[James Tanner]

Hi All,

Torus Power Isolation units have just got CE approval and I have a few questions.

1. Is the power coming into homes in Europe considered a problem in terms of noise and crap on the line?
2. Is protection from lightening strikes and surges important?
3. What power plug socket on the back of the Torus unit would be the most appropriate plug in Europe? 

james

[alexone]

 hi, james!

 if i understand you correctly-

 1. yes, there are a lot of discussions about 'power pollution'. and a torus unit may be a solution for those who need it.

 2. sure it is important. but does a torus (or any other product) really protect your hifi gear if lightning hits your house...?

 3. a quality socket should be built in of course. if you ask me for a company i would say 'HMS'. it is a german quality

    manufacturer.


  alex.

[alexone]

 james,

 these websites might be interesting for you if you are looking for quality (wall) sockets:


  hmselektronik.de

  furutech.com

 
 alex.

[mv038856]

Hi All,

Torus Power Isolation units have just got CE approval and I have a few questions.

1. Is the power coming into homes in Europe considered a problem in terms of noise and crap on the line?
2. Is protection from lightening strikes and surges important?
3. What power plug socket on the back of the Torus unit would be the most appropriate plug in Europe? 

james

Hi James,

the topic is much debated. The German HiFi magazine Audio just published a test they did in their listening room where they compared a standard powerline with a power source they use in their lab and that is in the €20K region. The lab equipment takes off any ripple or distortion that might be on the powerline. In their blind tests the couldn't reliably distingish between the two power sources though. Maybe it would be interesting to compare the way the Torus units work, compared to the lab box Audio used in this test.

I haven't had any problems so far with surges but we do have lightning and if it strikes nearby...

The common power jack for Germany would be Schuko (=Schutzkontakt).

Hope this helps.

Cheers!


Markus

[Imperial]

Nordic countries also use Schuko.

Imperial

[alexone]

Hi All,

Torus Power Isolation units have just got CE approval and I have a few questions.

1. Is the power coming into homes in Europe considered a problem in terms of noise and crap on the line?
2. Is protection from lightening strikes and surges important?
3. What power plug socket on the back of the Torus unit would be the most appropriate plug in Europe? 

james


 hi, james!

 could the inputs answer your questions? what's the current status...?


 al.

[James Tanner]

Hi Alex,

Did not receive much feedback on this topic. Seems like the Far East and North America are more interested in Torus than Europe.

james

[alexone]

 james,

 so Torus won't be available in europe?


 al.

[James Tanner]

james,

 so Torus won't be available in europe?


 al.

Hi Alex,

Yes it is available in Europe-sorry I did not make that clear.  It is just that Torus sells much better in North America and in the Far East compared to Europe.

The feedback we got was that customers in Europe wanted the USA Style power inlet plugs on the back of the Torus and as far as we can tell there are no 240 volt CERTIFIED versions of those plugs available.  So we are offering the Torus with the British and German style 240v plugs as well as IEC.

james

[Gustavo]

Probably the reason is the always correct polarity of American inlet plugs. Here in Chile a dealer brought some conditioners with Schuko style inlets (he also import power cables with Schuko) but he couldn’t sell any of them (we use European electrical standards here with 220 volts with old style german plugs).

By contrast another dealer brought a european brand conditioner with American inlet and he sold all of them.

In my audio chain I use all American inlets, of course my wife always complain when she wants to plug the vacuum cleaner to that specific inlet. 

[amdan]

james,

 so Torus won't be available in europe?


 al.

Hi Alex,

Yes it is available in Europe-sorry I did not make that clear.  It is just that Torus sells much better in North America and in the Far East compared to Europe.

The feedback we got was that customers in Europe wanted the USA Style power inlet plugs on the back of the Torus and as far as we can tell there are no 240 volt CERTIFIED versions of those plugs available.  So we are offering the Torus with the British and German style 240v plugs as well as IEC.

james

James,

PS Audio make a 240V power conditioner (Power Plant Premier ) that has US style outlets. Perhaps you could find out what they use. The fact that the Torus did not have US style outlets was one of the reasons I bought the Power Plant Premier instead. The other reasons were the ridiculous mark up that your local distributor put on the item and the fact that I couldn't home demo one.
BTW I am in Australia and most serious audiophiles here use US style power cords.

[James Tanner]

james,

 so Torus won't be available in europe?


 al.

Hi Alex,

Yes it is available in Europe-sorry I did not make that clear.  It is just that Torus sells much better in North America and in the Far East compared to Europe.

