[michaelv]

Thanks , Paul.

By the way, i also have 2 PEs, 1 PE IV and Hammond 193L in my video system. It settles down now. The picture can only described in one word: awesome.  However, what i like to most is no noise or very little noise when i watch DVD. I am reviewing again all of my DVD's library. Can't resist.

My PE V (pro custom) in 2 channels system already passes 10 days. Sound way much much better than before. I plan to get rid of the PS audio power conditioner and am building a power strip.

[zmanbands]

In page 46, Alan describes speaker set up. It's in blue print. There were 2 points I needed clarification on and Jen, in an email answered my 2 questions. Where it says page 3, para 4 at the end 8" drivers are adjusted differently, Jen cleared it up. I had a Q on focus as well. Here is her response.              " 8" drivers will be adjusted differently compared to 12" and !5" drivers". This will work for 8" drivers CORRECT?"
 
I think he means 8" might only adjust 1/2" from the original measured position whereas 12" and 15" could be as much as 1.5" to 1.75" from the original starting position.  When he dials in a speaker he sits directly in front of the cabinet and pulls the speaker toward him into the room.  The 1/2" to 1.75" is how much he pulls the speaker into the room depending on the size of the driver.
 
"My second question is on the focus steps. After being meticulous to dial in the peak node in 1/8" increments he says for the right speaker {ONLY} para 3, "Pull the speaker back a little and readjust the image size again". Won't this mess up the dialed in node I just achieved? He never says to move the left speaker back a little. Is this how I keep the node still dialed in?"
 
It appears that you misunderstand what he is trying to convey, in order to focus you should install the spikes under the speaker.  Pivot each speaker on the front inside spike until the center image if focused.  When he says to pull back he really means to swing the speaker back 1" and go back in for final size adjustment.  The idea is to find the point where the image stops shrinking and not to go past that point, then you adjust the other speaker for center focus.  The first speaker is actually dialing in the size of the sound field whereas the second speaker is dialing in the center image.  After you switch from mono to stereo you will hear a huge difference in the size of the sound field compared to the small image during the mono tuning.

Regards,
Jen Maher

[JenMaher]

Michaelv-
I agree the PE, V, and Plasma series is a must for the videophile.  Adding a Plasma power cord to any flat panel display adds thousands to the picture quality.

Paul-
The V Pro Custom takes a little longer to come into its own because of all the different treatments used in the design.  The V will never sound warm or colored; it's designed to be musically accurate.  In our system we have three Pro Custom filters interlocked together with our Surge Interrupter unit at the wall before our balanced a/c unit.  I think eventually we would like to remove the balanced unit, but it's not possible in our present situation.  We also use 4 Plasma cords, 1 B/AC parallel unit, and 6 Pro IEC filters, which all use the same Pro Custom filter, on the output of the balanced conditioner.

[michaelv]

Michaelv-
I agree the PE, V, and Plasma series is a must for the videophile.  Adding a Plasma power cord to any flat panel display adds thousands to the picture quality.

Paul-
The V Pro Custom takes a little longer to come into its own because of all the different treatments used in the design.  The V will never sound warm or colored; it's designed to be musically accurate.  In our system we have three Pro Custom filters interlocked together with our Surge Interrupter unit at the wall before our balanced a/c unit.  I think eventually we would like to remove the balanced unit, but it's not possible in our present situation.  We also use 4 Plasma cords, 1 B/AC parallel unit, and 6 Pro IEC filters, which all use the same Pro Custom filter, on the output of the balanced conditioner.

Jen,
  I was tempted to try plasma power cord, but i'm in short of $$$, so i may try it later on. Also, i treated most of connections in my video system with Quicksilver Gold, but not PE yet. I don't know whether or not QSC adds the 'great' to the chain, but i will wait a few more weeks to come to the conclusion

thanks

[JenMaher]

Reviews or comments on the new designs?

