not to mention HIGH FREQUENCY interference

@@toneysunny9283 Yes to both! ground loop hum and high frequency interference were both alleviated with my isolation transformers.

KW T Well it would cost upwards of $10K to do it right. You would need an inverter that does a pure sine wave, not a modified sine wave, about 2K watts. At least 1Kw in solar panels. Then a device to convert the solar panels juice to charge the batteries to run your system.

i had ground loop issues having a step down transformer for a tube guitar amp; an isolation transformer solve that and the quality of sound seems ok,

I am unconvinced of the benefits of cleaning up this small amount of noise and am pretty convinced the downsides to cleaning it using an isolation transformer isn't worth it. The extra impedance added by the transformer seems sonically more destructive than the little loss from the noise.

Your wife seems like a keeper ;P

Will do!

Many audiophiles aren't trying to achieve perfection: low noise, low distortion, reduced feedback, reduced harmonics, accuracy, etc. They are simply going for a sound they enjoy. The other audiophile camp is going for accuracy and trying to get closer to perfection to best reproduce what's coded or cut on the source material. And sometimes their efforts make the sound less enjoyable, even to them. And the noble ones can freely admit it. They're more like gear heads and technical snobs. They know that their brains and ears don't like it as much as possible, but the knowledge that the test microphone and robots must love it, is enough of a consolation. I tend to lean towards trying to achieve accuracy, within reason, to provide a good foundation, but I'm fine introducing certain innacuracy if it sounds better to me, and I can be aware of how I'm deviating away from the source. That makes it easy for myself and others to know if changes will improve all content to my preferences, or if it is specific to a certain piece of music. I think it's best to avoid such deviations unless you only like one specific genre. Problems arise when you don't know your goals or don't understand what's taking place-- and that goes for all of us. Nobody has audio 100% figured out.

Is it possible that what you're cleaning up and removing could be enjoyed by another? Paul very much seems to be in the camp of letting "good sound" be the goal. I agree with him, but sometimes I'm a wee bit skeptical that the areas where his products don't measure well are incorporated into his rhetoric that such "apparent flaws" were allowed to achieve "musicality." It's a good tactic, and it has merit, but proving it is quite difficult. And hard to prove claims deserve more skepticism. I don't know if I could trust my ears enough to know if PS Audio products would impress me enough to upgrade. So, the in-home tryout is a good policy to alleviate some concerns.

"better duplex outlets improve sound even further" 😆🤣😂🤣😆🤣🤣😆🤣😂😂🤣😆🤣🤣 really ?? 🤔

@@poserwanabe Yeah, really. The stock outlets were old and had poor grip strength. They were replaced by new Hubbell industrial outlets. You're probably thinking I got those expensive Furutech or Oyaide duplexes. No. Just industrial grade Hubbels. Yeah, the grip on the bass improved noticably.

@@Mike82ARP ok, well I've been doing audio professionally for over 40yrs also and my comment was posted because I know it's not possible for a duplex to affect audio...you either have a circuit or you don't. peace Please don't bring up "micro arcing" .... smh

yes, maybe. But the impedance will destroy your party.

Oystein Soreide what are you talking about? if you have a 500VA isolation transformer, and your amplifier uses 100VA but peaks at 250VA, I fails to see how the impedance is relevant

@@FooBar89 You didn't watch the video?

Oystein Soreide sure I did, make or explain your point

ThinkLearnSolve Paul said that the biggest issue with isolation transformers is the output impedance which is way too high to make anything sound good. You should look at pauls videos about how the power plant works, because then you might understand why it is such a big deal.

I'm no expert,but I think this is a conseqence of poor mixdown of multichannel (5.1etc) to stereo or mono.In multichannel AV systems you can adjust and room adapt the volume level of each channel,the center that carries the dialogues.TVs have simplier audio decoders.

@@karolyvarga8872 Thanks for advice. The problem is very widespread and annoying many. I know they target 18 to 35 year old audience. Many of those age group have trouble hearing the TV also.

