Purepower 2000

[Flecko]

Is this a DIY project or is there a professional involved? Have you more informations about this project?

[Nick]

Meanwhile, my new hifi mains circuit should be coming online this weekend. It's fed right from the mains inlet to the house, is isolated from the inlet with a 13KVA (yes, 13000VA) triple-shielded isolation transformer and has a dedicated ionic grounding system (<5 Ohms impedance). All components will be 'star grounded' to maintain virtually zero potential difference between them. At a total cost of around €7000 (parts + installation), it had better be an improvement over a straight PP2000! I'll let you know...

Mani.

Mani hi,

That’s some power setup, with a 13kVA isolation transformer I hope your floor is reinforced  .  I have heard good things about dedicated spurs and ionic grounds. Looking forward to hearing how things go.

Nick.

[manisandher]

No reinforced floor - the transformer (actually 15KVA, not 13 as I first thought, and around 120Kg in weight) sits in the basement.

Well, the dedicated mains is now up and running. It's early days of course but I really, really like what I'm hearing. The sound I'm getting directly from the mains is now better than the sound I can get from the PP2000 unit in battery mode. I still don't like the PP2000 in regenerator mode - it seems to add a 'shiny sheen' to the sound, which initially makes everything sound more detailed. But I think this is false detail. Directly into the wall now sounds so beautifully 'woody'. Very nice.

Mani.

[Nick]

Mani,

Glad to hear things have gone well. 260lbs of iron and copper now that's some investment in sound  ;
Best
Nick

[manisandher]

Well, this is what "260lbs of iron and copper" looks like (Transformer.jpg below). I placed a CD on top to give you an idea of the size.

Is this a DIY project or is there a professional involved? Have you more informations about this project?

It's pretty much a DIY project. I 'designed' the total system myself and took all the major decisions, but got a qualified electrician to do most of the work. Fortunately, the guy I used is very experienced in installing massive AC systems for hospitals and lightening rods, etc. Apparently, my transformer is actually "quite small" compared to the gear he's installed. He was pretty expensive, but I don't think I could have done it without him. I had a number of electricians who came to give me a quote and all of them ran away. None of them understood what I meant by things such as 'CADweld'. But my man knew exactly what I meant - had used it many times before.

But even my man didn't really understand exactly what I was trying to achieve overall. The real objective was to get an ultra-low impedance and totally isolated 'star' grounding system.

Mani.

[manisandher]

The sound I'm getting directly from the mains is now better than the sound I can get from the PP2000 unit in battery mode. I still don't like the PP2000 in regenerator mode...

As is often the case, my initial thoughts have changed having now spent a bit of time listening to my new mains circuit. I have to say that I'm getting pretty much the best sound I've ever had by feeding the PP2000 from my new dedicated mains circuit. The PP2000 brings the music to life. The sound is a lot cleaner and sweeter. Bass is much tighter and yet perhaps even more extended. So it's now not a case of having either the dedicated mains circuit or the PP2000, but rather a case of having the dedicated mains circuit and the PP2000. Why the change of heart? I don't know - perhaps I simply hadn't given the PP2000 enough time to warm up before evaluating it.

I asked Damian Janzen of PurePower a question about the electrical noise that the PP2000 injects back into the mains and here's what he had to say: "Regarding the PP2000 backwards effect into the Mains, your addition of an Isolation transformer with it's new low impedence ground will certainly minimize whatever effect it may have. All devices connected to an AC supply work to distort that source in some way. The better the source in terms of both purity and stiffness (resitance to distortion - mainly a factor of capacity) the less the load has the potential to distort it. That big isolation transformer is a good choice."

Perhaps this is why my system overall now sounds better with the PP2000 than it did before.

Mani.

[Flecko]

Great project mani! Someday, I like to do something like this myself. But before I need a house

[praphan]

The subject we are sharing on this thread is all about feeding our audio gears with pure power juice.

Personally, I have the similar experience with Suteetat. I don't particulary like active power conditioner as it tends to put constraints on current flow. Finally, I ended up with a pair of 3KVA isolation toroidal transformers connected parallely feeding passive conditioner before going into all audio gears. All these "power treatment" gears are made in Hong Kong by an audiophile who marketed his product under the name of Isoclean. So far I am very happy with the result.

I made my dedicated star ground from three 1" dia solid copper rods each 1.8 m long wiring together by exothemic welding. Great outcome ! The solid copper rods "do" make the difference. If you want to bring your power supply purity to the next level, you might want to consider using modified MDB with gold plated and cryogenically treated circuit breakers. You can find them on the after market hiend audio suppliers. If you have 3 phase power supply to your place, great. Choose the phase that avoid  a common circuit with any electrical appliances using motors (fridge, washing machine, etc. ) to be your dedicated audio circuit.

Praphan

[manisandher]

Great project mani! Someday, I like to do something like this myself. But before I need a house

Flecko, when that day comes, I'll be happy to help out in any way I can.

... I ended up with a pair of [Isolclean] 3KVA isolation toroidal transformers... So far I am very happy with the result.

Praphan, how would describe the difference that these parallelled transformers make to the sound?

I made my dedicated star ground from three 1" dia solid copper rods each 1.8 m long wiring together by exothemic welding.

