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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
 
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.
elizabeth OP
6,726 posts
 
Latest update in Noise Harvesters in my system.
(It has become clear to me that the Noise Harvesters DO WORK and DO SOMETHING GOOD even when they are not blinking. Absolutely positive of this.)
After some listening with five total in the system
Excellent results. Stereo sounds very good. Better clarity ,dynamics, clean. I am VERY HAPPY I added them. NO need to adjust the balance of eh Magnepan 20.7 with resistors
I think I am done. And curious the same number FIVE, as generally recommended.

And I would say the BluTack CHANGES THE SOUND.. (Yes I hear the screeches and cries of all those skeptical types) and makes the sound less treble strong and makes the midrange better.
Please since there is no backup on this tweak, I ask others who use Noise Harvesters to check it out with BluTack (or some other means of dampening the N.H. body) and report back. Otherwise it is just an untested tweak no one ever heard the likes of.
Since the Noise harvesters are so ’loose’ when plugged in, they may be internally vibrating? and the BluTack quells this? I also remember another person mentioning adding Ers paper to the N.H. helped. (And I wonder if part of the ’help’ was not the sticky ERS paper but just dampening the body of the Noise Harvesters.???)
vair68robert
102 posts
 
Thank You Elizabeth 

Not only have you saved me some money but you are giving me some information ( I looked up Blu Tak ) and advise about using B T around the N Hs . 

Eventually we all have to say enough is enough or I'm done .
spatialking's avatar
spatialking
248 posts
 
I was looking at the noise harvester on PS's website.   They charge a capacitor from the noise voltage, which also requires a diode in the circuit somewhere as well.  When the SCR's gate voltage on the cap reaches the turn on limit, it fires and dumps the energy through a LED.   The takeaway here is the noise continues to travel on the line until the capacitor charges up and fires the SCR.   Using a LED as an indicator is novel but the older way of simply dissipating the energy in a resistor with a 100% duty cycle isn't as novel or as sexy but certainly is effective 100% of the time.   In other words, the NH concept works only when the LED fires, the rest of the time the noise passes on through.  Maybe I have this wrong, I'd have to buy one and open it up to sort out how it works.   But that is my best guess on what and how it is doing it.
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