[michaelv]

Jen,
 I wish that PE V case could be aluminum instead of plastic, but you probably use that based on your design.

thanks.

[JenMaher]

Michael-
We could have used aluminum but that would increase the price of the product.  I had another client one time ask if we could use exotic wood for the wall wart cases, these types of custom cases can begin to add up after awhile, we have to weigh the number of sales vs. cost when designing a product line.  Our customers up to now continue to purchase the low end products and leave the more expensive designs to the commercial buyers, we need the middle and top end designs to start selling in order to warrant a redesign of the product line cosmetic appeal.  Right now we are trying to offer the best product for the best price, not the best looking product for twice the price, doesn't the audiophile market already have enough of that stuff?  Audiogon at any given day is flooded with audiophile eye popping candy from every manufacture under the sun, except for us    In all seriousness, we wanted to offer a good package at a good price, if you guys are willing to spend the added cost we would be more than happy to start pricing more expensive cases, I will leave that in your court to decide.  From our standpoint we prefer to put the expense into the cost of the parts instead of the appearance.  Alan only charges $75 for labor on the V the rest is all parts.

[zmanbands]

Has anyone installed the DIY high resolution speaker cable filters [HRSCF] on their speakers? The whole project is beautifully written up on Alan's site under DIY. Chris da Costa, the author, helped me quite a bit hardwiring my dedicated circuit and installing Ti-Shield inside the outlet box when Alan and Jen were not readily available. He is a jewel. Chris has been doing DIY as his main hobby for 8 years and the HRSCF in his opinion is by far his best bang for the buck for the cost and hours needed to make these. Parts to make 2 filters, most of which are easily available, cost about $25 and the time to build is about 3 hours. You need one for each speaker or 2/speaker if you biwire. My sense is the cost is somewhat higher and time longer until you get the learning curve down sat for a home theater system with 5 or more speakers. If I could solder I would be ordering the parts now!!! Chris claims the filters when added are like upgrading a $5,000 component to a $10,000 component in your system. They work well in conjunction with Shakti Stones which I now thanks to Alan, have on both my power panels. The Shakti's have been like going From a 5K to a 10K component in my system. Anyone tried these or interested in trying these? Walker Audio sells a version of these which Chris says are not quite as good per people who have tried both. Theirs are $390/ for 2 filters.

[JenMaher]

Gentlemen,
Thursday evening after I get home I will be offering PE II demos and PE II Prototypes at 10% off.  I just got off the phone with my daughter and she said someone returned a pair of PE's, so their loss is your gain, I will be offing the units at 15% off.  I also have several V Standards available for quick sale.  Also the new Ref One filters are ready to ship, and don't forget June 15 we start the pre-orders for the July sales.

All demo and prototype sales are first come first serve.  All orders ship Saturday while supplies last.

[Phil]

Jen,

I'll take the two PEs if still available.  I sent email via your website too.

Phil

[Paul_Bui]

Michaelv,

While the V is enclosed in a plastic case, the Reference 8 power strip case is aluminum.

Jen,

I wholeheartedly agree, "From our standpoint we prefer to put the expense into the cost of the parts instead of the appearance.  Alan only charges $75 for labor on the V the rest is all parts."

Zmanbands,

I was tempted and still am interested in such a HRFCF unit.  With my primitive soldering skill and clumsy hands, I might look at it again and see if I can put all together after ordering all prerequisite components as Chris kindly described.

I woke up this morning, the day #21 since the V arrived, and so did the V Pro Custom.  Alan must have carefully, closely and precisely monitored the V prototypes, because I found the V Pro Custom's behavior exactly as Alan and Jen said: "Take notes on day 1, 4, 7, 12, and 14....compare them against day 21, I think you will be pleasantly surprised."

Oh and by the way, video performance has been superb since week #2.  Not only is the 18 year old Sony TV, directly plugged into the Reference 8 power strip which in turn is plugged into the V Pro Custom upstairs, greatly benefited: incredibly fine grain screen texture and pleasantly saturated color, but other 42" rear Sony projector downstairs is also significantly better.  I guess the PE products will make my family's wait for the latest high resolution video much more pleasantly longer.

