Any suggestion: I am planning to buy a power conditioner plus stabilizer from Audire

[gvenu]

Hi Gurus,

I am really fed up by the quality of power where I stay. It degrades the performance and life of my audio equipment bought from hard earned money. After looking, searching & discussing with some people, I have almost decided to go for ZEPHYR HALCYON POWER CONDITIONER AND SERVO (2 kva) from Audire. Any further suggestion or other options from anybody experienced?

rgds,
Venu

 

[stevieboy]

Re: Any suggestion: I am planning to buy a power conditioner plus stabilizer from Aud

hi gvenu,

if i remember its bout 19k? madbullram had a nice thread with prices of vertex and some other brands. i also remember myriad? or someone else who had bought this, was not impressed said it degraded the sound, then placed it on vibrapods and everything snapped into place. for your info...

regards

 

[prem]

Re: Any suggestion: I am planning to buy a power conditioner plus stabilizer from Aud

I have not heard the Audire stuff so cannot comment. But i have gone through the full gamut of power conditioners. From the Shunyata Hydra to the Powerwing to RSA Haley. I have dumped all of them and presently use a CVT brought from KB Powercare in Hyderabad. Its a 1KVA and am pretty happy with it. On order is also a BPT isolation transformer with balanced power for the digital. The BPT has no filters or switches or suppressors. Its just a high quality 500VA isolation transformer configured for balanced power.

 

[santhosh]

Re: Any suggestion: I am planning to buy a power conditioner plus stabilizer from Aud

hi gvenu,

if i remember its bout 19k? madbullram had a nice thread with prices of vertex and some other brands. i also remember myriad? or someone else who had bought this, was not impressed said it degraded the sound, then placed it on vibrapods and everything snapped into place. for your info...

regards

Yup, that was the Audire Zephyr. I read the update from Myriad recently where he has add Vibrapods underneath the Zephyr and has improved the soundstage, imaging et all.

I have not heard the Audire stuff so cannot comment. But i have gone through the full gamut of power conditioners. From the Shunyata Hydra to the Powerwing to RSA Haley. I have dumped all of them and presently use a CVT brought from KB Powercare in Hyderabad. Its a 1KVA and am pretty happy with it. On order is also a BPT isolation transformer with balanced power for the digital. The BPT has no filters or switches or suppressors. Its just a high quality 500VA isolation transformer configured for balanced power.

Thanks Prem, could you share some more details like specs, addresses, website, price etc about the CVT (Constant Voltage Transformer) and BPT please?

 

[moktan]

Re: Any suggestion: I am planning to buy a power conditioner plus stabilizer from Aud

the audire website is up and running and has a wealth of info on many of their products including power conditioners...

Audire, Precious Jewels That Sing

 

[gvenu]

Re: Any suggestion: I am planning to buy a power conditioner plus stabilizer from Aud

Thanks!

Audire says the following.

MUSICALZEPHYR: WHAT IS A POWER CONDITIONER AND WHY DO YOU NEED ONE?
More often than not, homes and commercial establishments draw power for all their audio and video equipment from the mains supply. However, in most such cases, the power which comes in through the mains is frought with various problems. Owing to the widespread consumption and generally poor distribution methods, the power you get from your mains socket can degrade the performance and the life of your precious AV equipment considerably.The Zephyr power conditioner solves all these problems, by eliminating all the glitches in your mains line and providing your equipment, with clean, pure power. Primarily, the zephyr is a line filtering mechanism, which filters out all power line induced noise factors from your setup. The zephyr features a line filter comprising of an EMI and RF filter, along with an isolation transformer coupled to a line reactive Q transformer. Its also has a separate sockets with delayed on options for the preamp and the power which saves you from having to switch on every equipment in your setup manually. With a two phase input option, you can even eleminate the dirty neutral completely, since the power conditioner can be configured in a 440V mode. HOW DOES IT IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF YOUR AV SYSTEM?You can see and hear a very percievable improvement in your a/v system when you draw power from our power conditioner units.For example, audio is signifcantly clearer and more resolved, owing to a highly diminished noise floor, bass it tighter and more defined and the metallic sheen of the highs will sound much more pleasurable to hear. In terms of video, you can see a marked improvement in the contrasts. The black levels become much deeper thus boosting the natural color tones to more realistic levels. Skin tones are vastly improved, and the images themselves become much sharper. Noises introduced by HDMI cables (which run audio and video interleaved) will be signifcantly reduced.Overall the Zephyr power conditioner not only protects your system but also give you tangible improvement in audio and video performance.