This sounds similar to what I've done. Except that I've gone for 10x Earth wires of exactly the same length (one for each component) exothermically welded to a thick copper ribbon, which itself is fed 1m below ground and exothermically welded to the 3m ionic electrode grounding rod. Like you, I am convinced that this 'star' arrangement makes a big contribution to the improvement in sound. The obvious point is that it eliminates all ground loops - they just cannot occur as all components sit at the same potential. But also, I think an ultra-low impedance grounding system helps remove noise from the sytem. I know it's a bit of a cliché in audiophile circles, but when playing music, the background really does seem to be totally black.

But even with this setup, I can easily just totally ruin the sound by switching to Engine#3 (WASAPI) or even Adaptive (which I used to really like). Only Special seems on par with my system now.

Mani.

[juanpmar]

Has anyone tried an UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) with the computer?. The UPS besides to protect the computer when the input power fails also filtrates the mains. I wonder if an UPS could affect in any way the sound of the system with the NOS1 in it.

[praphan]

Hi Mani,

How would I describe the sound quality as a result of feeding all my audio and video equipments with a pair of isolation transformers?

1. Quieter background (audio) or darker background (video). This should be due to less noises , spike and RF in the electricity chain. I place this pair of transformers in the listening room right next to the monoblocks. So I run short aftermarket hiend AC cords from xformers to Amps. The xformers are concealed in solid copper casing which shield out any potential RF interference. Internal wiring inside the xformers are made of large guage solid silver.  All connectors are 24K gold plates even on the AC cords. This project is partly DIY.

2. Better dynamic due to quieter environment. Very low level sound in some classical material can be heard crystal clearly. So you feel a wider dynamic range. With this I have to redo my air cond system by installing silencer in the duct works to block the fan noise hence lower the AC noise level down significantly.

3. With #1 and #2 above, I feel I have a broader sound stage with the same speaker set up. May be this is subjective.

Hope this help.
Thanks
Praphan 

[praphan]

Has anyone tried an UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) with the computer?. The UPS besides to protect the computer when the input power fails also filtrates the mains. I wonder if an UPS could affect in any way the sound of the system with the NOS1 in it.

Hi

I have a "true online" UPS. The basic topology of online UPS is the same as in a standby or line-interactive UPS. However it typically costs more, due to it having a much greater current AC-to-DC battery-charger/rectifier, and with the rectifier and inverter designed to run continuously with improved cooling systems (larger cooling fan is a must - noisy). It is also called a "double-conversion" UPS due to the rectifier directly driving the inverter, even when powered from normal AC current. The batteries are always connected to the inverter, so that no power transfer switches are necessary. The online UPS may be necessary when the power environment is "noisy" such as in industrial settings, for larger equipment loads like data centers, or when noise sensitive equipments are used like our audiophile gears.

How does this do to the sound quality when used to feed PC and NOS1 ?

1. PC supplied by online UPS and NOS1 by isolation transformers : No significant difference in sound quality. I cannot hear the difference. As PC and UPS are both noisy equipments. My UPS and PC both have cooling fans. Even though my PC is water cooled but the PSU has built in cooling fan.

2. Both PC and NOS1 are fed by online UPS => degradation in sound quality due to noise from UPS. You need to put conditioner in the chain but it is not as good as isolation transformers.

That said, there is an upside to power both PC and NOS1 by UPS. This is because it can protect against any hardware failure in case of power blackout while you are away from home. Some people used to turn on PC and NOS1 all the time to burn in the system. In case of short blackout and without UPS, PC will continue to turn off while NOS1 turn on after the power resumes. That means the Juli@ system will be on while PC is off. Peter does not recommend this. I guess it is harmful to the sound card system. If you use UPS, I suggest you hook both PC and NOS 1 on UPS. Not one of them. This is because Juli@ card should not be turned off without PC off first. This is pretty much like you pull out the PCI card from the slot while the PC is running. Correct me if I am wrong Peter.

All in all, I like to run my PC and NOS1 bare from isolation transformers and passive conditioner.

This is purely my experience.
Praphan

[PeterSt]

This is pretty much like you pull out the PCI card from the slot while the PC is running. Correct me if I am wrong Peter.

Not exactly. Such (sound)cards anticipate on the control of the PC, and we can obviously reason out that when normally the PC is Off, the (sound)card will be off just the same (not under power). In this case though, we allow the (sound)card to be under power, while not being under the control of the PC. What happens seems to be rather random, or at least I couldn't not find any reasonable "strategy" in how the card will control itself. This, while it is clear that all kind of certain voltages emerge at certain positions during boot (think of this like a communication protocol).

This is why the current NOS1 versions come along with a switch which allows to switch off the soundcard section; Now all can be on (when being away) while the (sound)card is just not under power. Notice though that in this case "all" virtually means that the PC can be off, while the DAC is just on (breaking in purposes). Of course the PC can be on just the same in this situation, but no communication will be there just because the soundcard section is not under power.

Anyway, you can do/set as you want.

Peter

[praphan]

Anyway, you can do/set as you want..............

Hi Peter,

That means I can turn on the SW 3 (Juli@ internal card) while PC is off. And the NOS1 will still be under your warrantee ?

    

Praphan

[PeterSt]

Uh-oh ... I better had said nothing !

I meant : You can set all like how you want it - or leave on everything like you want it. But one thing rules :

The soundcard section in the NOS1 should be Off when the PC is Off.
(or the whole DAC is to be Off when the PC is Off, also OK).

Sorry for being confusing !!
Peter

PS: