. It is always good to get opinions.

I'll be giving mine a good few weeks testing, and then I'll be going to my mates place to see what he thinks. Whether it does or doesn't make a sonic difference I will be trying to discover myself.

Until then, please keep opinions and experiences coming.

Thanks guys.

 

[drummerman]

To everyone for replying do far, whether serious, Jokes or pure ridicule. It is always good to get opinions.

I'll be giving mine a good few weeks testing, and then I'll be going to my mates place to see what he thinks. Whether it does or doesn't make a sonic difference I will be trying to discover myself.

Until then, please keep opinions and experiences coming.

Thanks guys.

That's a lot of 'testing'

 

[bigfish786]

Usually involves a lot of beer drinking, so I take it very seriously.

 

[ellisdj]

I used to power everything off tacima blocks And thought they were very good.
After having issues with one and my power amp i realised they do exactly as some people say restrict the sound.

They also dont stop component to component noise contamination so if you are going to use them best to use several and don't run too much off one as any benefit is straight away ruined

Also plug power hungriest appliance in the first plug

There is much much much better products available but
You wont realise the benefit until you try something a lot better. However if your trevc the above does not apply

But for initially and for the money they are a good place to start

 

[andyjm]

I used to power everything off tacima blocks And thought they were very good. After having issues with one and my power amp i realised they do exactly as some people say restrict the sound.

They also dont stop component to component noise contamination so if you are going to use them best to use several and don't run too much off one as any benefit is straight away ruined

Also plug power hungriest appliance in the first plug

There is much much much better products available but You wont realise the benefit until you try something a lot better. However if your trevc the above does not apply

But for initially and for the money they are a good place to start

..and you wonder why currently employed engineers don't post on this forum.

 

[CnoEvil]

I used to power everything off tacima blocks And thought they were very good. After having issues with one and my power amp i realised they do exactly as some people say restrict the sound.

..and you wonder why currently employed engineers don't post on this forum.

Given the stance of certain brand of amps, Ellis's findings are not unreasonable:

Plinius - "Most mains conditioners or filters act in series with the mains and will starve the amplifier and negatively affect the sound. Look for a brand that works in parallel. If you need this treatment to your mains supply, this is a better option for you."

Gryphon - "In our experience, most external powerline conditioners do more harm than good. The sound may be very different, but not necessarily an improvement. Listen very critically and for an extended period of time, before making a final decision about purchasing a conditioner. Gryphon products incorporate heavily regulated multi-stage power supplies which act as effective mains conditioning filters and will in most cases not be improved by the insertion of an outboard powerline conditioner in the signal path."

Sugden - “We don’t use mains conditioners but if somebody wants to, they need to make sure it has the correct power rating. Line level equipment such as CD players and pre-amps have very low power consumption but Integrated amps and power amps require a mains conditioner of much higher rating. Using a mains conditioner assumes the equipment needs it. We spend a lot of time designing our power supplies and carefully choosing the rectifiers, transformers and smoothing capacitors. From my experience, most conditioners used on power amplifiers reduce the dynamic range. The best power supply for a system is a separate spur from your fuse box, this might even be less money. I am of the opinion you need to be as direct to the mains as possible with our class A amplifiers. Experimenting with an isolation transformer is interesting and quite a big one isn’t too expensive to run amplifiers from.....as our mains conditioning experiences have been quite negative we have left it alone.”

 

[andyjm]

Good grief. Some of the stuff that gets written about hifi beggars belief.

The Tacima 'conditioners' are a couple of VDRs and a 1 inch toroid with a few turns of copper wire around it. If this has any effect on the dynamic range of an amplifier you may put me in a dress and call me Daisy.

As TrevC points out, it may however stop the occasional 'pop' when the fridge starts.

 

[steve_1979]

Good grief. Some of the stuff that gets written about hifi beggars belief.

The Tacima 'conditioners' are a couple of VDRs and a 1 inch toroid with a few turns of copper wire around it. If this has any effect on the dynamic range of an amplifier you may put me in a dress and call me Daisy.

As TrevC points out, it may however stop the occasional 'pop' when the fridge starts.

+1 regarding the silly dynamic range comment.

