Alan Maher Designs

The man is ON to something, isn’t he!

I’ve been trying all sorts of his products out since discovering him on the web in 2010...almost a hundred different purchases and not one yet was anything I regretted.

Alan marches to a different drummer than everyone else in this industry (and possibly even in this hobby!), but eventually I’ve learned firsthand over the years to take every word that comes out of him as gospel, no matter how off the cuff crazy he may first seem - his products just continue to back him up...like no one else’s ever do, really.

Currently, at last count, he’s been into my wallet for upwards of 10 grand...and I’ve loved every minute of it. My AMD investment is now well more than the cost of my setup, yet that’s made perfect sense all the way. But the dude is a juggernaut these days: he keeps coming out with more and more new cool sh@t to own that I just have to shrug it off that I can’t keep pace with what I can't afford...fortunately for everyone else, he makes a lot affordable and impressive gizmos as you’re finding out.

But yeah, for me?? System completely transformed - mind completely blown.

Hi mac, first off, I’d have to say that quite literally it would be an impossibility of physics that any power solution (no matter what it was or who made it) could be so sufficient that no further electrical noise reduction would be audible...that’s because noise (at the quantum level) is random and self-generating - wherever voltage is present, you have noise. For anybody’s method to work, in either direction, downstream or up, the effects of noise reduction fades as physical distance increases. The noise fades the further you go from the source and the noise reduction effect likewise fades the further you go from the noise reduction device. That’s why he makes so many different devices - to attack closest to the noise where it lives, at the various sources of noise in your home (fridge, HVAC, light bulbs or whatever your wanting to tackle). In short, noise is unavoidably all around us, nobody, not even Alan, will ever be able to get rid of All of it. And the reverse is true. Any noise reduction device you buy will make an audible difference. IOW, there is no such thing in this case as a point of diminishing returns. No matter how many noise reduction devices you have, you can always add one more and hear a difference.

But, there is a problem somewhere with your situ. Alan would prefer that a customer buy and Install his products in a particular sequence, at least in the beginning - where the power enters the home in particular. This, for lack of an easy, clear explanation for us here, sort of "guides", "chases" or "channels", if you will, much of the remainder of the bulk of the noise to areas further inside the home where other AMD devices can be installed to squash it most effectively. Buying his products more in a random fashion without this consideration may be the underlying problem here. It may not be that the existing AMD products that you already have are no good, it’s just that the process of the installation of the particular first few AMD products I describe needs to be followed (and quite thoroughly, frankly, since there are a number of points to be aware of, but Alan himself would be the best source on that - he responds quickly and fully to those questions, IME).

If you need more help from me, let me know.

Regards,
John

tjbhuler, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of fun with the stuff you’ve just ordered! The platforms will gobsmack you...maybe especially if you have digital as I do. It’s true about the adjustment time period for his stuff. Some of his things take no more than a couple weeks to come on song, and some others about a month or even more. The platforms (I now have 7, one for every component!) are said by Alan to settle in at 1 month, but I’ve found that everything does indeed sound glorious by then...all except for top-end HF detail which takes around 3 months to fully return (and Then some as you’ve noted), and even after that for a few weeks they continue to...I don’t know exactly how to put into words, really..."sweeten" just a little bit maybe??...it’s a very subtle thing, really, but also quite welcome.

Also, Alan's products will electrically "see" each other on the circuit (the home being one big circuit). As they see each other once installed, they will tend to audibly magnify each other's effects the more AMD devices you have. The more you install, the more effective each filter becomes...way cool!

Have fun!
John

Hi TJB, no I haven’t gotten around yet to trying his Magnetics filters just yet, although that will happen at some point down the road this year, I think. I have a number of his Q-strings power cables (which are great), but will need 3 more pc’s before I’m finished building my system.

Mine is an EVS-modified Oppo 103 going into 3 Crown XTi-2 power amps that allow me to actively tri-amp into DIY open baffle speakers and a pair of ob Hawthorne Audio Silver Iris ("Augies") subwoofers from about 240 Hz on down. But I’ve yet to build a custom DIY preamp (just a distribution amp with a Goldpoint volume control, really) and later next year or so, add an EVS-modified Gustard X20 Pro DAC, then the system will be done.

Oh, I also have a TASCAM CDR-200 CD recorder that is a few weeks old. Placed for the moment on a 0 Hz active platform it is already making CD copies for me that noticeably sound **better** than the original CD(!), blacker background for one. Later on I will add a second platform on top of the TASCAM to increase the effect...after I do some major surgery on my equipment cabinet in order to accommodate the extra height required for the whole equipment stack. My gear is basically the kind that does not require top or bottom ventilation, the Crowns, for example, ventilate from front to back, so this lets me stack all the equipment I’m using vertically while sandwiching them each between a platform, with one platform on the bottom and the top of the stack as well - this basically doubles the filter effect on the audio gear of the platforms.Later on I’ll place a Tri-Wave filter on the top platform, to treat both the room And the stack! Until then, I also need to finish building my speakers and construct permanent subwoofer frames.

I’m really psyched and can’t wait, but I have lots of work ahead...! When all is finished, I will post the system on Agon.

Will do, for sure. 

You will likely have the Tri-Wave before I, so it might be a case of you posting for my sake first, lol.

@txp1 Hi, although I still have my eye on a lot of Alan's products, I won't likely be in a financial position to order anything more for another couple months or so and I haven't ordered anything new for a few years now, so I have no experience with the ethernet cable or anything Maxwell yet, really. But my enthusiasm for the tech of Alan's that I already own has remained undimmed. Certainly looking forward to making another run with it: the new wrap, some CBF's, digital cables, yet more platforms and some other things as well. Maybe someone else can chime in with the experiences you're looking for...