Tweakers' Asylum: REVIEW: DIY by Jon Risch AC filter according to JR Power Conditioner/Surge Protector by essay

I made this filter recently. It had an amazing effect on my system. Before I used the filter, a lot of sound seemed to come **from** the speaker, instead of being presented as a spacious soundstage. An hour after I plugged in the filter, the speakers seemed to disappear and there was a wonderful, enveloping sound with different instruments clearly defined in the soundstage. When listening to the symphony, I could detect the strings, woodwinds etc quite clearly and in the right places. This was the effect I had been aiming for, since everybody says that the Totems are great for imaging and soundstage.

My wife was amazed and has gotten over her bemusement at my toiling over the weekend on my DIY projects.

Another benefit: my Amp seemed to hum. With the line filter, the hum is
greatly reduced. (This particular amp is supposed to have a slight transformer hum, so I won't worry any more. But pre-filter the hum was very audible at a distance of a few feet.)

Making the filter seemed like a difficult project, but it turned out to be not too difficult or expensive (maybe $70). I didn't go the whole hog and make a different unit for each component.

I found the enclosure at Home Depot. I have summarized my construction details (with a couple of pictures) on, hoping people will find it useful

http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~arora/audio/DIY.html

REVIEW: DIY by Jon Risch AC filter according to JR Power Conditioner/Surge Protector Review by essay at Audio Asylum