[cporada]

I just wanted to share my impresion with all of you on one of Alan's newest offerings, the Ref III filter.  I installed this filter on the circuit that powers my stereo subs (a separate circuit from the dedicated one which powers the rest of my system).  I think this one may be his best offering yet!

Impressions:   It?s only been in for 48 hours, but thus far, there seems to be no downside to this little gem.  All the other filters pass through a phase where they sound awful at about 24-48 hours.  The sound is glorious at the moment.  Cello and violin music is like ?listening? to a glass of 100 year old port!  It?s so organic and rich sounding, it?s downright intoxicating.  Just for fun, I even tried cranking up Dire Straits Brothers in Arms SACD.  The Opening to Money for Nothing literally made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.  It was like the whole room was going to explode.  There seemed to be infinite headroom and the place where I thought the dynamic ceiling should have been was just eliminated.  The sound just kept building and building, seeming to go on forever, without even a trace of harshness or edginess.  I can?t wait to hear what happens if this filter is going to further improve with break-in.  I may have to quit my job and just stay home to listen to music!

On days 4-6, things have just continued to get better!  It?s really remarkable, since there seems to have been no period during which the sound deteriorated; it improved upon install, and has just continued to blossom with each day (kind of like what I heard with the Ref II, which contrasts with all the other filters which seem to go through a period of really brittle/harsh sound before they settle in to show what they?re capable of).  All of the instruments now have a very rich/organic sound to them.  Strings now audibly have a nice/round wooden body which resonates with each note.  Listening to trumpet (I like to use this as a reference, since I?ve played trumpet for about 28 years) is unbelievable now.  Each trumpeter?s individual nuances with respect to breathing, articulation, fingering, and vibrato are all as clear as day.  Listening to one of my Chris Botti CD?s proved to be an almost spiritual experience.  The sound coming from the system is far better than when I heard Chris play live in concert last year (not his playing of course, just the quality with which the sound comes across in my room compared to the concert venue).  It is easy to hear each movement of each facet of his embouchure/playing machine as he changes notes and the air passes through each of the valves.  Listening to Maurice Andre playing various trumpet concertos almost brought tears to my eyes!  My wife and son both play string instruments (cello, violin, and guitar), and we are all in agreement that the timbre is spot on for each string instrument.  Massed violins no longer have the subtle yet bothersome glassiness to their sound.  They are now full and rich regardless of volume level.  The way in which cello is now reproduced is just fantastic in its ability to convey the impression of a real wooden instrument sitting right in front of you resonating as the bow passes over the strings.  One other aspect which really jumps out at me is the marked improvement in bass reproduction.  I have the Ref III plugged into the circuit which powers my stereo pair of subwoofers (separate from the dedicated line which powers my audio system).  Bass is now deeper, fuller, and much more visceral, yet at the same time, all trace of boominess has been eliminated.  This is a major step forward which I thought could only be fixed with some type of room treatment.   All this at only day 6!  I can?t wait to see what?s in store with further break-in.

I am now at about 1 month post-install, and in the past week, something really remarkable has happened.  I thought that I had pretty much reached a point at which no really significant improvement could still be made after about 2.5 weeks.  Boy, was I wrong.  In the course of the last week, things have come together and suddenly ?clicked? in a way I did not think was possible.  The stereo is really no longer reproducing sound, but creating music in a way it never has before.  As a scientist, I work a lot at home writing grant proposals, writing manuscripts, etc., and I always enjoyed listening to music while I work.  I have to say that the Ref III suddenly transformed my system (it is not plugged into the circuit powering the system, either!) to the point that this type of enjoyment while working is no longer possible.  Every piece of music is so emotionally involving that within seconds of the disc starting, my toes begin tapping and my eyes close.  I am literally transported to another place where I am completely enveloped by glorious music that surrounds me from all sides.  It is impossible not to get caught up in the music and carried away with its magic!  I have tried to read or work, but have decided that the music now requires my full attention, and I will have to set aside specific times during each week when I will just enjoy music without making any effort to carry out other tasks at the same time.  Alan?s products have finally enabled me to achieve what I thought would remain forever elusive; the ability to forget that I am listening to a stereo system and to stop trying to analyze the various aspects of sound reproduction and whether there is the appropriate amount of detail, speed, imaging, etc. Now I can finally just sit down and enjoy music and all the emotion it contains, getting caught up in the performer?s interpretation and phrasing, or the way different conductors can look at the same piece of music and hear their own personal version of how they think it should sound.   And, after all, isn?t this hobby ultimately supposed to be about truly enjoying music?

Hopefully my thoughts on this fantastic product are helpful...

Chris

[JenMaher]

Thank you, Chris, for a wonderful review on Alan's latest design! 

 

[santacore]

I only see a Ref. II on the site, is this something new?

[truant]

I don't see the REF III on the site.  How do we go about ordering this and what is the cost? Thanks...

[JenMaher]

Pre-order price is $225.00 ($285.00 retail) plus shipping and Paypal.  Email me for payment information.  I am placing a large bulk order for parts on Monday in order to offer the 20% off savings.  I will be going out of town Monday evening for a couple of weeks, and Alan won't be back until 7 December, please make sure all orders and sent prior to EOB Sunday.

E-mail: alanpmaher@alanmaherdesigns.com

Thank you!

