Power conditioners/regenerators - let's talk about clean power

May 25, 2025 at 9:37 AM Post #91 of 98
Well, @Androxylo , your case certainly highlights how despite cleaning our mains supply to the nth degree we can still of course encounter noise problems further downstream - often via cable construction, but also from simply equipment positioning relative to each other...(possibly the latter in your case?). Re. the former, certainly some kind of shielding is always recommended, especially with DIY fare...(congrats on your XLR cable by the way - shame about the non-shielding lol! ;)). For years now - even if just as insurance - I construct ALL my cables (power and signal, including digital) with separate for pos/neg; signal/return(gnd), which often minimises the need for additional shielding in fact (the resultant lowering of inductance and conductance already providing good suppression of EMI/RFI). But further shielding is the icing on the cake :).

Hopefully you have managed to tame your noise more consistently now.

While here, I think this might be a good juncture at which to reiterate the difference between dealing with "noise" (at any frequency) that is audible and the possibly less obvious kind that can have negative impacts upon final sound quality - especially in highly resolving systems. Once again, this is where I personally believe balancing the mains power supply (non-intrusive) is far preferable to the 'intruding' approach used in filtering/conditioning...especially given that some folks doing the latter still actually recommend plugging an amp direct into the wall, which may well improve dynamic delivery but leaves it at the mercy of said more subtle mains saturated "noise"!! :anguished: ... I rest my case...HAPPY LISTENING y'all...
 
May 26, 2025 at 10:51 PM Post #92 of 98
Well, @Androxylo , your case certainly highlights how despite cleaning our mains supply to the nth degree we can still of course encounter noise problems further downstream - often via cable construction, but also from simply equipment positioning relative to each other...(possibly the latter in your case?). Re. the former, certainly some kind of shielding is always recommended, especially with DIY fare...(congrats on your XLR cable by the way - shame about the non-shielding lol! ;)). For years now - even if just as insurance - I construct ALL my cables (power and signal, including digital) with separate for pos/neg; signal/return(gnd), which often minimises the need for additional shielding in fact (the resultant lowering of inductance and conductance already providing good suppression of EMI/RFI). But further shielding is the icing on the cake :).

Hopefully you have managed to tame your noise more consistently now.

While here, I think this might be a good juncture at which to reiterate the difference between dealing with "noise" (at any frequency) that is audible and the possibly less obvious kind that can have negative impacts upon final sound quality - especially in highly resolving systems. Once again, this is where I personally believe balancing the mains power supply (non-intrusive) is far preferable to the 'intruding' approach used in filtering/conditioning...especially given that some folks doing the latter still actually recommend plugging an amp direct into the wall, which may well improve dynamic delivery but leaves it at the mercy of said more subtle mains saturated "noise"!! :anguished: ... I rest my case...HAPPY LISTENING y'all...

I fixed it into dead silence by chaining several power conditioners and shielding my power cables, but leaving the XLR cable unshielded. Maybe I also had something like a minor ground loop by running different conditioners at DAC and amp.
So my conclusion is - you do not need shielded XLR cables, if they produce noise rather find where this noise is coming from. Fix the noise source, don't fix the receiving and.
 
May 26, 2025 at 10:56 PM Post #93 of 98
I fixed it into dead silence by chaining several power conditioners and shielding my power cables, but leaving the XLR cable unshielded. Maybe I also had something like a minor ground loop by running different conditioners at DAC and amp.
So my conclusion is - you do not need shielded XLR cables, if they produce noise rather find where this noise is coming from. Fix the noise source, don't fix the receiving and.

Interesting. I find that too much power conditioning can affect dynamics. I use a less harmful conditioning solutions myself to just clean noise by some but not compromise on dynamics
 
May 27, 2025 at 12:44 AM Post #94 of 98
Interesting. I find that too much power conditioning can affect dynamics. I use a less harmful conditioning solutions myself to just clean noise by some but not compromise on dynamics
They may, I'm trying to spin some dynamic tracks, nothing obvious so far. I have Furman Power Conditioner SS6B, CyberPower CSB100W Essential Surge Protector and Cable Matters 1350 Joules Single Outlet Surge Protector chained. In terms of noise completely fixed. Maybe just Furman will be enough after I shielded the cables, also have some unrelated cables to shield like computer and monitor. Also should shield the Furman cable.
For shielding used the copper sticky tape and grounded it at the outlet side.
 
May 27, 2025 at 2:33 AM Post #95 of 98
Hi guys...hence my preference for 'balanced' mains treatment rather than 'conditioning'...but YMMV of course.

And yes indeed @Androxylo - sometimes 'shielding' is not always necessary, and in certain cases can even be counter productive lol! 'Grounding' issues can also be troublesome on occasions...:(...Glad you're on course at least...:)
 
May 28, 2025 at 9:28 PM Post #97 of 98
"Fruman is just a glorified power strip". Oh, I see:



At least it won't affect the dynamics as much if it doesn't filter anything at all
 
May 31, 2025 at 6:55 PM Post #98 of 98
Posting what I did with Furman, the hum and cracking are gone for good:
PXL_20250530_034458517.MP.jpg

Step 1: double wiring the hot and cold, soldered extra wires to the board and to the jumper.

PXL_20250530_042956632.MP.jpg

Step 2: braided double hot and double cold, the green ground kept away.

PXL_20250531_040703052.MP.jpg

Step 3: wrapped and shielded the braided hot-cold, connected the shield to ground at the outlet side.
Step 4: wrapped the ground outside of the shielding, this keeps the capacitance between hot/cold and the ground to practically zero. The goal is to avoid any current in the ground. Wrapped once more to keep the green wire protected.
 

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