|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
209.34.239.254
In Reply to: Hammond choke 193L installation for dummies? posted by cporada@cabnr.unr.edu on April 21, 2007 at 18:00:39:
Its easy...* If wiring the Hammond 193L choke to a three prong grounded plug:
Use a brass plug. Wire the choke's longest black lead to hot, shorter black lead to neutral and ground the choke using the metal casing to the AC male plug. Any 14ga. or larger three conductor AC rated cable will work. Try to keep the length of the cable as short as possible, like 3' or shorter. Plug the choke into the duplex. Wait at least 5 days to judge or critical listening.* If wiring directly to a duplex outlet:
Wire the choke's longest black lead to hot, shorter black lead to neutral and ground the choke using the metal casing to either the ground of the duplex outlet or to the main ground point (star ground) of the PLC, power strip, etc. WARNING: be sure to disconnect the power to the duplex outlet before working on it! AC is dangerous, make sure you know what you are doing before experimenting with AC devices.For grounding to the metal case: First sand with 220 grit or finer sand paper, then polish the metal casing with ProGold (100% preferred) and steel wool where the contact will be. I use a gold plated copper ring purchased from Osh Hardware to attach the ground wire to a bolt of the metal casing on the choke.
Hammond 193L chokes can be purchased at Parts Express. Cost is $35.67 each plus shipping.
Good luck, be safe and have fun.
Best Regards,
Follow Ups:
Cdc,
I didn't realize that the choke has one longer wire than the other until i read your comment here. I look at mine again and i see that. I thought it was designed that way, but didn't know that i have to connect the longer one to the hot terminal.I was wondering how you can identify which one is hot or neutral by looking at the male plug? I think i have to reterminate the choke if needed. Is this something to do with safety issue?
Neutral --> | | <-- HotO <--- ground
Usually the neutral blade is taller at the tip, look at your wall outlet and you will know what I mean.
thanks.I also look at the box of furutech receptacle...and i can't believe i don't pay much attention on this..:)
You are welcome. Be careful when experimenting with anything that has to do with AC. Even though AC connections seem very simple and straight forward to me, I have seen electricians burn themselves. I always check and double check what I do.Be safe and have fun...
Neutral --> | | <-- HotGround ---> O
Usually the neutral blade is taller at the tip, look at your wall outlet and you will know what I mean. The inside of the plug usually also designates N, L (meaning live or hot) and ground
Chris
Hi Chris
Thanks so much. So just to be sure I understand correctly, I just wire the choke to a three-pronged male AC plug as you describe and plug it into the outlet that feeds my line conditioner and stereo system, right? Since my system is plugged into a dedicated single outlet, should I just use a 3-plug adaptor to make 3 outlets from the single outlet and plug the choke into one and the system into another? Will the use of this adaptor degrade the sound in any way?
Thanks so much again
Chris
No the use of the adapter will not downgrade the sound quality of the choke. It might downgrade the connection pending the ac hardware you are currently using....by downgrade I don't mean it will be bad, it just might be different...the hardware we use makes up 75% of what we hear and see in a/v systems. But I think the benefits of the choke will far outweigh the hardware downgrade.
I am not sure I understand your question. If you have a dedicated line that leads to one duplex outlet, then yes, plug the choke into one receptical and your line conditioner to the other receptical of the same duplex outlet. Obviously if the duplex outlet is installed in the wall, this is the easiest way.If I read your questions correctly, you are asking if attaching a three into one plug expander will degrade your sound, yes most likely it will. I may have not explained clearly. The choke is wired to a three prong (hot, neutral and ground) plug. Plug this three prong plug into the same duplex outlet your line conditioner is plugged into. From my experience, which is limited at this point (I am still experimenting with alot of guidance as to what does what to what, etc.), line conditioners that use parallel filtering will effect the performance of the choke. I currently have four installed in my system, and eventually will have approx. nine total in my system. I am doing this one step at a time to see what is effecting what and how.
My system is a bit complicated, it is a full blown HT and music setup. I am also experimenting with other AC enhancements at the same time. What I can tell you is that these chokes are fanfrickingtastic for video. As for audio, you will (should: YMMV) hear a difference. If you are going to install one choke only, the way I mentioned above, you probably should buy the Hammond 193M choke instead. The 193M is a bigger choke and about $20 more. What I experienced was a more relaxed presentation with improved mid band frequencies being more realistic and natural. When plugged into the duplex where I have a Sunfire True Subwoofer Signature sub, the sub became much more musical, room node problems went away, and the sub is now a tad quicker. This is a quick sub to begin with. Your system will be different. Your AC conditions, gear, acoustic enviroment, cabling, your tastes, etc, etc. are different.
