General Asylum

Posted by Jon Risch (B) on December 23, 2002 at 07:34:39

In Reply to: affordable power conditioning posted by 2ms on December 22, 2002 at 21:51:25:

I think a distinction between AC power line filters and/or surge suppressors, and units that regulate and/or regenerate the AC power signal, needs to be made.

Filter units can only filter, that is, if there is some form of interference on the line, RFI, EMI (your friends hairdryer), then an AC line filter may do some good. Filter units can also incorporate surge suppression, and their can be just a surge suppressor without any significant filtering involved.

However, brown-outs (prolonged low line conditions), or poor load regulation as in lights dimming, or voltage droop as various items are turned on, would need to be addressed via a regulator or regenerator.
Automatic switched tap transformers can regulate the voltage level, and what amount to 120VAC capable power amplifiers feeding a 60 Hz sine wave are regenerators, such as the PS300, etc.
The former can help regulate the AC voltage, but do little else, perhaps some filtering. The latter can provide a significant improvement in sonics, but at a significant cost.

Can AC power line filters help the sound even if there is no obvious EMI from a hairdryer, or obvious "BREAKER BREAKER, 10-4!" RFI?
Yes, but the improvements depend a lot on the local power line levels of low level hash and interference, and in many cases, whether or not you have a decent ground.

You may want to consider checking out my DIY AC power line filter,
http://www.geocities.com/jonrisch/surge.htm

This can be built as either a filter only, or as a filter and SS.
Note that use of the proper parts is ciritical to acheiving both the performance this is capable of, and the safety.

As a point of information, this is offered as a kit of parts by Kevin at DIYCable at:
http://www.diycable.com/
http://www.diycable.com/power_jr_power.htm
(Note: I am not affiliated with any internet companies selling my DIY cable designs or other DIY audio projects. I have placed my DIY designs into the public domain, and some folks have decided they were worth selling or making kits/parts available.)

Jon Risch