The one which I have short listed has a servo stabilizer too.

rgds,
Venu

 

[prem]

Re: Any suggestion: I am planning to buy a power conditioner plus stabilizer from Aud

Hi Santhol2

The CVT cost me Rs 15000. Because it uses a Ferro resonant transformer it hums a little. So it should not be placed in the same room as the audio set up. You do not have to buy it from KB Powercare. You can buy it from anyone locally. The site is KB Power Care Pvt. Ltd

The BPT costs me US$599. It is not their standard product. I have asked for Furutech inlet and Oyaide receptacle. I have gone for ultra pure copper internal wiring, copper foil on the complete interiors and stainless steel spikes. The website is Balanced Power Technologies - Home Audio-engr helped me with this one. Initially was considering the Keces balanced isolation transformer but finally went with the BPT.

 

[prem]

Re: Any suggestion: I am planning to buy a power conditioner plus stabilizer from Aud

Hi Gvenu

If possible avoid the EMI and RF filter. Invariably they do more harm than good. If the unit uses a good isolation transformer as it mentions you probably do not need the filters.

Some people i wrote to recommended a CVT for voltage stabilisation over a Servo stabiliser saying its better. Hence i went with a CVT. I have never had a Servo at my place so cannot comment.

 

[gvenu]

Re: Any suggestion: I am planning to buy a power conditioner plus stabilizer from Aud

Hi,

Audire 2kva conditioner plus servo cost 36 K plus tax & transport. HFV members are offered a discount of 20 %.

It has 6 o/p sockets with delay. I think 30 sec one after other...

rgds,
Venu

 

[venkatcr]

Re: Any suggestion: I am planning to buy a power conditioner plus stabilizer from Aud

Some people i wrote to recommended a CVT for voltage stabilisation over a Servo stabiliser saying its better. Hence i went with a CVT. I have never had a Servo at my place so cannot comment.

There have been a number of very detailed threads where the advantages / disadvantages of various ways of cleaning power have been discussed. We had discussed CVT, Servos, and UPS. The general conclusion was that for high powered amplifiers, a servo is the best with rating that is usually 1.5 times to twice the wattage of the amplifier. The additional rating is for handling the high current requirement during start and for handling the sudden peaks in music or movie sound.

These threads were sometime in the beginning of 2009 and had very detailed technical comparison and informations. Please search through the forum.

Regarding Audire, the only thing I can say is that I personally have a lot of confidence in their capabilities as well as passion to make something very very good. Sharath's father has been making power conditioning equipment for medical units for a long time, and Sharath has borrowed from that knowledge as well as tuned the equipment for use in AV.

Cheers.

 

[prem]

Re: Any suggestion: I am planning to buy a power conditioner plus stabilizer from Aud

Hi Venkatcr

The CVT recommendation came from some very respected people in the industry. The consensus here might be that Servo is better but the none of them i spoke to recommended the Servo saying it degraded the sound. The CVT has no mechanical switching and no electronic circuitry and hence is considered superior. Incidentally even when some of the specialist power conditioner companies take part in exhibitions they normally use a CVT before their conditioner sees the power. For most audio applications a 0.5 KVA constant voltage transformer is enough. I had to go for a 1 KVA because my amp operates in class A.

 

[santhosh]

Re: Any suggestion: I am planning to buy a power conditioner plus stabilizer from Aud

Even hifi_ashok on our forum uses CVT for his Cadence gear. Need to dig out all the old threads to understand.

gvenu: could you please share pricing info for the conditioner cum stabilizer

Currently, I am using a line filter from some medical equipment for my pre and source. It is not rated to handle the power requirements of my power amp.

 

[gvenu]

Re: Any suggestion: I am planning to buy a power conditioner plus stabilizer from Aud

gvenu: could you please share pricing info for the conditioner cum stabilizer

I have already mentioned the pricing!

rgds,
Venu

 

[gobble]

Re: Any suggestion: I am planning to buy a power conditioner plus stabilizer from Aud

Hi Gvenu

If possible avoid the EMI and RF filter. Invariably they do more harm than good. If the unit uses a good isolation transformer as it mentions you probably do not need the filters..

Why is that? will it eat up high frequencies?

