Powervar

jcoat007 · « **on:** 18 Dec 2003, 04:02 pm »

So I have heard the hype about the OneAc and Powervar units, so I took the plunge and purchased Powervar 6.0 (ABC600-11). Actually I purchased two of them. Interestingly, one has two outlets and the other has three. The one with two is an older unit. The one with three was brand new. I replaced all of the outlets with cryo treated Pass & Seymour 5352-W 20amp outlets.

I plugged my pre-amp into one and my transport and DAC into the other. I am not sure which is getting more benefit, but some things are very clear.

First a layer of grunge is gone, gone, gone. I have a brand new house, with brand new wiring, plenty of dedicated 20amp dedicated outlets etc.... I just never really thought I would have this issue with everything being brand new. But immediately there was a clarity not present prior to inserting these into my system.

One example of a problem I was having was on very high octave piano notes. When played lightly, they would ring like a bell. I actually thought something might be wrong with my tweeter. After putting these into my system, the ringing is gone.

Overall, there is a clarity to the music that was not there prior. It like somebody has wiped the foggy glass in the shower and now it is crystal clear. Maybe the big buck units offer more whatever, but these things are certainly cheap and the improvement is dramatic.

Now here is a by-product that has also come from adding these to my system. When listening to CD's, I can actually hear tape hiss from the original recording. I know it is tape hiss, because I can turn the volume pot up all the way up on my pre-amp with no source playing and there is dead silence. Right now I am playing a brand new copy of the digitally re-mastered Bad Co. disc. When the song fades in at the beginning or fades out at the end of a song, the hiss is there. During that few second delay between songs it totally dissappears. So it's like this:

Song ends....
Hisssssssss...
Silence......
Hisssssssss...
Next song starts
During quiet passages, the hiss is evident. Actually on this disc it is very evident on most songs.

It is not on all recordings, but on older recordings like this one it seems more pronounced.

But the clarity I am getting is well worth whatever by-products I am getting. I guess if what I am hearing is the actual tape hiss from the original recording, that means I should be getting all the information there is to get. At least most of it.

As always - YMMV.

Steve

doug s. · « **Reply #1 on:** 18 Dec 2003, 04:14 pm »

ok steve, now get a third unit so ya can run the transport & dac on their own conditioners - the description of what yure hearing will increase. amhik!

or, meanwhile, run one on cdp, one on dac, let the pre run naked... i'de be curious to see whether or not it stays the same, gets better, or gets worse. my guess is it would be better...

doug s.

jcoat007 · « **Reply #2 on:** 18 Dec 2003, 04:20 pm »

Maybe Steve Nugent can chime in here as well. When I upgraded my transport, I asked him to put an IEC adaptor in so I could swap cords. He said that with his circuit mods, power cords don't make any difference and he told me not to waist the money.

Based on his comment, I just didn't think power would make much difference. What I need to do is experiment with it. Take the pre off-line and see what happens. Put the DAC and transport on seperate Powervars to see what happens. Take the DAC and transport off-line and the pre back on and see what happens. Swap and listen, swap and listen etc....

Then I can report back.

JoshK · « **Reply #3 on:** 18 Dec 2003, 04:39 pm »

Daniel and I are experimenting with modding our OneACs...will get back to you guys with the results.

Ears · « **Reply #4 on:** 18 Dec 2003, 05:58 pm »

I could not agree more on the value in Powervar conditioning and have already upgraded my wall and all three outlets whith Porter Ports but will hold back on comenting until another 3 weeks or so have passed on the upgrade as these are supposed to sound there best after 4 weeks of use.

I had thought one of the benifits of using a Powervar was to have everything grounded at one point.
I did have everything digital and everything analog on different dedicated lines before the powervar.

Is it better to seperate source,pre ect or is this just because of the amperage ratings on the units?

byteme · « **Reply #5 on:** 18 Dec 2003, 06:37 pm »

Steve,

Glad to hear things went so well with the outlet swap! You apparently didn't blow yourself up!

I've got the same powervar and two oneac units that I use. The oneacs are cl1102s. I used them prior to replacing the outlets with cryo'd ones and while the effect is there - it's there in spades with the cryo'd outlet replacement - as Steve has found

I've tried what doug suggested in using separate conditioners for the transport and dac. At first I had just the Powervar and 1 CL1102, the powervar was for the digital side and the Oneac for my preamp (amps directly to the wall per manufacturer). I picked up another Oneac and plugged that into the slot that USED to be for the DAC and then plugged the DAC into the 2nd Oneac. Well, I'll be damned if I didn't pick up a level of clarity and overall "loudness" without changing volume. Hmmpf! So that's the way things are now. Not as big an improvement as going to the Oneac's originally OR adding the cryo'd outlet - but noticable and a keeper. For the $20 or so a small Oneac will run you I think it's worth it. I would think 1 amp would be fine for a DAC or transport. Possibly even the .7 amp Oneac that you sometimes see! Although you can't replace the outlet on that unit...

I'm waiting on one more cryo'd outlet for the DAC Oneac, but have tweaked each with Dynamat, and ERS Sheets. The Powervar sits on Mapleshade conepoints onto a block of maple (timbernation.com) and the Oneacs sit on top of the Powervar each layer separated by Isopods.

Good stuff! Overall an incredible value in power conditioning!

audiojerry · « **Reply #6 on:** 18 Dec 2003, 06:42 pm »

another smart member learns the "secret" of our Powervar club.

Can someone tell me the difference between a Powervar and Oneac?

byteme · « **Reply #7 on:** 18 Dec 2003, 08:03 pm »

Quote from: audiojerry

another smart member learns the "secret" of our Powervar club.

Can someone tell me the difference between a Powervar and Oneac?

Jerry, in my instance the Oneac's that I have use high efficiency square box type transformers and the Powervar uses a toriodal transformer. Other than that I'm sure they're pretty close to the same at least from a theory standpoint.

Powervar -

Oneac (transformer on the bottom of picture)

Hope that helps!

audiojerry · « **Reply #8 on:** 19 Dec 2003, 12:22 am »

Quote

Hope that helps

yup, thanks!

doug s. · « **Reply #9 on:** 19 Dec 2003, 05:31 am »

Quote from: Ears

...Is it better to seperate source,pre ect or is this just because of the amperage ratings on the units?

my understanding, (courtesy of jon risch), is that digital artifacts can be sent back thru the power cables & into other equipment, which is why having separate isolation transformers for dac & transport is beneficial. everyting else could be on one isolation transformer, assuming its amperage rating is sufficient.

i don't really tink one needs to worry about brands, tho theoretically, for digital gear, the units w/old fashioned square iron-core transformers are better than the toroids, cuz the toroids' high bandwidth, which is beneficial for amps, pre's, etc, are theoretically not as desirable for filtering digital equipment, as they don't filter all the hi-frequency grunge which causes problems. a frequency response of 50khz would actually be better than 100khz for digital filtering... i have several diferent models - a powervars, an oneac, a toroid international, and a b-k precision combination wariac/isolation transformer, which my dac ias plugged in to...

for amps, mondo units are needed. xentek & topaz make mondo 20+ amp, really heavy isolation transformers that would likely be ok for many amps. of course, ya can really go nuts, & hire an electrician to wire up someting like this for ya, & you'll still end up spending a lot less than getting some hi-dollar audiophile-approved power conditioner!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2579598074&category=42881

doug s.

bubba966 · « **Reply #10 on:** 19 Dec 2003, 05:48 am »

Doug,

How would you use this?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2579598074&category=42881

It's 480v in, 240v/120v 3 phase out.

I don't think you can get 480 volt service to your house. That'd be for industrial use.

And even if you did manage to get 480v service to your house, you can't use 3 phase power on single phase gear. And audio gear is only single phase.

doug s. · « **Reply #11 on:** 19 Dec 2003, 06:01 am »

Quote from: bubba966

Doug,

How would you use this?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2579598074&category=42881

It's 480v in, 240v/120v 3 phase out.

I don't think you can get 480 volt service to your house. That'd be for industrial use.

And even if you did manage to get 480v service to your house, you can't use 3 phase power on single phase gear. And audio gear is only singel phase.

yure right that it would be difficult to use this exact specific piece of equipment in a home residence. tho, theoretically, it could be done by an electrician - get a 220-to-480 step-up transformer, split the phase on the outputs, etc... it would definitely add to the cost. tho still it would likely be affordable, if compared to some of the spendier power conditioners for audio...

my point in referencing this is not that this is the best unit to get, or even a good one, but that keeping an eye on ebay for this type of equipment can result in truly superior performance for relatively little money. that item was yust a from a quick search, to give folk an idea of the kinda stuff that's out there... prolly the best unit of this type to find would be an isolation transformer w/220-to-120 stepdown... yure correct that i shoulda been a bit clearer...

doug s.

bubba966 · « **Reply #12 on:** 19 Dec 2003, 06:09 am »

Quote from: doug s.

my point in referencing this is not that this is the best unit to get, or even a good one, but that keeping an eye on ebay for this type of equipment can result in truly superior performance for relatively little money. that item was yust a from a quick search, to give folk an idea of the kinda stuff that's out there... prolly the best unit of this type to find would be an isolation transformer w/220-to-120 stepdown... yure correct that i shoulda been a bit clearer...

Ahh, ok. That's a bit better now that I know why you brought up that 480v tranny.

And yeah, it would be much simpler, cheaper & easier to just get a 240v to 120v step-down tranny...

Ears · « **Reply #13 on:** 19 Dec 2003, 06:42 am »

Quote from: doug s.

my understanding, (courtesy of jon risch), is that digital artifacts can be sent back thru the power cables & into other equipment, which is why having separate isolation transformers for dac & transport is beneficial. everyting else could be on one isolation transformer, assuming its amperage rating is sufficient.

i don't really tink one needs to worry about brands, tho theoretically, for digital gear, the units w/old fashioned square iron-core transformers are better than the toroids, cuz the toroid ...

Thanks , I guess I will look for one of the smaller Oneacs for my digital source...they certainly are cheap enough.

Greg

Lak · « **Reply #14 on:** 19 Dec 2003, 12:06 pm »

Stick with the Isolation Transformers that are 120v/220v step up and or step down. You will get the best bang for the buck.

Tonto Yoder · « **Reply #15 on:** 19 Dec 2003, 12:22 pm »

Another name in the Oneac/Powervar category--
saw a Controlled Power "Power Purifier" in a local pawn shop.

Not sure what's in its innards; it's meant more for industry where machinery and electronics would be competing for power. Might be something to buy if available cheap (my pawn model was $150).

http://www.controlledpwr.com/product.htm