Make your own (like) Richard Gray Power Station

morrowaudio · « **on:** 9 May 2004, 12:21 pm »

Build your own Richard Gray AC power conditioner for $40.00. Free information and parts links. This is free information...we do not make any money on this. See www.audiosold.com Look for the link at the top of the page. Enjoy!

www.audiosold.com

theborg · « **Reply #1 on:** 9 May 2004, 12:27 pm »

Moved from Town Square.

witchdoctor · « **Reply #2 on:** 9 May 2004, 12:36 pm »

Have you tried it?

theborg · « **Reply #3 on:** 9 May 2004, 12:42 pm »

?

No, have you?

witchdoctor · « **Reply #4 on:** 9 May 2004, 12:49 pm »

Not yet. It's only $30 or so, but I have a hard time believing it can replace a $900 conditioner. I suppose I wouldn't have much to lose, but was hoping to get feedback from someone.

theborg · « **Reply #5 on:** 9 May 2004, 12:55 pm »

Maybe this is a topic for the Lab...

PhilNYC · « **Reply #6 on:** 9 May 2004, 12:58 pm »

Quote from: morrowaudio

Build your own Richard Gray AC power conditioner for $40.00. Free information and parts links. This is free information...we do not make any money on this. See www.audiosold.com Look for the link at the top of the page. Enjoy!

www.audiosold.com

I noticed that there are a number of different models for this device (part number 193A thru 193V). Is there a particular reason why Audiosold suggests the 193L over the others? Would appreciate any specific thoughts on the subject...

JohnR · « **Reply #7 on:** 9 May 2004, 01:06 pm »

Here's the actual link:

http://www.audiosold.com/articles/rg.htm

Technically speaking, this looks, well, completely wrong. You cannot build a lowpass filter by placing an inductor in parallel with the noise source. That is, if anything, a highpass filter.

Frankly, I think this thing is extremely dubious.... or did I miss something?

I have seen people put capacitance across their power lines as well. They claim that works, and in fact it might. My concern would be when you unplug the thing from the wall, you may have up to 1.4 times your line voltage on exposed pins waiting to electrocute you

PhilNYC · « **Reply #8 on:** 9 May 2004, 01:57 pm »

I'm not technical enough, but if you read the Richard Grey website (www.audiolinesource.com), the theory behind using this choke device is to "place an inductive load in parallel, cancelling the series inductive loads" (the series loads coming from the typical items in your house, like the TV, hair dryer, etc). So they don't really say "low pass filter", and perhaps Audiosold was just trying to simplify the answer?

JohnR · « **Reply #9 on:** 9 May 2004, 03:09 pm »

Hm. Your household loads are not in series, they are in parallel. He also says that noise is absorbed to the low impedance of his "custom inductor" -- but an inductor has a high impedance at high frequencies. It may be that there's some effect as claimed due to inductive energy storage...

_scotty_ · « **Reply #10 on:** 9 May 2004, 04:32 pm »

I have been using surplus transformers as inductors for energy storage for over a decade, courtesy of Stan Warren.This concept apparently dates back to the 1940's. I have 2, 1KVA Ecore transformers in parallel with my power amp and one 650VA in parallel with my front end.
They make a noticable improvement in resolution at all frequencies.
The secondary windings are insulated and are not used,the primary winding is connected to the wall through a short hard wired powercord at least 12ga. in size. The primary winding resistance is around 0.2 ohms
which couldn't hurt the high speed discharge of current back into the powerline when the voltage sags due to musical program peaks. This is a cheap but effective tweak. The idea that somehow these inductors remove noise through a filtering action seems a bit hard to understand.

Wayne1 · « **Reply #11 on:** 9 May 2004, 05:13 pm »

Richard Gray Patent Application

You may wish to take a look through the Patent Application.

In short, what it describes is a large inductor (greater than 3 Henries) in parallel with the hot and neutral lines. The coil indicated in the Audisold article looks like it should be close to what is talked about in the patent.

The difference in the Hammond chokes are the inductance, current and resistance. Hammond 193 series chokes

The 193L does look to be closest to what is discussed in the Patent App. Over 3 Henries and fairly low resistance. The 193P is a bit lower in resistance but is twice as big, heavy, and costs twice as much.

morrowaudio · « **Reply #12 on:** 9 May 2004, 06:43 pm »

Yes! This thing really does work. You will not go back! We use a 5 Henry choke with low resistance (large guage wire in it). It makes everything sound more natural and "less electronic". I bought the original Richard Gray some years ago and was "mad" to find that all my $700.00 bought me was a choke, a couple of outlets and a black box filled with epoxy! I found a similar choke for $30.00 or so dollars. The easiest way to make it is to terminate a plug on it and plug it in the same source that your stuff is plugged into. Make several and have fun!

www.audiosold.com

PhilNYC · « **Reply #13 on:** 9 May 2004, 06:53 pm »

Quote from: morrowaudio

The easiest way to make it is to terminate a plug on it and plug it in the same source that your stuff is plugged into. Make several and have fun!

www.audiosold.com

What kind of plug do you use?

morrowaudio · « **Reply #14 on:** 10 May 2004, 02:44 pm »

Go to Lowes Hardware or some other place and look for Eagle brand plugs and outlets. Look in the section where one would go to replace their home wall recepticle/ outlet.

If you can't find Eagle brand, any heavy duty one will work fine. It is not critical since the choke is pluged in to your system in series with the AC source.

If you choose to glue or attach an electrical box to the top of the choke (with the choke wires going into the electrical box and attached to the outlets in the box) and a cord coming from that, a good plug would then be advisable.

www.audiosold.com "For the audiophile hobbiest."

Tonto Yoder · « **Reply #15 on:** 17 May 2004, 12:35 pm »

FWIW, the Musical Concepts website lists some transformers (taken from Hafler gear) for similar purposes:

http://www.musicaldesign.com/moving_sale.htm

""TRANSFORMERS: Some of you have used these simply plugged into the wall as a form of energy storage to smooth out the AC line! The intrepid builder makes his own amp! Novel doorstop, too!

Hafler DH-200/DH-220: E-core style transformer: $10
Hafler XL-280: E-core style transformer with higher voltage "front-end" winding: $12.50
Hafler DH-500: massive, heavy E-core style transformer: $15
Hafler DH-500: massive, heavy E-core style transformer with international voltages: $20
Hafler XL-600: massive E-core style transformer with higher voltage "front-end" winding: $15.00"

Another interesting item in the moving sale is the Fulton Gold speaker cable, one of the first audiophile cables; the A. Salvatore site describes this as:
"FULTON- These cables, there were two models, "Brown" and "Gold", were very popular in the late 1970's and early 1980's. As far as I know, they were the first "audiophile" speaker cables, so they actually created this new component category. They were never that good and now they are obsolete.

Basically, they were extra thick, copper, lamp cord wire, like standard Monster cable, but with silver plating. The Brown was 12 or 10 gauge, while the (extremely stiff and super thick) Gold, was either 6 or 4 gauge. They had both a high inductance and a bright sound. They did have good bass because of their low resistance, especially the Gold, which is probably still decent for use as a subwoofer cable."

WerTicus · « **Reply #16 on:** 31 May 2004, 07:43 am »

Quote from: witchdoctor

Not yet. It's only $30 or so, but I have a hard time believing it can replace a $900 conditioner.

hahahahhahahahahaha

"In high end audio you pay for the price"

my fav quote ever!

here is another quote for you "i love diy"

KKM · « **Reply #17 on:** 3 Jun 2004, 06:09 pm »

So, anyone try this yet?

Tonto Yoder · « **Reply #18 on:** 3 Jun 2004, 08:14 pm »

Quote from: KKM

So, anyone try this yet?

I'm not gonna try it. YOU try it.

Hey, let's get Mikey to try it--he hates everything.

PhilNYC · « **Reply #19 on:** 3 Jun 2004, 09:47 pm »

Quote from: KKM

So, anyone try this yet?

I got one of the chokes...haven't had the time to put a plug on it and plug it in yet, tho...