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Discovering I may have the cleanest AC power in USA

PS Audio Noise Harvesters are on sale. $50 each.. So naturally I had to buy a pair. 36 hours later in my home.Well I clean the prongs, Caig Gold them, and plug them in.
Nothing.
Nothing.
I am wondering broken? DOA?
I move them to other outlets not on my stereo in the kitchen, in the bathroom (the bathroom has a air cleaner plugged in the same outlet, motor running). OK a single blink.
I remember the dimmer thing. Plug the Noise Harvesters into the stereo again.. and turn on the only dimmer in the place (in the bedroom, on a different circuit) KABLAM!!! Now they are blinking pretty regular. OK they are NOT broken.They also blink when I put them on an Adcom AC box also on different circuit than stereo. Both the Cable internet box and the WiFi box are on it. And yes they blink every minute or so.I checked the Furman REF 20 outlets, no blink. The direct to the amp.. no blink.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
So I apparently have just naturally the cleanest AC line in America? (For my stereo equipment.)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Part of it may be the fact I packed the duplex enclosure 20 amp single line I use for the stereo with small quartz crystals coated with Automotive dielectric grease, in small baggies, the duplex is also the Furutech GTX NCF type, and the wall plugs are also filled with the loose small quartz crystals, plus some flattened baggies of the crystals wrapped around the outside shell of the plugs at the wall
Good thing I only ordered two of the Noise Harvesters. More are not needed. (and I actually do not even need the two. but that is OK. I can keep them as a sentinel, to know if I ever get noise on the lines.
So I do not know if my home made anti noise crystals work magic? (along with the Furutech NCF which is basically a refined version of my own crystals) or if I really do have some of the cleanest AC around. (PS I live in a 90 unit apartment building, folks above below, around me. Things like my frig I have several ferrite cores with the AC zipcord wire wrapped in and around them, ditto air cleaners, lamps..
elizabeth
vair68robert
102 posts
 
I'm always amazed at how a tread can take a turn from the original statement or question .
The HF meter is a good tool , but a better one would be an oscilloscope
where you can see the interference on the AC sign wave .

As for the PS Audio noise harvesters , 
don't look just listen . 
I noticed a minor improvement with 2 and a larger one with 5 
all on the stereo systems circuit .

 
elizabeth OP
6,726 posts
 
I bought five more. So with seven, I will see how it goes...Immediate impression is the background black is 'blacker'..Noticed watching PBS TV "Arthur" cartoon the smooth blobs of color are totally free of grain, perfectly smooth. Enough to note it.Treble seems a tiny bit sweeter in stereo. Little more detail in general.                               
Two on amp line. three on Furman (One on high power, used for preamps, one at Plasma TV one at Marantz SA-10) , one on PS Audio P-600, and one at powercord to Furman.During normal stereo operation, only the one on PS Audio P-600 where five disc CD changer is blinking at all.Plasma TV turned on makes the two on Furman blink like crazy. IPlasma off no blinking)
Dimmer in bedroom at half on only makes the amp line pair blink a little.   
I am of the opinion that even with no blinking, the Noise Harvesters may be doing something...
spatialking's avatar
spatialking
248 posts
 
An oscilloscope is the only way to go.  A unit with a 100 MHz bandwidth is suitable and very affordable if you buy a used one but more bandwidth is better.   You do need two channels since you have to do a differential measurement and you will need two identical test probes with at least 50% more bandwidth than the scope has.   The catch is, you have to eliminate the 60 Hertz voltage or you won't see anything else.  Some scopes have high pass filters, but most do not.   What you need is a good filter that kills everything below 50KHz to 100 KHz.  Now that I think about it, at work we do a lot of business with several transformer companies, I'll see if any of them have a test isolation transformer for this sort of thing.  If so, I will post the part number here, they should not be too expensive.  For those of you with access to a scope, you can be amazed and have sleepless nights when you see what is coming down your line!   
vair68robert
102 posts
 
elizabeth

I have thought about a few more , so your going to 7 and experience with them is inspiring me to add a couple more .
Have you tried listening to a passage over and over again by adding one at a time to hear the improvements ? 

I have 1 in the amp outlet , 2 in the outlet just before the amp and
2 more on my 10 gauge wired outlet strip before the outlet with 2 .
My isolation transformer is connected to the last box in the circuit 
( connected by using Cardas in-wall 10 gauge cable hard wired to the wall box and connected with a Furutech IEC connector ) with the amp being the next to last outlet on the circuit , a AudioQuest NGR outlet .

Some day maybe a dedicated circuit .
elizabeth OP
6,726 posts
 
I actually removed them and started over. 7 were too many, and the sound was a bit treble happy.
I also decided to bond them to the duplex with BluTack. SO I added three. One to the PS Audio for the five disc changer. Two on the low level AC on Furman. Those 3 sounded really great.
I tried one on the AC line the Furman REF 20 comes from. no, too much. Took it off.
I added two to the separate line for the amplifier, also with BluTack, and the sound is still in the air. Cleaner, but slightly treble rich. But since I am actually listening to Classical music, which is often very treble rich.. I cannot make a snap judgement.
With all the conditioning and such on my AC, seems I can hit ’Too many’ Noise Harvesters pretty easily.
I can say 3 is very good.        
Plus if I like the sound but not the tilted a little to treble, I can adjust the resistors for thespeaker mids and bring it back to a better balance that way. Right now I have 0.75 DueLund Cast. I could easily go to a 1.0 ohm. or I have some 1.3 DueLund Cast too.
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