Least Controversial, Reasonably Priced AC Upgrades


Hello Everyone

At last, the light is appearing at the end of my house renovation tunnel, and -- fingers crossed -- I may actually be listening to music in my new living room before 2005.

Having spent every last penny on marriage, family, Subzero refrigerators etc, I am trying for the first time to upgrade the wiring a bit and protect the equipment against surges.

Despite my enthusiasm for this site and a pretty decent system, I remain firmly in the dark ages on power conditioners, high end power cords, outlets, surge protectors etc.

The place where we are we are moving in the country apparently has frequent power outages, especially in winter when falling branches down the lines.

I have read many heated debates about power conditioners etc with some of you saying that they actually WORSEN the sound, that I would like to start with a simple:

dedicated line?
Albert Porters wall outlets?
a chunky power strip inside my new 6' component rack on casters?
a surge protector (Monster Cable?) to protect all of the above in my newly flaky electical district?

Again, simple, effective, not wildly expensive please.

The idea is to have a moveable rack of equipment on casters that I can wheel from the corner of the room to my listening chair for easy access, which will be tethered to the wall by one power cord only and with long interconnects to the amp which will be located by the speakers.

The rest of the spaghetti mess will stay neatly inside the rack, concealed by a ventilated door.

Thank you in advance for all ideas and suggestions.
cwlondon

Showing 6 responses by psychicanimal

I'm not harsh--I'm unemployed! It's cheaper to give me $100...small price to pay for *personalized* assesment. Look at what Lak did after he heard my power rig!

Gifts are accepted, too! RX8man got a complete & thorough power/noise assesment and sent me a couple classic Rat Shack A/V speakers I'm currently using while my stuff's in storage.

I am definitely going back to school and becoming an electrician (and speciallizing in noise control). Just need to get settled here in Florida...

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Lak, Toledo is a dump (the Land of the Bitter, in my words). I was sent there because nobody wanted the job--I applied for a position in Chicago. They sent me (and left me there) cause I was single, unemployed and my lease was expiring in two weeks. Being there and working outside in the cold, windy lake Erie shore was a continuous depressive episode which took a toll on my health. My doctor said my immune system had been "wiped out"...and it wasn't virus related.

London, send me a classical music CD or two. Something live, Baroque, Slavonic, or a surprise. I'll surprise you...beyond your dreams. I might be opinionated, but I'm very well aware that power delivery/noise control is application specific. It can also be dependent on what can be grabbed in the surplus market.

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My next setup, when I get a decent apartment( God willing )is going to be as follows:

After an electronics grade surge protector, one 30 amp dedicated line star wired feeding two 220V/110V stepdown transformers/filters: The 3KW ONEAC for the power amps and the 2.4 KW Xentek for feeding two Clear Image T4 quad isolation transformer/filter arrays (one for digital line level, another for analog line level). Auricaps parallel filtration at the box feeding the two T4's and inside each ONEAC outlet (2). A DeZorel ground filtration module after the Xentek (the ONEAC has a "virtual ground" which isolates the transformer's ground from the building's). I can leave the power amps on because the ONEAC offers damn good protection (ONEAC 'claims' my CB2338 can absorb the blow of a lightning strike--I don't want to find out).

All the outlets will be cryo treated. All transformers will be drained into proper vibration sink sandwiches.

Sounds simple and killer. It's not what I really want, but the total cost of the transformers /filters was under $700, including shipping. Try doing that for cheaper...

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Rxwacko, I would rather wait for a used 5K Xentek and use the remaining money to get a two brick DeZorel with ground filtering brick for your transport and DAC. Lak says it's every bit as good as the Special Edition T4. I trust his hearing and setup. You already have the picture of the Cardas Power Box. That setup will be real simple and effective. You'll be set for life.