I dont have that issue at home....but I have heard it. I think in general, its caused by a combination of factors that most people are either not aware of, or are not wanting to address for various reasons. I find most newer homes to be very boomy and echoey, typically due to higher ceilings, hard surface flooring everywhere, more and larger windows etc... Not a good accoustic environment to start with. Now look at what passes for sound systems today. I find most of the mass market sound systems these days to sound rather muddy and boomy at their best. Now put a system like that in an already boomy, echoey room and what happens? The bass becomes loud and overpowering, downing out what little mids are being produced, making it sound too loud, yet unintelligible at the same time. Not saying that's the only factor....but that is one that I have come across on multiple occasions.

@@DB-bw5fz That makes since. My house is small and over 100 years old and so are most people's house I visit. In other words I don't know nobody with money .They think all that music makes it better. For me and many others,, it makes it incomprehensibly.Gunsmoke and westerns are clear as a bell. Even with the cheap internel speakers. I have movies that I would love to level the sound on. Since I own them I should legally be able to rip it. Just need a program to level the audio.

@@jaynone9262 I can't say that I've ever really come across a movie that had the sound that poorly mixed. To me, it has always been caused by poor quality, unbalanced sound. Boomy sounding systems to me are some of the worst offenders for this, as the boominess can drown out an otherwise good midrange. Small speakers in general are some of the other offenders, as I have heard many of them get very congested sounding, which can also have the effect of making speech unintelligible when they are trying to reproduce multiple sounds simultaneously.

@@thunderpooch well they have to offer more than 30 days that's a bit of a cheapskate that is just a legal requirement, no reason why you can't get 60 or 120 days.

@@ebarbie5016 So.. Because YOU don't notice a difference then it's just BS!? That's not how reality works... For the people that notice a difference it's worth it. For the people that don't notice anything.. Just don't buy the product. Very easy! Here I live the power is clean anyway and I don't want to spend so much money for maybe 1% better audio (If my ears can notice the difference at all). But there are people that notice a big difference in a blind test. I was one of those who said a cable is just a cable.. And then I tried changing to moderate expencive cables and there was a difference soI had to eat my own words. Been switching from dirt cheap to medium expencive cables in a blind test when someone else was changing the cables and I'll never go back to the cheap crap. So never just assume something just because YOU don't agree or hear a difference in equipment etc. We all don't have the same ears... ;)

@@ebarbie5016 Ohh... So you ignore that you can even messure a difference in the signal? Not much of a degree if you don't even know your shit ;) Many of those who notice a difference do so in a blind test so they don't even know what is what. And still they notice a difference.. So it can't be lies or placebo when those factors are taken out in a blind test.

@@johnsweda2999 You could always set aside a month where you're not too busy. 30 days is plenty. Anymore and it just gets weird. The equipment will begin to smell like your particular house, lol. Perhaps they could have a few models in constant circulation where you keep them for 60 to 90 days. Each month costs only $30 just as a way to support the program. If you like it, you send it back (yes, you'd pay shipping for both ways) and receive a new one at full price but minus shipping. They would test the old ones before shipping them out again to ensure they're fine except for fingerprint wear and minor blemishes.

@@Oystein87 Be careful with cable comparisons. The really expensive ones often do sound different (mistaken as better), or louder (mistaken as more clear), but it doesn't necessarily mean what you're hearing has better clarity. Many of them add sizzle and spark to the high end treble (air), but it's not a good thing for all material, nor is it as accurate as standard 14awg stranded wire or standard 14awg litz.

Perhaps what you're referring to is called "dithering"???🤔 www.waves.com/audio-dithering-what-you-need-to-know

@@fookingsog Wouldn't call it that. Dithering is a controlled process in the digital domain. My experience is that cleaning up power supplies for example reduces the agressivness in the sound, which may appear lame and slow first, but with continuous work on all elements in the chain, the attack and clarity increase and then you get the true details, not the distortions, which they are often confused with.

These things also depends on where in the world you live etc. Where I live I get little to no benefit of doing the things you mention. But if I lived in some other area it could help. But I generaly agree with you

@@hermannschmidt9788 Excellent comment. And you can always add distortion if you need

Agreed. Where I live, the codes have changed where 2 ground rods are required rather than one.