I started with one choke, then two, and now four. Your system may sound a bit lean for the first 5-7 days, that is why I said "Wait at least 5 days to judge or critical listening". As explained to me, your AC (gear really) is getting used to the choke. Just try one, the 193M and let me/us know your results.
Hi Chris
Unfortunately, the dedicated outlet I have is a single plug outlet mounted in the floor, so I cannot simply plug the choke into the second outlet, since there isn't one. This is why I was asking about the outlet expander (sorry, I'm not sure what the technical name for this is, but the thing that converts a single three-prong outlet into 3). In a case like this, what would be the best way to proceed? Since the outlet is in the floor, I'm guessing it won't be trivial to get to the wiring and wire the choke directly to the outlet, although perhaps I can access the outlet from the crawlspace...Is there a way to build a simple outlet expander using quality wire and plugs that could solve my problem?
Thnaks for any suggestions/help
Chris
Chris, Alan Maher is the man to ask. He is the Jedi Master when it comes to AC tweaking. Possibly other inmates can give you suggestions to extend your outlet to more then one. I personally would not go the multiple extender route unless I wanted a cheap and quick way to try the choke. If I had your setup I would either...1) Build a nice passive power strip
2) or add a nice duplex outlet run in parallel for your dedicated line single receptical. This way you, or I in this scenario would have more outlets.
N/A
One other question; does this type of installation make a big difference to the sound? What types of changes are there?
Thanks again
Chris
So far, i can tell that the soundstage is bigger and the high is cleaner, not edge like i used to hear. I guess it will take sometimes to tell if it makes huge difference or not.I assume if your line is really noisy , then you can hear the big difference. I plan to install two more chokes if i can hear more diff. in the next week. I also have quietline filter which is coming to my house next week too. And i like to experiment the mix between Quiteline and Hammond Choke.
Actually it has nothing to do with noise on the line...the a/c is nothing but 60Hz...harmonics are on the neutral due to power supply leakage...what you are hearing is the damping of the a/c wall outlet. The choke's effect is very local...it's only effecting the location it is plugged into...that is why I wire them into power cords...the choke reduces the ringing of the cable. It offers very little effect to other components one outlet over in the daisy chain...but when you reduce the ringing of one location it's amplified through out the rest of the circuit.
Thanks, Alan.Another question: Right now i plug the choke in the receptacle (regular one seen at Homedepot or Lowes) which is next to the one that my power conditioner connected to.
1> should i plug it directly to the outlet where my gears are for better effect? I thought as long as it's in the same circuit, it'll be ok.
2> Even though i carefully connect wire to the choke (heat shrink and electrical tape applied), I'm still reluctant to leave it on all the time. So, i unplug the choke when i leave for work in the morning and put it back an hour before listening. Would it be ok?
I now have 7 choke's in my system. 5 of them have been plugged in 24/7 for the last 2.5 years with zero problems. The other two are new, but I haven't had any problems. I have hundreds installed in my clients set up's also with zero problems. On a 120v 60Hz circuit the choke only draws 64mA's...that's nothing...it can handle up to 300mA...which is why the choke is ice cold to the touch.Yes same outlet as system is best.
Thanks, Alan.This is the best tweak i've ever done on my system. It sounds much better than i thought it would be.
Again, thanks for all your best suggestions.
Glad to hear it....enjoy :)
Hi Alan,The chokes are rated at a particular DC current because their inductance will be higher at lower currents and lower at higher currents. See the link.
The choke used as an AC filter will draw slightly less than 64 mA because it has no DC current. However, this does not affect its observed performance.
I expect you are getting improved performance from the 193M because of the higher Ohmic resistance of the winding. Two of them in series should work better.
Al
That is correct Al. I wasn't quoting the mA's specs as a reason why one filters better than the other...I just brought it up as a safety issue so folks understand the choke is safe to use on a 120v circuit. I can't tell you how many e-mails I have received in the last couple of days from people concerned about a/c usage.
Power cord for the choke??? No the insulation does nothing for the sound quality. Use a industral grade PVC power cord that you can pick up at your local Home Depot. 14ga x 3 is good....but 12ga x 3 is better.
| ||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: