What Shunyata and Furman (SMP) Have in common - Inductance!


Hi everyone,

I've been doing a little online research. The name that seems to come across here on audiogon regarding power conditioners is Shunyata, while @elizabeth and I talk Furman, especially due to cost.


I wanted to point out that what these two brands have in common is inductance. Coils. Coils in series with the outputs.


Furman and others who have licensed series mode surge protectors use great big coils to slow down surges long enough to let the surge protector react. Furman calls it SMP, but the tech has also been licensed to PS Audio and other makers. Essentially this is a low pass filter, which starts working at 3 kHz. That's way down in the audible range.


It's clear from pics of Shunyata's insides that they are using great big coils too. Why? Well, you can make a coil with high inductance, and low resistance at AC.


Anyway, my point is, these two brands share this basic principle. If you want to supplement a Shunyata by taking digital streaming outside of it (routers, wifi, etc) consider this super inexpensive Furman strip:

https://amzn.to/2U9QiiR

It's also a great starter conditioner, and the series surge suppression is unbeatable. Furman also has LiFT which I trust works but I've not investigated it very much. Furman makes a boatload of devices, so check for SMP and LiFT for the best noise suppression.

The PS Audio strip which uses series suppression is here:

https://www.psaudio.com/products/dectet-power-center/


Of course, saying these conditioners have the same principle is not the same as saying they work equally well or are best for your application. To your own ears be true!


Best,

E
erik_squires
P.S. I just looked at a lot of pictures of the Chang units. Sure looks like they use a lot of coils to me!



@erik_squires. Always appreciate your input. Would there be a benefit putting a strip before my Equitech 2Q?  Any downside? My belief is that power cannot be too clean :)
@ptss I recommend a balanced approach.
Good acoustics first.

I also recommend, if you are concerned, keeping noise creating power supplies (switching wall warts) outside your clean power zone. It is convenient to use a conditioner with mulitple, isolated power banks.


If you don't have something like that, a Furman strip for your routers, streamers, etc. will keep that on the dirty side, and put an extra layer of AC filtering between your analog / linear gear and it.


Use inexpensive but shielded power cables.

Best,
E
Thanks Erik. My tv and internet cable service units use a wall wart. I got a nice improvement in sound and video by putting them on a separate transformer isolated circuit. 
@ptss If you use a coaxial cable into the home, consider a coax ground loop isolator.


They work great to remove ground loops, and sometimes (but not always) can clean up DAC's too. :) They're super cheap, like $20 or so. 

Sometimes a ground loop makes it into the digital pathways (unless you use optical) and this can help.