@@Mike82ARP Yeah, me too (two rods). Ground rods are not a "done deal" for power grounds. Soil conditions vary wildly and that drastically changes their effectiveness. Where I live has average rainfall and they are driven under the drip line of a roof, so good, (soil type, have no idea). Other places, the soil conditions and moisture level are far worse and ground rod's effectiveness really suffers.

99% of UPS disconnect from the load if the AC line feeding it is good.

Not recommended for 2 reasons: 1. the power they offer is usually too low to effectively power a system, and; 2. the AC many of them put out is a square wave rather than a sine wave. Square wave AC doesn't sound good and can potentially damage your electronics.

@@wilcalint But not for online units also called double conversion. Here the load is always running off the inverter. The incoming AC is rectified and feeds the inverter in parallel with the battery bank. There is no switch, the AC line simply drops off. APC did make a large UPS, the Silcon series, that use what they called "Delta conversion". These were 100kw and larger class three phase units. Here the input rectifier only charged the batteries. The AC utility was in parallel with the inverter output, synchronized of course. That way the inverter only made up the difference needed should there be a sag - IOW the voltage delta between the utility and desired line voltage. This is a much more efficient unit except that your are not totally isolated from the line as with a true double conversion unit. This model is no longer made either AFAIK. I guess people didn't like the lack of line isolation although I thought it worked OK if you had reasonably clean utility power.

@@andydelle4509 I've always enjoyed the product quality that APC/Schneider Electric puts out!!!😁👍🏻

Steve Fick sounds like you need a system with a better internal power supply

I've noticed that my system sounds better at night, but only after several drinks.

Lol, you think he reads these all cold? There's many areas he isn't well versed in. He reviews some questions and learns some basics which he then recites back. For the most part, I think he tells you his thoughts and what he's experienced over the years. What I'd really like to see is Derron Meyers, Ted Smith, and Chris Brunhaver take a few "Ask Paul" segments. We've heard enough of Paul's take and he's beginning to repeat himself. Some input from the other design leads would be eye opening. And areas of disagreement would shed light on what aspects of audio are hard to nail down and understand. And mature people wouldn't use them as "gotcha questions" to see if they disagree.

__ My comment was meant to be more tongue in cheek than serious. That’s what I meant by saying that I doubt there’s any questions that he can’t answer, but without sounding disagreeable or combative. I greatly respect Paul, and I enjoy his stories in general. I know he of course doesn’t just read a question and answer it on the spot. Lol I agree with you that I’d love to see some other people like Darren, Chris, or Ted get involved with answering a few questions. It would only give more insight and perspective regarding the subjects of the “Ask Paul” questions. I agree that “gotcha questions” would be uncalled for and unnecessary. In the end, Paul does have a lifetime of experience in all aspects of audio, and he’s obviously a great guy too. Have a great rest of your week, my fellow audiophile! 🎶🔊🙂

@Fat Rat I realize the black hole would probably swallow us all. But I'm willing to risk it. News anchors fill in all the time and they still maintain the main host's name on the show. I realize PS Audio doesn't have the budget of ABC or NBC, but maybe they could keep the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse in a controlled flight pattern and put off the Earth's demise for 300 million years or so. And by "gotcha questions" I really don't think any exist. I was referring to repeat questions that Deren, Ted, or Chris might answer differently, and then idiots would scream, "Eek, consensus hasn't been reached at PS Audio, they're doomed to fail. Disagreements are proof they collectively don't know a thing."

@@NickP333 Tongue in cheek, you say? I love tongue in cheek! The Smiths and Morrissey are a prime example of fooling most people into thinking they take their moping and wallowing seriously. If you truly want sad sack bull crap go for The Cure, Evanescence, and many Coldplay songs. Radiohead also whines too much without enough humor.

@Fat Rat The doomsday clock is such a farce but it does make your scenarios more humorous. The doomsday clock is always really close to midnight because of the two most destructive forces being known to man and implemented by man. We get it, if world powers chose to, they could sure nuke a bunch of stuff. And climate change isn't being addressed so the health of the oceans continues to worsen and coastal areas will flood. But doomsday? Forget about it. Nukes and global warming will cause severe damage to the world for a good 10,000 to 20,000 years, but then it will recover.

