Least Controversial, Reasonably Priced AC Upgrades

I saw a Xentek 5k on Ebay in the last three days with a starting bid of a
buck.

....Well...OK....it's put to $255 now...

.

Along with the Xentek's, another brand worth looking for is Topaz. You can find these on Ebay and in various surplus supply houses.

Outside of the KVA rating of the transformer, you should look at the capacitance levels too. The lower the internal capacitance, the better. The higher the capacitance, the more coupling between the primary ( dirty side ) of the AC transformer and the secondary side of the transformer. The more coupling that you get, the less isolation and more noise that you have feeding into your system.

On top of that, you should look at the weight of the unit too. The heavier that the unit is, the larger the core. The larger the core, the less potential for saturation. If the core saturates, even on momentary peaks, the transformer itself will generate distortion and feed it into the AC system.

For sake of comparison, the Xentek 3.0 KVA transformers that i have clock in at over 100 lbs apiece. These were custom made pieces i.e. 3 KVA windings using 5 KVA cores to reduce the potential for saturation. The stock iso transformers that come inside of the Tice Power Blocks and Titans are rated at 1.8 KVA and weigh about 40 lbs each.

As you can see, even if you were to double the rating and weight on the Tice pieces, you would still only end up with 80 lbs of transformer for 3.6 KVA. As such, the Tice cores are noticeably undersized for any type of heavy draw. Other than for the shear profit factor, this is another reason why Tice suggested using two cores in parallel via the Power Block / Titan combo. If one does not do this, it's quite possible to run into core saturation ( distortion ) and the lack of dynamics associated with "current starving" your amp.

As such, many of the negative comments that others have made about using iso's to filter their AC were not actual criticism of iso's in general, but more about the specific products and how they were implimented into their system. Just because something is made by a "high end" company, is "audiophile approved" and / or costs a lot of money does not mean it is "good" or even "suitable" for what you want to do. Sean
>

Thanks Sean,
Your still the man!
There is a Topaz on Ebay also as we speak however the price is up!

This is getting *really* interesting.
Sean, between you, Lak and Psychicanimal, this is one of the single foremost important factors of a system that's ever been mentioned. (already own Hydra, King Cobras etc.)
I wish I'd known about this much earlier on. (years)
Working from the panel box out, instead of the speakers and back, DUH !

Thanks everyone so far --

I have now seen some of the beefy industrial transformers on the web, and here is one quick question:

If I have a dedicated line leading to a new panel, then leading to as few as 2 Alpert Porter Wall outlets in my listening/living room, would I then plug the transformer into the Albert Porter wall outlets?

If so, could I counstruct a box around the transformers which might also function as a platform for the Levinson power amp?

This way, the cord to the transformer could be as short as possible from the wall, and the amp could be plugged directly into its platform which hides the transformer?

Hmmmmm....then we need to replace the outlets in the transformer with more Porter outlets?

WIth the amp plugged directly into the transformer, then another heavy duty power cord with an attached power strip could go inside the rack to power all the lower powered components?

Thanks for all ideas and advice and psychic still ready to pay an advisory fee in cash or CDs for a more involved consultation.