[mdconnelly]

I have to chime in here with Chris... I've now had a Reference III for about 5 days and my experience exactly mirrors his.   I posted a preliminary review here: http://www.audionervosa.com/index.php?topic=1987.0

While I'm at a loss to understand how the Ref III on a non-audio circuit in my home can have such a profound effect, I have to believe that it is really the synergistic total of all AM products on numerous circuits throughout my house that is making such a difference.  While I'm tempted to pull them all out and just to hear the effect of the Ref III alone, that's so not gonna happen because it takes so long for them to re-achieve what they're doing.

Nice job, Alan    Will the Ref III actually replace the Ref II in your product lineup?

[jcoat007]

Ref III - Day One for Me.  Will post impressions as I go. 

[alanmaher]

Mike-

The Ref III will never replace the Ref II.  All filters in our product line are designed for a specific purpose and bandwidth.  I don't see at this point in time any need for further improvements in our product lines, since we have now been able to cover all bases.  To answer your question, the Ref III provides a multi-prong attack for noise.  It is based off the same parallel circuit as the Ref II, but it adds an active ground filter to futher lower noise of the circuit and extend the bandwidth of the service panel.  Traditional ground filtering methods up to now offered by the audiophile community has been to magnetize a large ground wire using iron ore or something similar, which in turn connects to the component chassis to increase the magnetic field of the steel chassis.  It's an interesting idea that does offer a smidgen of improvement when it comes to noise specs, but it doesn't even come close to what active filtering is physically capable of doing if it is implemented properly.  Just a tip, if you add a CBF to the ground wire coming into the service panel you will receive a similar benefit as the iron ore when it comes to adding additional magnetism to the earth, but at the same time the CBF will extend the bandwidth of  the earth ground and achieve similar results to what is obtained when the CBF is applied across the hot and neutral.

[alanmaher]

Please bear with me... I really wish they would fix the text input for this website.   

With that said, all AM design products are designed to be used as a larger network of products installed throughout the home.  The idea behind our product line is that each filter is designed for a specific task.  When the filter is installed, it handles very simple harmonic filtering at the source.  When a second filter is added anywhere in the home, filter A and filter B begin to communicate with each other.  Two things occur when this transpires; first the two filters begin to expand the bandwidth between point A and point B.  As the bandwidth extends, the noise suppression between point A and point B is lowered.  When a third filter is applied to the network, filter A and filter B begin to communicate with filter C; frequency extends, noise levels drop.  And so on... 

This form of networking individual filters has allowed us to dial in a specific signature sound based off of what we are trying to achieve and the component selection of the user.

[JohnR]

Please bear with me... I really wish they would fix the text input for this website.   

Why - what's wrong with it?

[mcullinan]

So what is the optimal number of Ref 3 to install? Would 2 be good enough?
Mike

[alanmaher]

John-

After 9 or 10 lines of type the page no longer scrolls down without the aid of the scroll bar....line 11/12 appears to get stuck and the page no longer scrolls down...it is a royal PIA.  It has been like this for the past several months, at least on all my pc's.

Browser: IE8
O/S: Vista 64 Ultimate


mcullinan-

It all depends.  Designing a filter network for the home is different for each application.  Some folks might have more large appliances requiring more PE v3 to be used, and others might suffer from more digital/switch mode products requiring more Ref II's to be added.  The total number of Ref III's will depend on the number of filters used on the non-a/v circuits.  I usually recommend 1 Ref III for every 2 to 3 Ref II's installed throughout the home.  It would be best to let me know what you already own so I can provide better advice.

[jmichael]

"After 9 or 10 lines of type the page no longer scrolls down without the aid of the scroll bar....line 11/12 appears to get stuck and the page no longer scrolls down...it is a royal PIA.  It has been like this for the past several months, at least on all my pc's."

I concur.
It happens when writing Private Messages too.

[woodsyi]

I don't.  I have no problem scrolling past 12 lines using Firefox. 

[mdconnelly]

The problem definitely occurs with IE.   Works fine with Firefox.

[JohnR]

John-

After 9 or 10 lines of type the page no longer scrolls down without the aid of the scroll bar....line 11/12 appears to get stuck and the page no longer scrolls down...it is a royal PIA.  It has been like this for the past several months, at least on all my pc's.

Browser: IE8
O/S: Vista 64 Ultimate

Oh right... the IE compatibility monster... As far as I can tell this one is related to workarounds that had been put in the core SMF code that we use, in order to make earlier versions of IE work properly. You could try the IE7 compatibility mode but given that fixes for the new browser are in transition that might not work either. In all honesty it's pretty hard for me to justify spending much time chasing this type of IE problem given that a) someone else is going to fix them if I wait a bit and b) there's a simple five-minute fix that you can do yourself right now - here it is:

  http://www.apple.com/safari/download/

Here's another:

  http://www.mozilla.com/

As a general rule, site issues are best discussed in Notices and Support, and issues posted using the requested format in Open Site Software Issues will at least get looked at (losing the invective would be a good idea though).

Thanks

JohnR

[jtwrace]

(losing the invective would be a good idea though).

Thanks

JohnR

agreed, when the site is provided free for your business...

[JohnR]

Agreed.

Here's another good choice - on my list now because it's cross-platform and works great on OS/X

   http://www.google.com/chrome