For quite some time, i have a feeling that the performance of the audio system is not always at its best .
It is good most of the time, however sometimes in the magical ( the overall sound is and feels very real ) and when it is optimal ‘even the not so good’ recordings are also enjoyable.
However this state is not consistent, so i was exploring various options to create an environment that is optimal for the system to perform to its best most of the time .
I started with Vibration isolation, Reducing the EMI/RFI by moving away from the sources , having separate AC line from the 3-Phase to Audio , better grounding ( full coper) and
copper plate separation/isolation for digital sources to contain the high frequency noise getting into the Analog electronics .
All of these bring-in incremental and subtle improvement to the sound .
With the confidence from these experiments, I wanted to try and improve the AC power quality.
But before I try any of the product, wanted to measure the quality of the AC power.
I have a 5KVA servo stabilizer and the voltage is always a constant and in general the power quality is not bad in my area and there is a dedicated transformer in the street powering ~15 houses and it is 3 Phase connection and it looks like the transformer is under provisioned as of now .
While the voltage is a constant , I was not sure about other power quality measurement and was exploring the internet to find a way to do it .
I heard PS Audio offers power-regenerators with the meter in that that measure the power harmonics in THD % , but it is a very expensive product and I wanted to just measure it first .
I should say I got lucky to see the offering from Vertex power electronics in Chennai in the internet . They offer power quality measurement to the heavy industry as the service .
I talked to Mr. Balamurugan from Vertex and he kindly offered me the Fluke Meter to measure the power harmonics and a power regenerator ( On-line ) on loan for the trial at home
Here is the measurement in the of the power harmonics in the raw three phase power
Voltage THD was 7% and Current THD was 17% . Attached the picture which I took a screen shot from the measuring equipment for the Voltage harmonics . As you see the Sinewave form of theYellow line phase (while not perfect ) is better compared to the other two phases . (Three phase in the picture )
Then we measured the out of their power generator. Which basically convert the AC to DC and then regenerate the AC from DC . It can be configured to be always On-Line which means it regenerate the AC power all the time and thus completely detaching the sensitive audio equipment from the Grid power noice/ impurity .
The measurement of the output from the AC regenerator is very impressive. It is a pure sine wave (refer to the picture ) and the Voltage harmonics shows very lower values ( 0.point decimal % )
I tried DAC ( Schitt Gugnir MultiBit ) and a Class A pre-Amplifier with the re-generator and I assume both are constant load and less than 80 Watts of total power consumption .
It definitely improved the sound quality and reduced the Digital glare to even more better levels . I assume the lack of any notice (RFI / EMI ) and the power purity is helping here.
I have done many experiments, some resulted in degradation of the sound and some resulted in success in lesser/greater extend and this one is worthwhile mentioning as the Quantitative measurement and the audiophile experience is matching and am happy that I tried it out.
I would like to thank Mr . Anand from Vertex in helping with the measurements and all the technical guidance .
It is good most of the time, however sometimes in the magical ( the overall sound is and feels very real ) and when it is optimal ‘even the not so good’ recordings are also enjoyable.
However this state is not consistent, so i was exploring various options to create an environment that is optimal for the system to perform to its best most of the time .
I started with Vibration isolation, Reducing the EMI/RFI by moving away from the sources , having separate AC line from the 3-Phase to Audio , better grounding ( full coper) and
copper plate separation/isolation for digital sources to contain the high frequency noise getting into the Analog electronics .
All of these bring-in incremental and subtle improvement to the sound .
With the confidence from these experiments, I wanted to try and improve the AC power quality.
But before I try any of the product, wanted to measure the quality of the AC power.
I have a 5KVA servo stabilizer and the voltage is always a constant and in general the power quality is not bad in my area and there is a dedicated transformer in the street powering ~15 houses and it is 3 Phase connection and it looks like the transformer is under provisioned as of now .
While the voltage is a constant , I was not sure about other power quality measurement and was exploring the internet to find a way to do it .
I heard PS Audio offers power-regenerators with the meter in that that measure the power harmonics in THD % , but it is a very expensive product and I wanted to just measure it first .
I should say I got lucky to see the offering from Vertex power electronics in Chennai in the internet . They offer power quality measurement to the heavy industry as the service .
I talked to Mr. Balamurugan from Vertex and he kindly offered me the Fluke Meter to measure the power harmonics and a power regenerator ( On-line ) on loan for the trial at home
Here is the measurement in the of the power harmonics in the raw three phase power
Voltage THD was 7% and Current THD was 17% . Attached the picture which I took a screen shot from the measuring equipment for the Voltage harmonics . As you see the Sinewave form of theYellow line phase (while not perfect ) is better compared to the other two phases . (Three phase in the picture )
Then we measured the out of their power generator. Which basically convert the AC to DC and then regenerate the AC from DC . It can be configured to be always On-Line which means it regenerate the AC power all the time and thus completely detaching the sensitive audio equipment from the Grid power noice/ impurity .
The measurement of the output from the AC regenerator is very impressive. It is a pure sine wave (refer to the picture ) and the Voltage harmonics shows very lower values ( 0.point decimal % )
I tried DAC ( Schitt Gugnir MultiBit ) and a Class A pre-Amplifier with the re-generator and I assume both are constant load and less than 80 Watts of total power consumption .
It definitely improved the sound quality and reduced the Digital glare to even more better levels . I assume the lack of any notice (RFI / EMI ) and the power purity is helping here.
I have done many experiments, some resulted in degradation of the sound and some resulted in success in lesser/greater extend and this one is worthwhile mentioning as the Quantitative measurement and the audiophile experience is matching and am happy that I tried it out.
I would like to thank Mr . Anand from Vertex in helping with the measurements and all the technical guidance .
