2. misc-audio
  3. 973062414

The fallacy of ac treatment

I see a lot of threads related to managing and tweaking the ac powerout end of electronic systems. Much has been said about dedicated wiring, termination and even the right kind of extension cords to use. I work for an electric utility; and that's the extent of my credibilty here. The majority of you will no doubt be far more erudite wrt music hardware. Just a thought, though: domestic ac distribution goes thus: power station-step up-city-step down-subdivision-final step down. As far as the utility is concerned, you and all your neigbours are collectively the load for the step down tranformer. Any inductance/capacitance created by your neigbour running motors/tubelights, etc is felt by the lot of you. Additionally, the voltage frequency will almost always move around a tolerance from 50hz as the whole country turns on the air, off the lights - changes all the time as peaker plants ramp up etc. Nothing can change that- the frequency of the grid supplying your city is the frequency in the mains at your house. So what's my point? Well only that how much difference can the last 10 feet of cabling, etc make when the other hundreds of miles are outside of your control? And more importantly, frequency is one of the most imp parameters for measuring electricity quality (your expensive hand-coiled toroids are entirely subject to the f in the primaries) and nothing other than running an f generator can shield you from that. Methinks all the improvements you see from ac cord treatments are pyschosomatic. But that's cool.
snobgoblinf669
kevperro
72 posts
 
I think you are more correct in your thinking than some of us who have dumped a lot of $$$$ into products. You have to understand that you are going to get violent replys to your post because people have spent a lot of cash on this stuff. There are products that do alieviate some of the problems you mention though. PS Audio thingies come to mind. They rebuild the AC sine wave and supposedly that could change the factors you mention that seem to be beyond the control of cables/connectors.
joe_coherent
130 posts
 
It is clear that Snobgoblin@yahoo.com is the only one who has so far produced any credible arguments for his position. Those who harass him simply beacuse they have been in my opinion foolish enough to spend money on expensive, needless products should grow-up. I also think the problems of EMI, RF and grounding can be solved either in the design of audio equipemnet or with some very simple and relatively inexpensive products.
whatjd
1,139 posts
 
Water is an excellent point. Filtering city water is a good idea.
jeffrt
12 posts
 
Dear Snobgoblin, I guess the bottom line is whether you are looking for an explanation why AC "modification" hardware works or will work in your audio system or are you just trolling to start arguements or are you looking for a reason to make such an investment in your system. WHat some people have accepted is that for many aspects of audio, the experts do not know what electrical measurements correspond to which aspects of the sonic "picture". If you are serious about this audio-wise, why don't perform and experiment on you and your system: peruse many of the comments made through the web regarding any of the AC treatments that mightbe applicable to your system. Then audition that treatment from a local or internet dealer. Most will lend you equipment for 1 week to 30 days. As you can surmise, I have no explanations of my own to offer. I have tried several ("AC treatments") and have kept a few. If, however, you are just trolling, I would rather not waste my time; if you are serious, I can make a few suggestions. Jeff
whatjd
1,139 posts
 
As a P.S. to the above. It may be that this topic has become as "hot" as it seems to be, because of home theater. The addition of a cable feed into an audio system can cause concerns...most are in the ground and RF/EMI areas.
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