Øystein you are not that lucky, in that you have an audio system that demands clean power, think about that for a second

@@FooBar89 In the what?? And yes I am lucky since I have clean power in my house. That is an advantage for soooo much more than my audio system. Think about that for a second

Yes, a good earth to Neutral bond is required. But I hope your are not advocating a separate "audio system" ground rod. That is extremely dangerous and illegal. All earth ground rods for a building must be bonded together. You can have more than one, they just need to be heavily bonded together. Also the Earth is not some magical waste dump for electrical noise. That's a common audiophile myth. The Earth as a ground only comes into play for lightning, some radio transmission, and utility power. In these cases the Earth is part of the electrical circuit. It's not for an audio device. Think about it? Aircraft, satellites, your Ipod? Where is the Earth ground in those electronic devices?

@@andydelle4509 Yup. I've heard people grounding their system via a rod close to where their system is located, and often a good distance from the home ground rod. A lightning strike nearby can set up a potential between the 2 ground rods and fry your gear.

@@Mike82ARP And fry you gear is the least that can happen. I think a fire will most likely quickly result all over the electrical system - like in the walls.

false, not by a long shot

djvartan lol, most inaccurate

Computing devices are the most voltage sensitive from my experience!!!😁👍🏻

if ultimate numbers on a sheet of paper is what you are after, use a manufacturer that uses proper voltage regulators, or an smps, neither is affected by input waveforms or noise

OK, but maybe you can point to one. I know of no transformer or even transformer technology that can add energy back into the AC.

PS Audio you’re right, there are no products like yours, but there are Xfmers that handle power deviation (within reason of course) Regvolt 5000 Watts Deluxe Automatic Voltage Regulator Converter Transformer does that

@@tapemaster8252 Right,m but not dynamically, which is what really matters. These voltage regulation transformers have multiple taps they can switch in with relays to make up for changes in incoming voltage, which is nice, but from a sonic standpoint not all that important. What really matters sonically, is dynamic voltage regulation, which only a regenerator can do.

PS Audio here is a simple, compact and efficient, scalable solution that is noise tolerant: smps (for the psu within the amplifiers, or DACa) and if you really insist or concerned about the noise (but you shouldn’t be, smps are not intrinsically noisy), it can be followed by LDO, or linear regulators, as the voltage is regulated, you don’t need to be concerned about the power dissipation, minimal heat sinking will be required, and you’ll still save physical space and weight; other solutions like external regulation via AC regulation are huge hacks; you say you drive innovation, so do it

PS Audio ok like never before, I get it, that truly is a marvel of engineering excellence for the high-end buyer, Salute to PS Audio 🔈🔉🔊🔊🔊

I did a little instrumentation on it.

Yes MG sets, these were very popular in Florida and Texas where most of the power hits are lightning based and short. But I think modern UPS technology has replaced most of them. There is a newer version where they use carbon fiber flywheels with mag lev bearings, very low friction. These are claimed to hold out for almost a minute in some cases. The benefit is no battery maintenance. But one minute or less is cutting it very close for a large diesel generator to come up and stabilize. Therefore I don't think that many of these "mechanical batteries" are sold.

@@andydelle4509 Thanks Andy for taking a little interest in this. I changed the time frame to the “early 70’s”. After I joined GA they sent me to the Intel ICE-80 school and after that one of the assignments they gave me was to design and build a sequencer for a project that still is active today. I doubt my little contribution is still there. Lets call this thing the “Big Squeeze”. Here’s a link to it. Enjoy: www.ga.com/diii-d

You are correct! paul is wrong. With my first isolation transformer I plugged my $2000.00 preamp into it and it made a drastic improvement, = to $3000.00 to $4000.00 preamp. Yes that much better. Paul's PS power cord cost more than the "new old stock" 700 watt isolation transformer that I bought from Ebay ($35) & it had a built in IEC power cable and sounded soooo much better than his power cable. How he can say that "I would never plug into an isolation transformer i would plug directly into the wall)...him saying that is reckless.

