Alan Maher's Power Enhancer

Big Red Machine · « **Reply #320 on:** 6 Mar 2008, 07:03 pm »

Which PE device would you guys recommend for the outlet my projector is plugged into?

michaelv · « **Reply #321 on:** 8 Mar 2008, 04:09 am »

I forgot that Alan mentioned once that PE II or PE III will give more effect on low end...couldn't locate the note anymore...

I'm thinking of either adding another PE II or 2 Hammond chokes 193L to the chain to hope that i can gain more (strong bass) in the low end.

thanks.

zmanbands · « **Reply #322 on:** 8 Mar 2008, 12:48 pm »

Also consider highwire power wraps. I had a lot of bass and just one wrap on my SACD power cord player increased bass a lot. I am adding them one at a time every 4 days and have 3 more to add. These are an extremely good tweak and at $22 each are DIRT cheap for what they do. It's a lot more than just bass too.

Adamay · « **Reply #323 on:** 9 Mar 2008, 07:27 pm »

Anybody using any of the Alan Maher PE's with Nuforce amps or other switching amps? I'm curious how well the PE's work to clean up the RFI dumped by Nuforces back into the power mains. Thanks.

Phil · « **Reply #324 on:** 9 Mar 2008, 09:30 pm »

Michaelv,

For more bass, I'd try a 193L on the IEC side of your digital source (and a PE at the outlet). If your system reacts as mine did, you will get not only great bass, but whatever other qualities your source has (I don't think the choke adds anything, just lets your source operate optimally). Really a great tweak!

Alan did write, however, that some digital players sound better with a PE at the IEC side and choke at the outlet. At any rate, the PEs and chokes seemed to be made for each other.

I don't know the effect of chokes + amp are yet. I should receive the 193Ms I ordered soon and will give them time to settle in before I post the results in my system. I'm very curious at this point to know what they will do because my system has finally reached a level I had hoped for but always proved elusive. I hope you too are just one step away from the sound you want.

Phil

JenMaher · « **Reply #325 on:** 11 Mar 2008, 10:28 am »

Steve-
How is the latest filter working out for you?

Paul-
Do you need further assistance?

BN-
The Ti-Shield tweak is used to shielding the inside of the outlet box. My husband reminded me this tweak can be done three different ways, pending DIY user comfort.

1. Make one case to cover the inside of the wall box. Ground the Ti-Shield box with 12ga copper wiring.

2. Make a custom shield for the rear and sides of the duplex outlet. Ground the shield to the wire connection of the duplex.

3. Wrap the A/C Male plug of the main power cord and ground the shielding to the ground terminal inside the A/C plug. Use 12ga solid core copper for this tweak. Wrap the bare copper wire around a brass screw nut post. Punch the shielding to add the screw nut combination. Before applying adhesive lined heatshrink, use a Dremil to cut off the excess screw length. Alan also recommends adding a pair of Shakti On Lines to the power cord for this tweak, the combination offers huge tonal upgrades across the musical spectrum. This combo is much better than the Highwire Power Wrap idea. Please contact us for Shakti products.

Michael-
Any outlet on the circuit can be used as duplex 1. You could have 9 duplex receptacles on the circuit, but only want to use 5 of those outlets, all you need to do is pick 5 outlets that fall in line with the suggested set up in reference to your system duplex location on the circuit.

Big Red-
Projector application: single outlet use the PE. Single outlet with monitor liberator, use a pair of PE II's, another option is to use a PE and PE IV combination. The pair of II's add sharpness, depth of view, and enhanced color and hue. The II and IV combo add additional enhancement to inner detail and depth, enhanced color and hue over the II combo. The new Reference power cord does wonders for projectors, I would consider the power cord before the filter, you may find the filter not required. The Reference chokes the line and offers superb noise rejection and suppression. Longer lengths (anything longer than 5 feet) offer even more noise rejection compared to the standard 5 foot length. The Reference can also be custom ordered for in-wall applications. Try to keep the lengths under 30 feet because the geometry is done by hand and is very labor intensive and time consuming.

Adamay-
The Nuforce amps are a funny animal. The amp has a lot of room for tweaking, the PE series can offer exceptional improvements in performance. I would recommend a pair of PE II's, one PE IV, and two PE III's if you would like to designer a warmer sounding amplifier. If you need to thin the sound out I would suggest replacing the PE III with our standard PE. I also recommend our new Reference power cable. The Reference does wonderful things to enhance lower midrange warmth, depth, and organic textures.

We are now accepting pre-orders toward the next batch of filters and power cables. Alan will be back to work March 21/22. The next ship date is the week of March 24-29.

Adamay · « **Reply #326 on:** 11 Mar 2008, 08:25 pm »

Thanks for your reply, Jen. I am a little risk averse and am not sure I want to order that many units at one time, having never used a PE at all. Could I expect any improvements from just one unit, and, if so, which should I try? I have already achieved significant improvements in lowered noise floor, warmth, and so on from other tweaks, and am simply seeing whether I can push the noise floor lower yet -- in order to achieve even more immediacy, "air," and harmonic texture -- with a power tweak. Thanks for your advice.

JenMaher · « **Reply #327 on:** 11 Mar 2008, 10:07 pm »

Adamay-
If it is added warmth coloration you are looking for then you are looking at the wrong product. The PE series adds a tremendous amount of detail and dynamics. Our signature sound is very flat, Alan is a professional live sound engineer and he tries to reproduce the live event when designing product line. All will tell you here that the PE is not a product to mask over problems, it should be used to magnify the sound quality of the component. The PE provides passive power factor correction.

BlkNotes · « **Reply #328 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 01:22 am »

Hello Jen;

Thank-you for the reply. Do you have any idea of how to wire wall duplex outlets in a star wiring configuration using 12 gauge wire as recommended by Alan in the past. Or is this a question for him?

