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The fallacy of ac treatment

I see a lot of threads related to managing and tweaking the ac powerout end of electronic systems. Much has been said about dedicated wiring, termination and even the right kind of extension cords to use. I work for an electric utility; and that's the extent of my credibilty here. The majority of you will no doubt be far more erudite wrt music hardware. Just a thought, though: domestic ac distribution goes thus: power station-step up-city-step down-subdivision-final step down. As far as the utility is concerned, you and all your neigbours are collectively the load for the step down tranformer. Any inductance/capacitance created by your neigbour running motors/tubelights, etc is felt by the lot of you. Additionally, the voltage frequency will almost always move around a tolerance from 50hz as the whole country turns on the air, off the lights - changes all the time as peaker plants ramp up etc. Nothing can change that- the frequency of the grid supplying your city is the frequency in the mains at your house. So what's my point? Well only that how much difference can the last 10 feet of cabling, etc make when the other hundreds of miles are outside of your control? And more importantly, frequency is one of the most imp parameters for measuring electricity quality (your expensive hand-coiled toroids are entirely subject to the f in the primaries) and nothing other than running an f generator can shield you from that. Methinks all the improvements you see from ac cord treatments are pyschosomatic. But that's cool.
snobgoblinf669
dekay's avatar
dekay
2,959 posts
 
Joe_coherent: What simple and relatively inexpensive products are you referring to? Are these from personal experience and/or from a technical website? Please share them with us. I am not against DIY or cheap tweaks at all though I don't think that I will be designing my own electronics any time soon.
tsouthworth
59 posts
 
One comment from a manufacturer of power cords that makes sense to me is that the equipment is not at "the end of the line" but should be looked at from, say, the amp's point of view. The power cord is the very first thing it sees and could be thought of as part of the leads of its AC transformer. I do hear differences 'tween cords, not major ones but very much depending on what was being replaced. In my system, it can be as significant as speaker cables, but the weakest link can hold back the intensity of the changes. In other words, on a CD based system, if one has replaced the power cords for the CD player and amp and not the preamp, that alone can restrict maybe 1/2 of the total potential results, at least in my system. I was surprised!
sugarbrie
3,854 posts
 
Your post seems to acually validate that just a dedicated AC line is not enough, since our neighbors pollute the power in the same way our own appliances do if we do not have a dedicated line. My Vansevers power stuff makes a huge difference and it is not my immagination. Mike Vansevers is an electrical engineer and pro audio guy, who, when he discovered he could affect the sound positively by altering the AC power, he changed careers and went into the power conditioning business. There are pages and pages of white papers on this web site that explain in great technical and non technical detail how power affects sound. On another note, photographers will swear filtering light improves a photograph. Is it true? We all have the same sun. Ever wear sunglasses?? Finally some people are born with better hearing than others; some will never be able to tell the difference.
1439bhr
85 posts
 
The real question is that is why aren't audio equipment manufacturers providing cords of adequate guage and proper EMI filtering at the mains input of their expensive amplifiers. Come now, how much cost savings is there between a 16 guage and 12 guage cord? I'd be surprised if it exceeded one dollar of cost to a manufacturer. So why, after spending several kilobucks on an amp or preamp, should I shell out more to make the device function at a level I expected right out of the box? And why aren't audio equipment manufacturers taking appropriate steps to shield and filter their components to avoid internally generate RFI from being radiated or conducted from outside the confines of the box? The engineering principles are long standing and well understood. Why do we insist on elegant industrial design (look and feel) but permit sloppy engineering of the contents? (I think this is one of the distinctions between "consumer" and "pro" gear... and although we may pay audiophile prices, it seems in some cases and respects we're still getting consumer mass-fi grade engineering). If the audio magazines want to go measure something, go do what the manufacturers should be doing: measure the EMI/RFI output and susceptibility. There are well known standards and procedures for doing this.
bmpnyc
710 posts
 
Sugarbrie makes a good point regarding differences in hearing ability. Humans have vastly different amounts of taste buds, making some people "super tasters". I bet that there is an audio equivalent. I think Carl is probably correct about the PS Audio 300. I have not heard it for myself, but regenerating power makes sense to me. Without posting a resume I trust my ears, and 30 years experience, and I have heard a modest improvement from my Monster HTS-3500, and significant improvement from my Harmonic Technology power cords. It also makes sense to do something about what you can control, instead of saying it is useless anyway, which seems to be Snobgoblin's point. Psycosomatic? Nonsense! Yes, expectation can cause people to project their desire into their judgment of a product, but most of us here are big boys with a lot of experience, think for ourselves, and are not victims of our imagination or industry hype, thank you very much. Hey Snobby, where did you go? It is only fair to answer Dekay's request for info on what products you have tried.
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