Whether they clean up noise from "the street" or not I can't say. Here's what my Isolation trannys did for me. First, they stopped other large current devices on my property (refrigeration cycles and well pump cycles) from have popping effects on audio when cycling. Second, they definitely helped with noise. I measure drops in noise across the spectrum, including hum, buzz, and 8k and 16k whine. This could be due to ground isolation breaking ground loops. The effect is cumulative; when all recording input devices run through the IT, it's clean, clear, and high resolution. There's no loss in dynamics or frequency response. The trick is to use them primarily for input devices (mic power supplies, preamps, compressors, and audio interfaces) and not overload them with high power devices such as power amps, powered monitors, and subs.

@@onfirepro But you seem to be presuming that AC noise of any sort is an audible noise. Near as I can tell much of the so-called noise is not an audible noise but an inaudible distortion or corruption that we cannot hear but greatly impacts the collective noise floor threshold. And it's this much raised noise floor threshold that inhibits much of the music info embedded in a recording from remaining audible at the speaker - because this music remains below the much raised noise floor threshold - a good percentage of which is induced by the noisy AC from the street. But that's only half of it cuz the other half is the noisy AC generated within the components. Addressing the AC coming from the street is ideally addressed by some form of superior line conditioner/purifier/cleanser/filter or whatever. But its purpose ceasing or scope is limited to a component's IEC inlet. Once in the component another form of noisy AC is generated. That's the other half. Perhaps if a genuinely superior AC treatment is applied, then it should help minimize some of the internally-generated distortions. Regardless of AC filtering alternatives they all overlook some forms of distortions potentially generated internally. I mention this because it's usually not a safe bet to claim no loss in dynamics, etc. But I suppose it's this half where we've little choice but to hope that a component's designer knew his stuff.

@@ToadStool942 I'm not assuming anything, what I'm addresing is what I know from audio measurements of individual component noise floors and listening tests of multitrack recording where these individual components are "stacked." These components include viintage Neumann tube mics and boutique preamamps and compressors recording around 20 tracks of audio to be mixed in a DAW. Your theory of other, non audible factors may be true, I'm simply reporting that three 1800w hospital grade isolation transformers in my studio made a dramatic improvement when the aformentioned key components were run through them. Measurable recorded dynamics are intact, but the audible noise floor has been measurably reduced, and I can hear the improvement in the finished product. If there's more I can do electrically, great, but I'm quite happy with the result I'm getting now.

^^he gets it^^

That's fine to run a larger ground connection. Just don't run that dedicated ground wire outside to an isolated ground rod or connect it to anything other then your building electrical ground.

@@andydelle4509 NEC says you can run your ground to a ground rod as long as the ground rod is bonded to the house/building ground at the breaker panel. Most if not all states apply.

@@kirkcunningham6146 Yes, that is correct. You can have multiple ground rods but they must be bonded together with a #6 minimum. What you sometimes read in the audiophile rags is to drive in a dedicated ground rod for your audio gear and NOT bond it to the so called "dirty electrical ground". As you know that is a recipe for disaster and illegal code wise for good reason

@@andydelle4509 agreed

Not really... Where I live we have very clean AC power and not really any benefit at all trying to use batteries. Just more expencive and extra work for basicly nothing in return. So this has ALOT to do with where in the world you live and how many people sharing the same power grid.

you’re right on the money regarding DC; but not regarding batteries, that’s unnecessary, simply use a regulated psu, none of the “audiophile” audio products have one

Evan McCosham I have a RM20 coming in on a gamble of what it will do to the feed to my system. It is so far the only component that I did not demo because the technology of isolating makes sense. It’s even said you’d want to be on the transformer by yourself?? This is what Torus is doing in a small scale.

lowell a that’s awesome congrats. I have an RM20 as well, powering a full Bryston stack. You will be happy!

Evan McCosham hooked mine up last night, and it’s hard to ever thinking of having a system without it! Not just an immediate difference but increased sound qualities to my ears and I’m very critical. Even my wife who just plays with the system in the background for casual listening came down and asked “what did you do? Sounds pretty good”. :)

@@labalo5 Amazing! Enjoy - glad you're happy with it