Regards;
BN

JenMaher · « **Reply #329 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 11:32 am »

If I understand correctly, star wiring is dual conductors per side, but you will have to ask Alan for the details. We have been using our Reference cable for in-wall wiring since it was designed in the mid 90's.

Adamay · « **Reply #330 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 12:07 pm »

Hi Jen. I fear I've miscommunicated. I'm not seeking more warm coloration, and so thank you very much for clarifying that. I'm seeking to lower the noise floor, which in my experience thus far in tweaking the Nuforces, produces more "air," detail, and harmonic texture. If this is what I'm after, and if I want to try one of your products as a first step along your product line, should I go for one PE, or one PEII, one PE III, or one PE IV? Thank you for your advice.

JenMaher · « **Reply #331 on:** 12 Mar 2008, 12:50 pm »

The PE is the perfect multi-purpose filter and highly recommended as a first purchase.

michaelv · « **Reply #332 on:** 14 Mar 2008, 09:25 pm »

Quote from: Phil on 9 Mar 2008, 09:30 pm

Michaelv,

For more bass, I'd try a 193L on the IEC side of your digital source (and a PE at the outlet). If your system reacts as mine did, you will get not only great bass, but whatever other qualities your source has (I don't think the choke adds anything, just lets your source operate optimally). Really a great tweak!

Alan did write, however, that some digital players sound better with a PE at the IEC side and choke at the outlet. At any rate, the PEs and chokes seemed to be made for each other.

I don't know the effect of chokes + amp are yet. I should receive the 193Ms I ordered soon and will give them time to settle in before I post the results in my system. I'm very curious at this point to know what they will do because my system has finally reached a level I had hoped for but always proved elusive. I hope you too are just one step away from the sound you want.

Phil

I am ordering several cable liberator and i will try 193L at IEC.

Currently, i have one 193L for each duplex at PS Audio UPC-200. Not sure it will make big difference at IEC , but i will try once i get the cable liberator.

To my supprise, I added another PE in the room ( 3 outlets way from the PE IV), i can hear more db and bass. So, i will try different options again. If not, i will stick with what i have right now

...

thanks again

JenMaher · « **Reply #333 on:** 14 Mar 2008, 09:48 pm »

Michael-
Remind me again, how many and which PE models do you own? How many open duplex outlets do you have on the stereo circuit?

michaelv · « **Reply #334 on:** 15 Mar 2008, 04:49 pm »

Quote from: JenMaher on 14 Mar 2008, 09:48 pm

Michael-
Remind me again, how many and which PE models do you own? How many open duplex outlets do you have on the stereo circuit?

Jen,
I have one PE IV and two PE in the room. The room has 6 outlets. The adjacent room (has 4 outlets) shares the same circuit with my listening room. Since the adjacent room is empty and nothing is used, i think my room virtually has dedicated line ?
I also have 2 193L attached to the PLC.

thanks.

JenMaher · « **Reply #335 on:** 16 Mar 2008, 02:43 pm »

Michael-
Draw out an outlet map of the entire circuit so I can see how you have things hooked up on the circuit. Provide a brief description of the kind of sound quality you are presently experiencing and we'll see where we can tweak it. You have a lot of duplex outlets not in use injecting harmonic ringing and providing pathways for RFI to enter the circuit so we need to address this problem. Maybe's it's time we start to ween you off the PS Audio products and see what happens just as an experiment. Many have reported to us the PS Audio products restrict dynamics and sound quality compared to the PE series. I have no first hand knowledge so I can only go by client feedback.

michaelv · « **Reply #336 on:** 16 Mar 2008, 03:37 pm »

Jen,
Ok, i'll do my best to draw out the circuit here

1>Listening room: Outlet (O)

O1 -> O2 -> O3 -> O4 -> O5 -> O6

O1 : PE IV and PS Audio power conditioner
O2 : PE
O6 : PE

There are 2 193L connected to each outlet on PS Audio. ( I replace all outlets on PS Audio by better quality outlet). I haven't experienced any surge or spike in my area, but i just want power conditioner to be on safe side.

2> Adjacent room: Outlet (O)
O1 -> O2 -> O3 -> O4

Thanks.

zmanbands · « **Reply #337 on:** 16 Mar 2008, 07:55 pm »

Why not put in a dedicated circuit on the other phase of your panel for all your stereo/audio and mostly duck all those extraneous circuits.

JenMaher · « **Reply #338 on:** 16 Mar 2008, 08:57 pm »

10 duplex outlets on the same circuit? We can do a lot here but it is going to require a couple more filters for the circuit and at least one plugged into the power conditioner. In the meantime I would plug the PE into the power conditioner duplex and install the IV into outlet 2, this will allow the extra filter stages inside the IV to act as a bypass for the PE installed in outlet 1. Plug the second PE into the power conditioner output to balance the PLC circuit. Latter on consider adding a pair of PE II's, one more PE and a PE IV to the main circuit for additional tuning and filtering. I would also recommend placing one choke at the wall, maybe outlet 3 for now and keeping one choke plugged into the power conditioner.

michaelv · « **Reply #339 on:** 16 Mar 2008, 09:43 pm »

Jen,
Are you saying that i should plug:

PE -> O1
PE IV -> O2
PE -> Power conditioner?

For the power conditioner, the PS Audio UPC-200 has switch to isolate two duplex : I use one for integrated amp , and one for CDP. Which outlet do you recommend me to plug PE in? ( Integrated amp or CDP)

For the two 193L i have, One will be in O3 as you recommend, another one is in power conditioner. So , which side, Integrated Amp or CDP, would be better place?

thanks.