Isotek substation and general conditioning

[siluro]

Hey Guys



Just a quick one really, has any one had any expirience with this product?



Ive been looking at mains stuff for ages now, and seen a reasonable spec one for a good price and would hope this could do the trick.



While there is no specific prob I can put my finger on, I do have a few concerns about the mains here. The first one being the voltage, its a little higher than I would like for AV kit as it varies between ~238 - 243v depending on the time of day. The second is that we used to have a power station feedind the area, now long disused its been patched and is now just a big main grid substation. The area we live in while modern with underground cables ect, has quite a built up industrial area with factories and supermarkets close by with a metal working factory a few hundred metre's behind us.



This may not cause as a big problem as I think but given this, would conditioning be worth a serious look?



Regards

Lee

[siluro]

The other thing I forgot to mention is, the house is wired with one main ring for up and down stiars. This is slowly being sorted but there is electric heating and all sorts of stuff on the same circuit as the AV gear.

[baileych]

Hey Guys



Just a quick one really, has any one had any expirience with this product?



Ive been looking at mains stuff for ages now, and seen a reasonable spec one for a good price and would hope this could do the trick.



While there is no specific prob I can put my finger on, I do have a few concerns about the mains here. The first one being the voltage, its a little higher than I would like for AV kit as it varies between ~238 - 243v depending on the time of day. The second is that we used to have a power station feedind the area, now long disused its been patched and is now just a big main grid substation. The area we live in while modern with underground cables ect, has quite a built up industrial area with factories and supermarkets close by with a metal working factory a few hundred metre's behind us.



This may not cause as a big problem as I think but given this, would conditioning be worth a serious look?



Regards

Lee




My mains varies between -340V and 340V a lot!



Seriously 238-243V seems so totally within tolerance that I would consider it very good. What did you measure it with, just out of interest?



If your close to a major substation I'd have thought you'd be likely to have better mains than if you were at the far end of a long spur of the national grid in the middle of nowhere.



Charles.

[siluro]

Thanks Charles :thumbup:



I know this is whithin the spec so to speak (from memory it has to be 217 - 253v before its a prob) but for most kit (and thier quoted specs) this really needs to be at 230v and, i know im being picky but im not happy with the peaks/dips ect so, one of my main concerns was to get it regulted a little by a filter to keep it down and stable. Most of the measurments were done between general multi meters and a Martindale tester.



I see what you mean being close to a large substation but, my concern comes from whats on that sub and, in between us and it.



Lee

[Heuer]

I use Isotek Mini-Subs for AV and Hi-Fi and they do work and produce a worthwhile improvement. Avoid the Isotek Mains cable though - useless!



If you want to do the job properly you need to start with a Ben Duncan Pure Power. Basically this is a type of transformer which prevents any DC 'noise' passing. It also produces a true balanced mains supply. One of these (or more if you need them) will produce the biggest improvement over anything else. Next up will be some decent screened mains cable, preferably running from the fuse box (dedicated fuse) to the Pure Power. If you want to go further feed the PP output into an IsoTek Mini-Sub and use screened mains cables to each device.



Pure Power can by bought from http://www.britishaudio.co.uk/pureseries.htm



Make your own mains cable by buying a reel of double screened mains cable from RS Components order no 379-687. This will be 50 metres in length so should be sufficient to make all the local cables you will need and a full run from the fuse box.

[siluro]

Thanks Heuer



Im certainly going to look in to them some more, sounds very promising. Have you used these yourself? a 500va works out cheaper than the Isotek plus theres the option of voltage control :)~:-)~:smile: ,



Do you know if certain PSU have a problem with the output of the pure power?



Lee

[Heuer]

I use a 1Kv for my Hi-Fi front end components (the Krell power amp draws too much power for any known conditioner!) and a 1Kv for the cinema front end. Just added a 2Kv for the cinema Arcam P7 and DD15. Basically you need to work out how many watts in total the equipment is likely to draw, so a 1Kv PP will handle 1,000 watts. Bear in mind that although a DD sub is rated at 1250 watts it is unlikely ever to draw that continuosly. The PP's are massively over rated anyway so a PP 1Kv should be sufficient for most applications unless you listen loud. They really are very good and probably the best upgrade you can make at the price. Sometimes you can hear them working - slight buzzing sound - which is all the DC and crap being filtered, but mostly they are quiet in operation. Makes you realise the amount of muck there is in the mains and how it varies by time of day (worst around lunch time Sunday and early evenings).



The 500va is meant for single components (I have one on order for my Plasma as it is separately powered from the rest) so be careful to do the calculations. Draw too much through it and you will soak the transformer laminations and they will cease to be effective (easily recoverable).



Although the PP is plug and play I added the screened mains cable. I use large MK 13 amp plugs and Wattgate IEC's with the shielding connected to earth at the MK end only. This cable matches anything commercially available - I tried several high end ones - and I use it end to end in my Hi-Fi system. Unfortunately the cinema system was planned after building work so the PP's are plugged into a standard socket/wiring but the difference is still incredible.

[siluro]

Thanks again Heuer :bow:



I wanted to start simple and maybe take it from there, so the source is my main target for the mo. I was looking at the 500va one but if I could get away with it the 150va may work for now (if it has a double socket). To start all Im powering is transport & processor (like your arcam combo) which total's about 80w, the rest of the system is active fronts, sub and, small power amp for the rear channels which will be fine for now. The only thing is do you need to leave a bit of headroon in the transformers?.



I know what you mean with the cable, unfortunaly a spur from the main box would be a no no now. Im going to get rid of the last supra cable and replace it with a CY or SY type sheilded cable. Lucky enough the front end is double insulated so the plan was to use just a 2 core one.



Lee

[avanzato]

AFAIK the Ben Duncan is a CVT transformer (Constant Voltage Transformer). I've been looking at getting one but found that http://www.aelgroup.co.uk and some other places do much bigger models that will do my whole system with just one. They get very heavy/expensive for the large ones though and the hum is because the transformer is saturated as part of the design. Advance sent me some info on a new HiFi version that comes out this year, it is silent. There's a fair bit of info on the site as to how they work.

[Godfather]

Heuer, have you tried the PS Audio Powerplants?

[Heuer]

The PP's are isolation "trans-reactor" transformers - no electronics - with a floating output (neutral not tied to earth) designed specifically for Hi-Fi applications. The 1Kw PP can supply an entire Hi-Fi system of 250w/channel without choking the output with plenty of headroom. The idea being never to saturate the laminations (bad in hi-fi applications) so no hum in normal operatuion Just add more or bigger ones if you need more power. The baby version (Mathilda) supplies 150w and has single input and output.



Talk to British Audio and they will send you copies of the entire Ben Duncan series of articles from Hi-Fi News. They run to 40 pages but cover everything you will ever need to know about mains and hi-fi.



Not tried the PS audio ones - got to stop somewhere! If anyone has experience of them it would be interesting to read.



I have also just equipped my newly GNS modified LS22 pre-amp with Ben Duncans Pure Terminators on all inputs.