General Asylum

Posted by mikel (R) on August 19, 2010 at 19:42:18

whether we like it or not the lifeblood of our music systems is the electricity from the power grid. i live away beyond the suburbs in the mountains of western Washington State in a community of 3 to 6 acre parcels; i'm the first home on my street, i have my own transformer. the equipment in my development is only 10-12 years old. my electrical power should be as good as anyone's on the grid.

when i built my dedicated room 6 years ago it was recommended to me to install an isolation transformer; specifically the Equitech Wall Panel System. considering the cost (approx $10k at the time) and my seemingly 'good' power from the street i passed. i did do a 70 amp service to a dedicated panel just for my audio circuits from my room. i installed a double grounding rod just for this service. i ran 10 gauge Romex to 13 different outlets in my room. later i installed the Oyaide R-1 outlets and the WPC-Z cover plates. i thought i was good to go.

in the back of my mind i always figured i could add the Equi-tech later and get 'a little more'.

a local friend built a Mastering Studio in his home and he did install an Equi=tech panel. recently he purchased the same speakers i have and i heard his system (which is superb sounding). i could hear what i imagined that Equi=tech panel was doing....and it was not subtle. after 6 years i figured it was time to add the Equi=tech.

they completed the installation yesterday at 5pm. then i wrote this as i listened;

after 2 hours i'm a bit overwhelmed. this is a completely different system. first i played about an hour of my most familiar digital. and for the last 45 minutes very familar vinyl. there is not an aspect of the performance that is not significantly improved.

what is different;

--much less distortion. every piece of music i've played redefined how it should sound. bass previously percieved to be correct is revealed to have been flabby and ill defined. vocals previously considered clear and natural are revealed as smeared and congested. pianos, violins, guitars are now in full focus. these differences are not subtle.

--much lower noise floor. from the first note the music was portrayed against a much blacker background. but more than that you could see around to the back of the instrument or vocalist and into the background. there is a definition to the object projecting the sound.

--dramatic increase in dynamic range, dynamic contrasts, and delicate gradiation of dynamics. when playing softer passages at familiar levels much more punch and dynamic swings. the music is bursting with life.

--the speakers completely disappear. my room has always done great soundstaging and my speakers have always disappeared. but the degree of the music being released from the speakers has quadrupled. i'm not sure how to communicate this aspect of the improvement.

--tonally it is more multicolored, more nuanced, more harmonically interesting. the emotional content and pull of the music is much better. the music is more together, more vigerous, more involving.

the Equi=tech Wall Panel System is not only an isolation transformer, but it's also uses balanced power for lower noise and includes a one box high quality distribution panel.

i did put a link below to Equitech. the model i'm using is the 10WQ.

• Equi=tech Wall Panel System   (Open in New Window)

Edits: 08/19/10