I have had the ADD Powr Wizard in my system for a couple of weeks and I'm impressed


The audio writer's conundrum: How do you find the right words to describe sound? It's not easy. It's like trying to describe a color. You will get a sense of it but in order to really get it you have to hear it. We have all read many audio writer's attempts to do so with varying degrees of success. What does the writer wish to convey about how a particular component sounds? And more problematically, how does that get put into words?   Here is the bottom line for me- how strong is the emotional impact of the sound when I listen to the equipment? That is it. And of course that can not be separated from the companion question- How strong is the emotional impact of the music? One reason that this hobby is so amazing is that these questions are two sides of the same coin and complement each other beautifully. Collecting fine (and well recorded) music is a great hobby in and of itself. Couple it, however, with the equally enjoyable hobby of component swapping and tweeking and you have a match made in heaven. It's like what happened when John met Paul.
All of which brings me to this review of the ADD Powr Wizard. What I keep returning to over and over again with this thing plugged into a nearby outlet is how intense my emotional connection to the sound and the music is. To use a well worn audio writer cliche, It's like I'm listening to my collection for the first time and hearing things I never heard before. But it is so much more than that. It's not just that I am hearing more of what is on the record it is that I am hearing more of what the artists on the record are intending to create with their music. The ADD Wizard allows me to do this more completely than any other addition to my system over the last 10 years. It lets me fully relax into the music. With all my other tweeks, at least the good ones, the ones that work, I was able to get a better sense of space and detail each time I added one. The benefit of the Wizard is on a different plane than that. Yes it adds to the sense of space and detail in the sound, but it also creates a stronger impression about the music itself. It's a feeling of being one with the music. Hard to describe but very powerful!
You will have to read the literature to get a sense of what ADD Powr is doing with its algorithms and how they are being applied to the household electric circuit in order to filter out the audio nasties so that the music can come shining through in all its glory . That part of the review is way above my pay grade.  I would love to be able to understand that. But hey that's what makes tweeks so much fun. The fact that you may not understand the electronic or physics of it doesn't mean that you are not hearing amazing things from it. And in the case of the ADD Powr Wizard what I am hearing just makes me smile.
bradmorris1

Showing 1 response by douglas_schroeder

The product is discussed on the website: The AC line is "re-referenced" or re-clocked with low frequency harmonics to increase the s/n ratio.  Uses 2 AC transformers.  Let me guess, another Schumann Resonator in a different package. Perhaps? 

Precisely what is the advantage of adding noise to the electrical circuit, and what is the benefit of, "electrical environment conditioners rather than AC line conditioners." 

I would like to know from electricians and designers with power gear how is a line "re-referenced" and re-clocked? 

I have suspicions when I read about "harmonizers". 

I would like to know the impact of an "algorithm derived em field" upon an audio system. Seems quite a bit like other products I consider gimmicks. 

Some technical explanation would be appreciated. This would be a product I would perhaps demo, but certainly not buy unheard. Also, I might be tempted to use my Imbalanced System Test approach to testing it, i.e. put it on one side of the system and see if it makes the system sound skewed or imbalanced. If not, then it's not worth owning, because it's not doing enough of anything to be detected. 

Perhaps the unit could be put on one leg of the room's electric supply in order to test it. i.e. have one amp on one leg of the supply, and one on the other, and place the unit with only one leg of the electrical supply and amp. If it could not be vetted through such informal comparison/testing, I would not be interested in it. i.e. if it was said that even though only half the room's electric supply was treated, that it would still affect the entire room, etc., I would pass on the product. Way too squishy to nail down if it did anything demonstrably.  

I suspect the product would fail my Law of Efficacy, but I will not make a definitive statement, as I have not used it.  There are certainly enough people who have given testimonies, but that does not sway me. My Law of Efficacy is what matters. 

So, this thing shoots a tiny LF noise on the electric lines. You're actually adding a noise to the operation of your components, purportedly to condition the environmental energy. Sorry, unimpressed.