Power Conditioning: The Next Level
Sep 10, 2001 at 9:15 PM Post #46 of 64
Man, all this stuff cost more than my 1st car! I did buy a Monster HTS-2000 ($199 retail) because I heard good things about it so I thought I'd give it a try. To tell you the truth I didn't see/hear any difference between it and my $5.99 surge protector I had used before. I'm not saying all these tweaks are worthless, just don't believe everything you read.
rolleyes.gif
 
Sep 10, 2001 at 9:31 PM Post #47 of 64
Jude:
This option if for users that have had a qualified electrician instal a technical equipment ground for their system (for a long explaination go to the equitech website under articles). The short version goes: This is a completely separate ground for your dedicated audio/video AC lines, it runs to twin grounding rods bonded together and driven a minimum of 8 ft. into the ground. Why do this? This removes any possibility of noise or reactive currents that may be present on your household ground (from your air conditioning, furnace, refrigerator, dimmer switches, fans etc.) from getting into to your audio system via the ground . Does it work? You betcha. It seems to remove another fine layer of noise. This has been used for years by recording studios, radio stations, electronic calibration labs, etc. Where does this one measure on the tweaking scale?
 
Sep 10, 2001 at 9:42 PM Post #48 of 64
jude, yes. i agree with you. power cord does surprisingly makes a difference. i refered to that post mostly because it deals with the fundamental of why a power cord matters, and with that knowledge, then we can start figuring out how one matter, ie, material, constructions.

Chris' info on the 8 ft grounding rod is so cool. we should list that as tweak #9.
biggrin.gif
 
Sep 10, 2001 at 9:49 PM Post #49 of 64
Quote:

Originally posted by Chris Hoff
Jude:
This option if for users that have had a qualified electrician instal a technical equipment ground for their system (for a long explaination go to the equitech website under articles). The short version goes: This is a completely separate ground for your dedicated audio/video AC lines, it runs to twin grounding rods bonded together and driven a minimum of 8 ft. into the ground. Why do this? This removes any possibility of noise or reactive currents that may be present on your household ground (from your air conditioning, furnace, refrigerator, dimmer switches, fans etc.) from getting into to your audio system via the ground . Does it work? You betcha. It seems to remove another fine layer of noise. This has been used for years by recording studios, radio stations, electronic calibration labs, etc. Where does this one measure on the tweaking scale?



Chris,

Wow, that's a cool tweak. Would such a tweak (the grounding rods) keep the main circuit breaker from tripping in an overdraw (like a complete short) situation?

Also, I hate to be a pest, Chris, but I think you inadvertently missed my follow-up question regarding the two-prong question I asked a few posts ago, which was:

"So there's absolutely no disadvantage to using a two-prong-equipped component plugged into the B-P-T versus a similar component with a three-prong plug? "
 
Sep 10, 2001 at 9:50 PM Post #50 of 64
Quote:

Originally posted by acidtripwow
Man, all this stuff cost more than my 1st car! I did buy a Monster HTS-2000 ($199 retail) because I heard good things about it so I thought I'd give it a try. To tell you the truth I didn't see/hear any difference between it and my $5.99 surge protector I had used before. I'm not saying all these tweaks are worthless, just don't believe everything you read.
rolleyes.gif


acidtripwow,

I'll find out for myself quite soon if balanced power works for me. But I should stress that balanced power is completely different than what you're getting with the Monster HTS-2000.


Quote:

Originally posted by Vka
Well, for all thats interested, there is a used PS Audio 300 w/ multiwave on audiogon going for $650. .... ....Lastly, I too would lik... the risk on something like a BMI cable).
 
Sep 10, 2001 at 10:13 PM Post #51 of 64
Quote:

Originally posted by acidtripwow
Man, all this stuff cost more than my 1st car! I did buy a Monster HTS-2000 ($199 retail) because I heard good things about it so I thought I'd give it a try. To tell you the truth I didn't see/hear any difference between it and my $5.99 surge protector I had used before. I'm not saying all these tweaks are worthless, just don't believe everything you read.
rolleyes.gif


yes. it is scary what audiophile are willing to pay for their systems. my parents went into a audiophile shop once, there was a guy who bought $10,000 worth of Jensen oil-filled caps, and then proceed to replace every single capacitors in his system.

and there are the ridiculously expensive NBS/MIT cables. can go for $10k+

most of the time, one can hear difference cables makes when the system is of a relatively high end systems and with trained ears. mid-fi systems are much less sensitive to such small changes. makes me wonder if the manufacturers testing their products on high-end systems, and then uses that info to market the product to the more general public.
 
