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The best upgrade I ever made!

On 12-23 I read a thread here about wiring. One poster(E&lssr) suggested using a isolation transformer and posted the link. I checked it out as my local high end dealer has a quieting transformer hooked up to his ac for his high end room and it sounds incredible. To make a long story short, I ordered one from C & H sales in Pasadena. I hooked it up and was blown away by the amount of improvement. I already have a dedicated ac line to my hifi and that made a nice improvement in detail. The ultra isolator transformer has taken my system to a level such that I can't get away from it for very long! The musicality and naturalism as well as increased detail that is now present has raised my emotional involvement in the music to a level I never thought possible. Every other tweak or upgrade I have ever done has produced only a small fraction of the improvement of the ultra isolator. I will leave the link and name and phone number of the dealer so everyone can check it out. If you go to their site, from the home page go to search. Enter in isolator and then click on any model to view. All of them will come up. I chose the str2001 5k watt 42 amp model. It is 110/120 volt in and out so wiring is a snap: Three wires(hot, neutral, ground) in and out. If you have 40 amps going in the transformer, you will need to have a sub box wired in after the transformer to take the amperage down to a reasonable level for your wiring and outlets(20 amp circuits for example). By the way, it was cheap too... $300 plus shipping. The dealer is C and H Sales, 2176 e. Pasadena, Ca 91107 ph 626-325-9465 or 800-325-9465. Web address www.candhsales.com. ***DISCLAIMER*** If you are not confident in doing this kind of wiring, please have an electrician do it(but don't ask them if this makes a difference as most will say no!). Also, I am not affiliated with the isolator manufacturer or the dealer..........I am just very enthusiastic about this and thought everyone should know. Cds that were bright are now very listenable, cds that were good are now great and cds that I thought were great are now unbelievable!!! WOWWWWW!! Tim
tkmetz
lwin's avatar
lwin
576 posts
 
I recently remodeled my family room.In front of the existing drywall I placed a new 2x4 wall with 10 guage wiring, hospital grade outlets, inserted 6 inches of fiberglass & placed inch thick Tectum accoustical panels over the glass. I did this on the backwall & half the ceiling where I used 2x6s. The reason i picked the back wall is the opposite is half glass & my speakers are electrostatics so radiate as much sound to the rear as the front.I have a pretty serious system & there is nothing I have placed in it or done previously that made such a noticeable improvement. For most systems I would try doing just the wall opposite the speakers first. My room is 26x13 & to do the back wall & ceiling cost me about $800.I could have done the back wall for about $300. The improvement in sound was simply amazing. Lwin
tkmetz OP
91 posts
 
Dekay, In the instructions that came with the transformer, they mentioned "if you have a model with a plug" so I assume there must be models that could be plugged into the wall. The only problem I forsee is that you would have a major magnetic field close to your equipment. Or you could place it further away with a high quality extension cord. I would call the dealer and see what they say. Tim
dekay's avatar
dekay
5,668 posts
 
Thanks Tkmetz: The wall socket is ten feet from the equipment and I already use an extension cord. A plug in unit sounds easy, but I would also consider having it spliced in at the breaker box to get the unit away from me and my wife as well as the gear. I am also a half hour drive from the company. I will check into it when I get quotes on some other wiring that I need done. We rent but the landlord's plumber is never a real plumber, the electrician is never a real electrician - you see what I mean. I usually do the work myself or hire a pro as this is our home (even though we rent) and I do not plan on moving anytime soon. The transformer sounds very interesting and is reasonably priced as well. I will check it out.
j_k
234 posts
 
This is a little known great secret -- highly recommended!! I currently have a transformer that balances the power -- but I paid much more... Is this particular model a balanced unit?
sean
6,231 posts
 
An isolation transformer of ANY type of current capacity would be relatively large and not be able to be installed inside of a "breaker box". Your best bet would be to keep it as close to your equipment as possible while still avoiding putting it "too" close. Unless the transformer is rated for quite a bit of current ( at least 15 - 20 amps), i would not hook up an amplifier to it. This could result in dynamic compression of the signal when hitting peaks or when driving it harder than average. There are many smaller isolation transformers ( 6 - 10 amps ) available to use for sources ( CD, tuner, preamp, etc..) that cost measurably less. C & H is a great source for surplus equipment and constantly has good buys on stuff like this. If you order a catalogue from them, keep in mind that their web prices are actually better than most of the "sale" prices in the printed book. Sean >
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