Again quick question OT - will using an EMI/RF filter built in to the power inlet of preamp degrade sound?

Regards

 

[prem]

Re: Any suggestion: I am planning to buy a power conditioner plus stabilizer from Aud

Hi Gobble

I think in all the filtration, the sound becomes clinical. Thats been my experience. Maybe others on the forum can chip in.

 

[arj]

Re: Any suggestion: I am planning to buy a power conditioner plus stabilizer from Aud

from the website, the Zephyr seems to have a balanced connection as well 110-0-110 configuration as well...would one really need filtration after that ?
Seems to be a really good option. Any idea of the price of the balanced option ?

 

[arj]

Re: Any suggestion: I am planning to buy a power conditioner plus stabilizer from Aud

Why is that? will it eat up high frequencies?

Again quick question OT - will using an EMI/RF filter built in to the power inlet of preamp degrade sound?

Regards

Gobble my perception is that it kills microdynamics and hence robs some of the emotion out of music.

 

[gvenu]

Re: Any suggestion: I am planning to buy a power conditioner plus stabilizer from Aud

Any idea of the price of the balanced option ?

You may pl send them a mail or call them on 9003355444

rgds,
Venu

 

[myriad]

Re: Any suggestion: I am planning to buy a power conditioner plus stabilizer from Aud

Hello gvenu,
i am using Zephyr power conditioner. It's a 2 KVA unit. Initially i was not much impressed with this unit. But after putting them on vibrapods this thing started to sing. Keep in mind this unit needs a good isolation. AFAIK Audire custom make these units with Tara lab cables, FIM receptacles and some good isolators.

 

[venkatcr]

Re: Any suggestion: I am planning to buy a power conditioner plus stabilizer from Aud

I was curious about CVT and did some research on the use of CVT for AV purposes. I spoke to a number of manufacturers and here is the conclusion.

Basic Working Principle of A CVT:

CVT is technically a ferro resonant power transformer designed with separate core windows for the primary secondary windings. They have two magnetic circuits - the main flux path and the shunt flux path. The main flux paths couples the primary and secondary circuits. The secondary circuit is tuned to resonate at the line frequency by connecting a capacitor across. The Q of the tuned circuit is high enough to cause large circulating current that saturates the core in the main flux path. Saturation is a decrease or increase in the magnetizing force that is not accompanied by a corresponding change in the flux density. With the main flux path saturated, the line voltage fluctuation will not change the main flux density, and the secondary voltage will remain constant, i.e., if the primary voltage does not drop too low. Thus, we understand that a CVT is an industrial grade power supply, configured to maintain constant voltages alone, and does not in any way, eliminate power noise, or supply huge current demands of an audio amplifier.

Major consumer of CVT are industrialists, who use them in instrumentation. People who use CVTs for audio/video purposes may not have satosfactiry results due to the following reasons:

1. High cost and weight.
2. Low efficiency factor.
3. Comparatively poor load regulation.
4. Noise generated due to ferro resonance (an inherent physical limitation)
5. Voltage regulation critically dependent on line frequency.
6. Though CVTs can be made in large capacities, the commonly available are usually rated at 100VA to 1kVA, above which requires custom designed cores etc, making them extremely expensive.
7. NOT an ideal voltage regulator for high current application like audio.
8. FERRO RESONANCE ITSELF INTRODUCES A DENSE EMI PATTERN, WHICH IS DETRIMENTAL TO AUDIO APPLICATIONS.

Audio Power Conditioning Devices:

An ideal audio power conditioning device has many other functions apart from voltage regulation. Basically, voltage regulation is not critical to audio applications. (This is apart from a high voltage cutoff feature to protect your amplifier). The other power conditioning aspects include:

1. Eliminating ground borne noise.
2. Eliminating EMI and RF interference.
3. Minimizing serial resistance in the electrical path.
4. Providing a magnetic flywheel to support the amplifier's dynamic current swings.
5. Providing balanced power output (115-0-115V)
6. Two phase power conditioners to totally eliminate the dirty neutral to provide absolute clean power.
7. High quality power conditioners use choke regulators carefully designed to prevent current limiting.

It thus looks as if CVT is an industrial equipment usually used to feed small loads, is a noise generating component by itself, and is not ideal for usage even in close proximity with audio equipments, let alone to be used a as power cleanup utility for audio applications. It is a noise introducing and a noise inducing element which, for the purpose of purifying power, is a paradox!

Cheers