Sep 11, 2001 at 1:04 AM Post #53 of 64
Jude:
OK! OK! You don't have to tighten the thumb screws. Yes, there is no disadvantage for the two prong plug into balanced power.
biggrin.gif
 
Sep 11, 2001 at 1:12 AM Post #54 of 64
Quote:

Originally posted by Chris Hoff
Jude:
OK! OK! You don't have to tighten the thumb screws. Yes, there is no disadvantage for the two prong plug into balanced power.
biggrin.gif



LOL! Hmmm....maybe I should have been a laywer....
very_evil_smiley.gif


Chris, thanks again, man. So, just to be sure, with two-prong plugs versus three-prong plugs....



(just kidding, just kidding)
 
Sep 14, 2001 at 9:04 AM Post #59 of 64
Well, the BPT BP-3 has arrived, and the first impressions are very good. Notes about first impressions:
  1. Fit and finish is very good. It has a very simple steel cabinet (I opted for the standard black cabinet, rather than the optional stainless steel cabinet, as the black finish matches the other components in my system). The BP-3 is solidly built -- the cabinet doesn't ring at all when tapping it. This may be due in part to the heavy damping option.
  2. The unit appears well shielded. EMF readings using a NoRad ELF Magnetic Field Meter (Band I MFM) and an AlphaLab TriField Broadband Meter were as low as ambient four to five inches from the BP-3, with maximum readings of approximately 25.5 milligauss when the NoRad was pressed directly against the left side of the unit. AC electric fields (kV/m) around the BP-3 were negligible, as was RFI. Plugging the BP-3 into the Brick Wall slightly increased the Brick Wall's EMF output (likely due to the BP-3's higher current draw versus having the SCD-C333ES and Max plugged directly into the Brick Wall), but not enough to necessitate relocating the Brick Wall.
  3. The hospital-grade receptacles in back are nice (not sure yet which brand they are, but I'm not too concerned about that). They grip very hard. These hospital-grade receptacles were options.
  4. The solid brass isolation feet are very cool. If they weren't affixed to the bottom of the BP-3, I might mistake them for some of my .40 S&W bullets. These feet were options.
  5. The captive power cord is actually very nice. I opted for the C-7 option (huge 7 AWG conductors instead of big 10 AWG).
  6. Installation is easy (just plug it in), but be prepared to trip your breaker. Due to a big current inrush (only when you first plug it in, after which it stabilizes nicely), 15-amp breakers may trip (mine did). The instructions suggest unplugging everything on the circuit before resetting the breaker, and then plugging everything back in, which worked for me.
What are my first impressions regarding its sonic effects in my system? Unlike many tweaks that you have to "listen for," the effects of balanced power were immediately obvious. Playing CD's I've heard a bazillion times (like Jeff Buckley's Grace and Jennifer Warnes' Famous Blue Raincoat), every voice and instrument in the recordings takes on much greater separation and stands out taller and more live against deeper relief. Playing SACD's (Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor performed by Arcadi Volodos, and Straight, No Chaser by Thelonius Monk) and super-quality CD's (Patricia Barber's Modern Cool and Audioquest's Works of Art, Volume 3) really makes the investment in balanced power very worth it. Decay is much more natural, presence is more weighty, and so the overall presentation more "analog" than without the balanced power. It really is quite a stunning improvement.

The BP-3 also seems to have improved my system grounding, quieting it (fixing it) significantly. Prior to the BP-3, I had to "lift" the ground on my Max (the Max has a switch on the back to do this) to get the blackest backdrop I could. Before the BP-3, switching between ground lift and normal ground position was very noticeable (this would likely vary from one Max owner to the next, as it is likely dependent on AC conditions). With the BP-3, not only is there no noticeable difference between the two settings now, but both settings are more quiet than the pre-BP-3 Max with lifted ground.

Chris Hoff swears up and down that two weeks from now my BPT will make my rig sound even better due to burn-in. Right now, that's hard to believe, as my rig is already sounding so remarkably good; but still I can hardly wait!

I approached the BP-3 as an expensive tweak, but it has so far shown itself to be much more like a key component than a tweak, serving to signficantly upgrade my SCD-C333ES and HeadRoom Max -- certainly not a bad first impression, eh?

I'll post more impressions and notes as they come.
 
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