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Perfect Path Tecnologies ‘The Gate’

Having been a music lover and audio enthusiast for more decades than I care to admit to I’ve had the privilege of owning some tremendous components over those years and thought I had attained a level of musical enjoyment that would be difficult to improve upon without spending more money than I could afford. Then along came The Gate to turn my audio conceptions on end. 

While I was quite skeptical of all of the positive proclamations regarding the Perfect Path mats, cards and contact enhancer ( how could they possibly bring about such sonic improvements?) I took the plunge and purchased a nano bundle to see what the hubbub was all about. Much to my surprise they not only brought about improvements to my systems’ ability to recreate a more musical sound but did so in spades. 

When Tim of Perfect Path Technologies asked if I wanted to try his new product, The Gate, I jumped at the chance thinking it would be a nice addition to what the other products provided. I wasn’t prepared for the quantum leap The Gate brought to my music listening pleasure. As much as the other products brought about a much lower noise floor, greater detail and delicacy, improved dynamics, richer tone and more realism The Gate does so in magnitudes difficult to describe. The best way I can describe its affect is unreal purity leading the most realistic musical sound I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing.....outside of a live performance obviously. It has me listening to all of my CD’s as if for the first time again.

I have no idea how The Gate actually works or what it does I just know it’s the most dramatic tweak to my system I’ve ever experienced and I wouldn’t think of being without it. As to how it’s implemented, it’s installed in the electrical panel with one lead connected to the common buss and the other to a breaker ( preferably 220). Hope I got the terminology correct.....I’m far from being an electrician!

At $4,999.00 it’s not cheap but worth every penny to me as I’ve spent more on components with less sonic improvement. 

Lastly, I realize some will scoff at something they can’t understand and I get not understanding it as I don’t, but I would hope people could keep their skepticism healthy and civil. I am not here to promote or sell, nor do I have any affiliation with PPT. I am only sharing something that I’ve found to be transforming in my system. Sorry for the lengthy introduction.
mac48025
fleschler
2,043 posts
 
Frank, I noticed that the ad for the Gate is only for 100 or 200 amp main power panels.  My new home has a 400 amp main power panel.  Would I need two Gates or only achieve a smaller percentage gain using one Gate (like 25% or 50% of a smaller main power panel)?
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
Ad says its sized to fit inside those panels. Not that its sized to handle those loads.

In fact it doesn't seem to handle any load at all. I thought maybe someone was mistaken but sure enough this is what the ad says:
One lead connects to an existing breaker, the other to neutral bar. That's it!
Connected that way, if you know anything about electrical panels, the breakers are hot and the neutral is the utility ground that completes the circuit, in other words if it was a wire it'd be a short. Now since nobody has said anything about these things glowing red hot before bursting into flames I'm gonna go out on a limb and say its not a wire.

But also, the size or number of circuits or even the panel can't matter because it doesn't have any current flowing through it. What it almost certainly does have however is something that shunts any and all noise riding on the AC line to ground. 

Its interesting its wired to neutral and not ground. Three wires come into residential panels- two hot and one neutral. In addition to this we are required to add an earth ground. I notice they do not say to wire to earth ground. Also notice they do not require connecting to both incoming legs. Well, all circuits from either leg are completed by connecting to neutral. So if the goal is line noise then connecting one leg to neutral in effect connects everything in the house. This is why flipping breakers off improves sound even when its circuits with nothing connected or running. The wires themselves even with nothing running are antennae feeding RFI into the system.

All the review comments so far sound to me exactly like what I get when I go flip off all the breakers. Noise floor drops dramatically, grain and glare disappear, everything just sounds incredibly real. 

So Frank you're gonna put one in tomorrow. Got to flip the breakers off anyway. Only take a few minutes to flip them all off except the system, see how it sounds. To compare no breakers before to breakers Gate after. Be very interested to hear what you hear. Very interested. 
fleschler
2,043 posts
 
Tom Port of Better Records told me when he was seriously listening to music, he would unplug all household equipment except the frig.  I believe he was correct that he gained better sound by doing so.  But I wouldn't do that, I'd rather install the Gate to do the equivalent.
erik_squires
16,676 posts
 
For a product designed to be attached to an electrical panel, or sub panel, it appears remarkably home made. I wouldn't allow it anywhere near my electrical until it was UL tested.

And ... it has 2 leads ? One of which is neutral? So what happens to the other leg of the transformer? Does it only treat one?

No no no, this product gives me snake oil and home going up in flames type hives.
grannyring's avatar
grannyring
6,603 posts
 
I know. Part of us all feel this way, but you have 90 days to determine if it is snake oil. No risk, no games, no snake oil with this fact. Also the builder has integrity as a person and professional. You will indeed be refunded if you don’t love what it does in your home. So our anxieties about the product as well as our ignorance as to how it specifically works doesn’t have to escalate into broad brushed negative hyperbole. One should also call Tim for more information if genuinely intrigued and interested.

It is very easy to quickly dismiss and think the worst of products when we don’t fully understand them. That is the easy button reaction for most of us. When in this situation I am curious enough to look into it more, ask questions of the inventor and try it for myself for first hand experience. Absent that I try not to become negative and assume the worst about things I don’t fully know about or understand.  
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