[yo2tup]

what type of audible improvements/differences are there between the IV and the V?  how about the V and V custom pro?

[Paul_Bui]

Yo2tup,

The IV has been discontinued, but I do have one unit.  The V replaces the IV and is a totally different animal.  While the IV needs PE II's and PE's to work in the same audio circuit, the V is a stand-alone PLC.  Moreover, more basic PE's can be installed around the house in certain pattern/arrangement to further enhance/fine-tune the V.

I installed a V Pro Custom in the main audio/video circuit and plugged all other PE's in other individual circuits to get the sound I like the most.  Fine tuning your house circuits with the PE's filter is limitless.  I have no V Standard so can't comment on it.

As for audio differences between the IV and V (Pro Custom), I think there's  wholesale change:  after a longer break-in, the V is more neutral, easier to integrate with your components, rendering flatter bandwidth from top to bottom.  Mine is only 21 days old, and it's supposed to keep improving until days 30 - 35, so we'll see.

[zmanbands]

Yo2, If I do this I'll get the local tv techy to do the soldering. It's about as simple a soldering job as you will find according to the pics. Can't cost much. I'll need to get some wbt solder and don't want to spend $16 for a whole roll. Perhaps if you and/or others are interested there may be some of the items we could buy in bulk and share it.

[michaelv]

Jen,
  I agree with you . Best products with best price is my interest .
 
Yo2tup,
  I had PE IV , but i  moved it to the video circuit along with two other PEs and and choke 193L. I also applied QuickSilver Gold (QSC) to the PE plates.  I can't tell you how happy i'm with the video: almost no noise in picture, color is way better than before ( i have SXRD). I don't even dare to change anything right now

The PE V custom pro is in my 2 channels system.  All i can say is the PE V is excellent and it's one of the best items i've ever spent on. Once my budget allowed, i will acquire another PE V custom pro for my family room video which has plasma tv.

[JenMaher]

Introductory price:

I have a bunch of Reference One filters available.  While supplies last we are offering the Reference One for $60 each ($75 starting in July).  The Reference One is a magnetic design and requires a earth ground to drain noise from the line.  The filter is installed inside our 3 prong wall wart case and offers superb filtering from dc to 10 GHz.  The Reference One adds warmth, texture, and inner detail to both audio and video playback.  Infinite placement options for circuit tuning.  8 available

I also have a bunch of 5' Reference power cords available.  While supplies last we are offering the Reference for $160 each ($175).  The Reference is wonderful for digital components, video components, amps up to 750 watts per channel, and LCD/Plasma video displays.  The Reference requires 14 days for the initial break in and 21 days for a full break in.  The Reference adds warmth and texture without rolling off the top end frequencies.    5 available

I found a couple of Alan's OEM Shakti Stones if anyone is interested in tuning the circuit panel.  Please email for more information.   3 available

I have had several requests in the past couple of days for PE II's, let me know how many you guys need and I'll order the parts now and have Steven put the filters together in a couple of weeks.  If you need one let me know before the end of the weekend.

Just a note:  We are going to start taking pre-orders the middle of June for the new Reference interconnect, speaker, and v2 power cable ($225).  More info coming soon.

[michaelv]

Jen,
  What does Reference One filter look like? Is it something like PE? I don't see it on your website.

thanks.

[JenMaher]

3 prong PE case.

Coming Soon.

[michaelv]

3 prong PE case.

Coming Soon.

So PE and this new filter are basically the same? Any advantage / disadvantage from one to another? 
thanks.

[JenMaher]

Both work well with each other. 

Paul would you like to chime in?  Paul has been our AudioCircle beta tester for the Reference One. You might also want to ask Chris da Costa, he has several mixed into his system with the PE and Hammond tweak.