I have had the same experience. It appears that power conditioning is a system to system thing. In general those of us with dedicated lines find it makes things worse. I can remember thinking my Tice Power Block helped on other components beside power amp when I was not using a dedicated line. There are several possible reasons I can think of and probably a lot more. One is that the conditioner does not have sufficient capacity for the amp. Amps can draw really amazing amounts of current for short periods of time. I just replaced the power cord on my Musical Fidelity NuVista amp , which was large, with a much larger one and got an immediate and very noticeable improvement. But others have reported little or no improvement by changing power cords. In HIFICritic recently a stock cheapie cord outperformed some expensive ones on a CD player. On Power amps the high priced ones were better. A whole group of reasons can be lumped together under the heading " Don't put anything in the line that you can leave out" You may be improving on area at the expense of another. There is so much out there on this that all I can say is that there is simply no consensus on almost any aspect of it. There are several interesting approaches, The "Never Connected" method interests me. But unless you have a large amount of time to spend doing research on it the best thing is to use what sounds better and forget about it. |
This only prove that Isoclean filter is NO good even though it is expansive. This doesn't apply automatically to ALL other power conditioners on the market.
Give the PS Audio's Duet a try. It is on sales for only US$199 right now and you will be amazed of the improvement to your power amp. |
I have a similar Isoclean setup as you (3030G & SF cables) and have experienced exactly what you did with the filtering within the Isoclean -- loss of dynamics, bass and soundstage. Therefore, I went with one of their power bars (non-filtered).
I'm not sure how to explain it other than it must take away AC noise & some grunge as I call it & in so doing decays or muffles frequencies (maybe a little grunge is necessary????). I'm unable to explain anything about power cord theory -- so, you're expecting too much if you're looking for a direct answer why.
As far as a Duet -- I have one, tried it and it did nothing for me -- so instead of selling it, I relegated it to the flat screen and DirecTV receiver. |
Dtsag,
What are you smoking?
The Isoclean has made a major impact on my system but not on the power amp.
PS Audio for you but not for me. |
Perhaps the Isoclean will only handle so much amperage.
components don't use much amperage,amps do.I use3X7B-ssts+2X4B-ssts
I have dedicated lines 10guage.I use to plug in direct
to the wall(was good,still not what I wanted to hear,tried
Shunyata(hydra 6,components,hydra 2s for amps(fine,still not)
Then I tried a Torus and HOLY CRAP,superb,authority,more bottom,quiet,clean ect.Torus has lots of power in reserve for music peaks.
Some conditioners are non current limiting,BUT they can only give what the circuit will allow,The Torus has a huge transformer and has lots of reserve energy.This is one component that I don't have to upgrade ever.Truly one of the best audio investments I've made yet. |
Glory,
Curiosity killed the cat......
By chance did you ever try bypassing the "full Isoclean system" and plug your audio system directly into the wall outlet/s and check for the popping sound you hear through your speakers when turning on the wall fan/light switch?
[url]http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ymisc&1227879808&openmine&zz[/url]
Also I am curious, where you ran the ground of the Isoclean to? |
48,
I will try bypassing the Isoclean and try the fan and report back.
I am not sure what you mean by where I ran the ground of the Isoclean to. |
I am not sure what you mean by where I ran the ground of the Isoclean to.
Glory I have a full Isoclean system and I was running the Supreme Focus through the Transformers and the 80A filter.
Glory Glory, The secondary of the transformer. Where did you run the grounding conductor for the secondary to make it a grounded AC system again? Back to the main grounding system of your homes main electrical system? |
48,
From the wall into two transformers (jumpers), from transformers into the 80A filter (6 outlets), Supreme Focus running from the 80A filter into the amp.
Check my system and you will see pics of the Isoclean. |
Now that one of your strongly held beliefs about your system has, upon experimentation, proved to be false, does this make you less confident about anything else you believe must be true about hi-fi systems? |
25,
My goal is to get off the grid.
I have the ASR Exclusive battery powered Phono and the batterey powered Dodd preamp. Next move is the ASR battery powered amp. Can I run my Lector T3 off of a battery? If so then I can unload all Isoclean gear. |
The analog portion of my cd player is battery-powered as well. A lot of work went into isolating the rf-producing digital side of the cd player from the analog side.
I can recommend the Marigo Ultra 5 power cables (connected to the amplifiers) as exceptional at reducing rf. They turned unpedigreed SS amplifiers into world-beaters.
I'm not familiar with the amp you mention. Is it entirely battery-powered, or just a portion of it? I can't imagine a battery large enough to power significant speakers.
I was intrigued by the forcefulness of your prior (should I say "a priori") view of how to connect your system, and how actually trying something different totally and unexpectedly changed this for you. I've experienced this myself on a number of occasions in recent years.
For example, after having used a Marigo cd mat for years, I one day forgot to use it, and was amazed at how much better the sound was without it.
For another: I thought there was no way that unpedigreed SS amps could compete with the Atmasphere MA-1s I used to have in my system. (A friend recommended that I try this, and for years I resisted.) But with the Marigo power cords mentioned above, the SS amps were so far superior there really was no point of comparison.
For another: I have found that unplugging components not in use from the preamp makes an important improvement in the sound of the system. (I am told this relates to rf as well.) I have suggested this on Audiogon, and the response has generally been mocking dismissal.
It's an interesting psychology at work in this hobby that incites us to try certain improvements that often have a large price tag, but refuse even to try others that may be very inexpensive, just because they "can't" possibly be of use. |
