General Forum

Re: Beolab 3 - energy conditioner

benjnz — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 14:27:48 GMT

Puncher:
Surely crytaldonglehifiwidgetfandangledongle is Mouri for wife!

Narrrr that's "Beer"

Re: Beolab 3 - energy conditioner

Alex — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 13:29:04 GMT

Peter:
Do it double blind!

I would happily!

Re: Beolab 3 - energy conditioner

Puncher — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:29:48 GMT

benjnz:

Ah well after moving from sunny Durham to sunnier NZ I take a few extra steps.
When we're lucky enough to have power http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=202&objectid=10487752 I find it useful in times of big storms to happily unplug all my B&O stuff from the wall sockets.
Now if there was a crytaldonglehifiwidgetfandangledongle to do that for me I'd happily get that over a surge protector

Surely crytaldonglehifiwidgetfandangledongle is Mouri for wife!

Re: Beolab 3 - energy conditioner

benjnz — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:24:14 GMT

Ah well after moving from sunny Durham to sunnier NZ I take a few extra steps.

When we're lucky enough to have power http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=202&objectid=10487752 I find it useful in times of big storms to happily unplug all my B&O stuff from the wall sockets.

Now if there was a crytaldonglehifiwidgetfandangledongle to do that for me I'd happily get that over a surge protector

Re: Beolab 3 - energy conditioner

benjnz — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:24:13 GMT

Ah well after moving from sunny Durham to sunnier NZ I take a few extra steps.

Now if there was a crytaldonglehifiwidgetfandangledongle to do that for me I'd happily get that over a surge protector

Re: Beolab 3 - energy conditioner

Peter — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:08:35 GMT

Do it double blind!

Re: Beolab 3 - energy conditioner

Alex — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:46:19 GMT

Oh I wouldn't pay the price for the IsoTek. Unless we get up to BeoLab 5 or maybe 9 level, I would say the improvement is not worth the cash.

I also know what you mean about 'believing' you want to hear a difference, and then doing so, when in fact the sound is exactly the same (which is what I believe happens when audiophiles go nuts over cables etc...). There really was a difference here though, I wasn't imagining things, because I heard things I couldn't hear before. Another example would be some very subtle rhythms going on in Faithless' We Come 1, which I had never heard before, even on the BL5s.

Re: Beolab 3 - energy conditioner

Dave — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 04:48:41 GMT

has anyone ever heard of the word psychosomatic?

Yeah i only go as far as power surge protecting, which is cheap as chips here anyway.

Although, i have to say, if it sounds different to you, then go ahead and swipe that credit card, as long as your happy, thats whats important.

Re: Beolab 3 - energy conditioner

Alex — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:19:11 GMT

Not at all. I personally am not a believer when it comes to cables etc... but this mains conditioner really did make a difference...

There was definitely a difference. For example, on Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue, I could hear details I had never heard before, such as the way Davis himself was playing, even breathing without taking his trumpet from his mouth...

Believe what you want, I personally was highly dubious and didn't think I'd hear any difference having been through the whole 'expensive cables are better and mains conditioners are vital' thing before. You may even find a quote from me somewhere on the forum a while back saying how I don't think conditioners etc... would make any difference, but there was most definitely an improvement with the IsoTek.

Don't get me started on cables though. As long as the cable is well shielded, and the actual cores not stupidly thin then there's no real difference. Good mains cable is as good as anything else for speaker cable...

Re: Beolab 3 - energy conditioner

joeyboygolf — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:13:42 GMT

I'm firmly with puncher on this, what a surprise!

Although, it would appear that some people, including Alex will believe anything providing it is sold to them in the right way.

Re: Beolab 3 - energy conditioner

355f — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 08:12:25 GMT

symmes:

I tend to agree with the boondoggle crowd, though I respect the ability of people to hear what they hear. Having witnessed the damage caused by power surges, I strongly recommend putting your good products on a good protector. Just recently learned that excessive light bulb replacement on any given circuit should be a clue that something is going wrong.
My question, can small power surges weaken the power supply in a device to where the last straw breaks the camel's back, or does it take one dramatic surge to wreak havoc?
r

Very interesting one this!

One year ago i was unfortunate enough to have a lightning strike on overhead lines that took out all my equipment.

Despite being 'protected' with a surge suppressor it did not trip at all!- Subsequent investigations by the loss adjuster revealed that in 80% of claims where surge suppressors have been fitted- they appear to do nothing.

I opened my 'large box with 6 sockets' surge protector to find sod all in it apart from 2 small capacitors across the L-N and one inline resistor- all for the bargain price of £160- I want to make these!! cant ebmore than $9 of components

I bought an Isotec - I can see how it can improve sound if the mains supply is dirty to start off with- and although there is an argument that suggests the inbuilt power supplies are capable of handling transients- they are built to a price and with swtiching power supplies inbuilt they are less able to withstand nasty spikes! i doubt if it has improved the sound but looking inside with all the large filtering and protection it at least gives me hope that the product will actually protect from surges if nothing else!

Re: Beolab 3 - energy conditioner

symmes — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 06:42:19 GMT

I tend to agree with the boondoggle crowd, though I respect the ability of people to hear what they hear. Having witnessed the damage caused by power surges, I strongly recommend putting your good products on a good protector. Just recently learned that excessive light bulb replacement on any given circuit should be a clue that something is going wrong.

My question, can small power surges weaken the power supply in a device to where the last straw breaks the camel's back, or does it take one dramatic surge to wreak havoc?

Re: Beolab 3 - energy conditioner

Puncher — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 03:21:04 GMT

soundproof:
.........hi-fi boondoggles.

They sound the biz, I need one - how much are they??

Re: Beolab 3 - energy conditioner

soundproof — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 03:15:50 GMT

I'm with puncher here. Power conditioners are hi-fi boondoggles. A surge suppressor might be sensible if your net has a history of erratic power surges, but otherwise there is little to be gotten with the expensive conditioners -- no one is able to pick them out in blind tests.

Re: Beolab 3 - energy conditioner

Puncher — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 03:02:21 GMT

I on the other hand believe it all to be a complete load of tosh! (although I will be honest and tell you that I've never tried it).

My problem with it is that, regardless of the quality or purity of the ac power source into your amp (or active speaker) the very first thing that happens is that it is rectified (converted to dc) and heavily smoothed. This being the case there is nothing a pure sine input can add to the performance of the amp.

I prefer a crystal on top of my BM5000 - you wouldn't believe how much it improves the top end (or maybe you would)!