I was going to have a big rant about how the capacitors in an amplifier stores the energy and that it doesn't come directly from the plug socket. But then I realised that I couldn't be ar$ed. If anyone is genuinely interested they can just read up about the job a capacitor in an amplifier does themselves.

 

[CnoEvil]

The Tacima 'conditioners' are a couple of VDRs and a 1 inch toroid with a few turns of copper wire around it. If this has any effect on the dynamic range of an amplifier you may put me in a dress and call me Daisy.

Well Daisy, I think a long, black, off the shoulder dress would work best, especially with those heels and designer clutch bag!

 

[SteveR750]

Is now a good time to ask about the Russ Andrews Power Cords? I'm guessing he isn't talking about guitars here, and as for Speakers Zapperators...wtf??

 

[BIGBERNARDBRESSLAW]

I have a Tacima, and naively bought it having read the positive reviews on this site quite a few years ago. I got it for a good price, and I can honestly say, it makes no difference at all to sound or picture, but it's a pretty well built mains block and surge protector, so I'd rather use it over a cheap one.

Why people continue to believe some of the complete nonsense being spouted by cable manufacturers etc., I'll never know, but personally I'd listen to people like andyjm every time.

 

[bigfish786]

.. Field of expertise that is so divided in its opinions on almost every product.

five star reviewed product, rubbished, slated, and condemned.

if life has taught me anything, it is that you should remain open minded.

ill be giving the tacima a deserved chance to show me what it can or can't do. And obviously I'll post my honest findings regarding it too.

 

[CnoEvil]

if life has taught me anything, it is that you should remain open minded.

ill be giving the tacima a deserved chance to show me what it can or can't do. And obviously I'll post my honest findings regarding it too.

That is a very reasonable way to approach things.

Like BBB, I bought one (cheaply) off the back of reviews....except it sucked too much life from the sound of my system, so I moved it on to someone who was delighted with it.

Am I saying that it will always supress dynamics in every application? - no

Are the people who see/hear no difference wrong? - no

 

[SteveR750]

Absolutely. The scientific approach is to observe, explain, test theory. If you can hear or see a difference then you can, but these things really are in absolute terms so very very small to be potentially all in the mind. Accept it as that and be prepared to have spent a lot of money on something that at best you THINK is better, then that's fine.

Personally I can't hear a damn difference what mains plug / extension cable / interconnect cable I use. I'm not convinced I can hear anything in speaker cables either, certainly bi-wiring makes no difference. That doesn't necessarily mean there is no measurable difference, but having just read a review of some wooden shelves describing their sonic signature I feel compelled to write to DFS asking them to also provide similar guidance on their sofas. Some things are impossible to take seriously.

 

[CnoEvil]

Accept it as that and be prepared to have spent a lot of money on something that at best you THINK is better, then that's fine.

I have found that a higher cost isn't a guarantee of giving a sound that is better/preferable.

 

[TrevC]

it sucked too much life from the sound of my system

Did it catch fire at the same time? Because to drop the mains enough to do that it also have to dissipate the wasted power as heat.

If it didn't overheat at all then you are imagining it.

 

[ellisdj]

The tacima was causing my bryston to shut off during playback for a second with all the leds turning red.

This is because it was creating an inductive load and the amp wasnt getting enough power.
Taken the tacima out never done it since.
The tacima works perfectly there was no issue with it.

The bryston works perfectly off an isotek titan so it's nothing to do with it running off a conditioner just that the tacina was no good With it.

It also sounded a lot better after as well which is not surprising at all.

 

[CnoEvil]

The tacima was causing my bryston to shut off during playback for a second with all the leds turning red.

This is because it was creating an inductive load and the amp wasnt getting enough power. Taken the tacima out never done it since. The tacima works perfectly there was no issue with it.

The bryston works perfectly off an isotek titan so it's nothing to do with it running off a conditioner just that the tacina was no good With it.

It also sounded a lot better after as well which is not surprising at all.

It must have all happened in a dream, as it's impossible....apparently.

 

[TrevC]

This is because it was creating an inductive load and the amp wasnt getting enough power. Taken the tacima out never done it since. The tacima works perfectly there was no issue with it.

A contradictory statement, just as we have come to expect. If the Tacima was working properly the Bryston would have worked perfectly too.