The feedback we got was that customers in Europe wanted the USA Style power inlet plugs on the back of the Torus and as far as we can tell there are no 240 volt CERTIFIED versions of those plugs available.  So we are offering the Torus with the British and German style 240v plugs as well as IEC.

james

James,

PS Audio make a 240V power conditioner (Power Plant Premier ) that has US style outlets. Perhaps you could find out what they use. The fact that the Torus did not have US style outlets was one of the reasons I bought the Power Plant Premier instead. The other reasons were the ridiculous mark up that your local distributor put on the item and the fact that I couldn't home demo one.
BTW I am in Australia and most serious audiophiles here use US style power cords.

Hi amdan

Yes there is a lot of confusion on this.

Couple of questions:

 1.When you say US style do you mean the standard 3 prong U ground style-maybe send me a picture of the back of your unit please.

2. The PS Audio unit you have is it a power re-generator or an Isolation Transformer?

james

[Baard]

It is just that Torus sells much better in North America and in the Far East compared to Europe.

james

Maybe this reasonable priced AC power conditioner from Ben Duncan is a better solution -
and is why the sales in Europe not is as expected for Torus?

From my understanding both use transformer based AC conditioner

1000VA @ 600£ and  2000VA @ 925£ /60kg 

http://store.securehosting.com/stores/sh204131/shophome.php?itemprcd=bdppn

Question:
1000VA is’t enough for my 7B SST’s?

[James Tanner]

It is just that Torus sells much better in North America and in the Far East compared to Europe.

james

Maybe this reasonable priced AC power conditioner from Ben Duncan is a better solution -
and is why the sales in Europe not is as expected for Torus?

From my understanding both use transformer based AC conditioner

1000VA @ 600£ and  2000VA @ 925£ /60kg 

http://store.securehosting.com/stores/sh204131/shophome.php?itemprcd=bdppn

Question:
1000VA is’t enough for my 7B SST’s?

Hi Baard,

We certainly agree that ISOLATION TRANSFORMERS are the way to go rather than Filters or Voltage Regulators.  The size of the transformer is critical though so we use double the size required by the rating.  So in the case of our 20 Amp 120 Volt unit the transformer is double the size required for the 20 amp rating.  Other wise we found it restricted dynamics.

There is a lot more to it than this though as the Torus offers suge protection as well as instantanious current draw.

I will have to check with Torus as I am more familiar with the 120 volt versions. In the US you need 1500VA for a 7B if operated at full power into 4 ohms and 1/2 that if operated at 8 ohms.

james

[amdan]

james,

 so Torus won't be available in europe?


 al.

Hi Alex,

Yes it is available in Europe-sorry I did not make that clear.  It is just that Torus sells much better in North America and in the Far East compared to Europe.

The feedback we got was that customers in Europe wanted the USA Style power inlet plugs on the back of the Torus and as far as we can tell there are no 240 volt CERTIFIED versions of those plugs available.  So we are offering the Torus with the British and German style 240v plugs as well as IEC.

james

James,

PS Audio make a 240V power conditioner (Power Plant Premier ) that has US style outlets. Perhaps you could find out what they use. The fact that the Torus did not have US style outlets was one of the reasons I bought the Power Plant Premier instead. The other reasons were the ridiculous mark up that your local distributor put on the item and the fact that I couldn't home demo one.
BTW I am in Australia and most serious audiophiles here use US style power cords.

Hi amdan

Yes there is a lot of confusion on this.

Couple of questions:

 1.When you say US style do you mean the standard 3 prong U ground style-maybe send me a picture of the back of your unit please.

2. The PS Audio unit you have is it a power re-generator or an Isolation Transformer?

james

James,

Please see http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue34/ps_premier.htm for pictures.

It is a regenerator.

Regards.

[James Tanner]

Thanks amdan -much appreciated.

james

[James Tanner]

Thanks amdan -much appreciated.

james

Hi amdan,

I checked out the link you provided on the PS Audio and the picture of the PS Audio is showing the Nema 5-20 outlets, which is good for 120V not 240V. I have an email into them to answer the following question for me:

1.   Do you offer a 220/240V output on Nema 5-15 receptacles?

2.   Or what Nema receptacle style do you supply on units with 220/240V outputs.


james

[amdan]

Thanks amdan -much appreciated.

james

Hi amdan,

I checked out the link you provided on the PS Audio and the picture of the PS Audio is showing the Nema 5-20 outlets, which is good for 120V not 240V. I have an email into them to answer the following question for me:

1.   Do you offer a 220/240V output on Nema 5-15 receptacles?

2.   Or what Nema receptacle style do you supply on units with 220/240V outputs.


james

Hi James,

Sorry. Now that I think about it that was probably a review of the 120 V version. Please pm me if you don't get a satisfactory response from PS Audio and I will photograph the back of my unit for you.

Regards.