Isolation power transformer

[Sorensen]

Hi. I am a very happy owner of Diablo 120. I changed to gryphon this summer after a short try with devialet expert pro amplifier.
Have any of you any experience with isolation transformers?. Saturday i will try out torus TOT max.

 

[cuntigh]

Torus for me. Great. A friend of mine has the Accuphase PS500 for many years. Another one has the PS1210 and both have complete satisfaction.

 

[Sorensen]

Sounds great cuntigh.
What kind of improvement did you notice?

 

[LL21]

In our case, we found that, despite having a Burmester 948 and Nordost QX4, the TorusAVR16 cleaned up a sense of grunge across the board, a further dimunition of perceived mechanical effort to reproduce sound...and another significant benefit was a completely unexpected improvement in upper bass transient clarity, snap. We run the sources through the Nordost/Burmester which then goes into the Torus. The Gryphon goes straight into the Torus...and we did that ONLY after first checking with Gryphon in Denmark and Torus in Canada who reviewed the specs of both the AVR16 and the Gryphon Mephisto.

 

[Mikem53]

I use a BPIT , Balanced power isolation Transformer. It works by CMR , Common Mode Rejection, physics.. not snake oil.. Very effective in lowering the noise floor of all your gear via CMR.
I have used Equitech Q series and now a Equi-core 1800 which is less expensive and just as effective.. IME..

 

[tony22]

I was reading on another site the feeling that much smaller BITs, at each source device, is supposedly better than running a large BIT, believing that smaller current BITs would be better for transient current delivery.

 

[Mikem53]

I was reading on another site the feeling that much smaller BITs, at each source device, is supposedly better than running a large BIT, believing that smaller current BITs would be better for transient current delivery.

My understanding is it’s better to have a larger transformer to handle transients as the larger coils are saturated with electricity on hand to handle transient demands.. According to Martin G, founder of Equitech and several white papers on the subject.. I have everything plugged into my BPIT . Total load with Class A power amp and other components is approx 320 watts.. So lots of headroom on hand for transients..

 

[tony22]

Thank you, yes. I remember now having seen the Equitech writings about this.

I don’t know if I ever got an answer to the question as to whether installing a whole house BIT was against code in the U.S.

 

[LeBlanc]

My understanding is it’s better to have a larger transformer to handle transients as the larger coils are saturated with electricity on hand to handle transient demands.. According to Martin G, founder of Equitech and several white papers on the subject.. I have everything plugged into my BPIT . Total load with Class A power amp and other components is approx 320 watts.. So lots of headroom on hand for transients..

Manufacturers seem to disagree on this. Others such as PliXiR and Mudra Akustik claim it’s better to isolate components separately by their own IT. Audioplan from Germany also takes this approach with the addition that all separate ITs should be connected to the same power strip. I‘m not a technical expert myself on this matter, so I would be interested if others with more knowledge in this field could chime in.

 

[tony22]

Hmm...

 

[Mikem53]

Manufacturers seem to disagree on this. Others such as PliXiR and Mudra Akustik claim it’s better to isolate components separately by their own IT. Audioplan from Germany also takes this approach with the addition that all separate ITs should be connected to the same power strip. I‘m not a technical expert myself on this matter, so I would be interested if others with more knowledge in this field could chime in.

much of the info I received was from Martin Glasband , the founder of Equitech and he is credited with bringing BPIT to the high end audio world. I realize balanced power has been around before that..
The ”Q” Equitech transformer was about 70lbs alone For the 20 amp unit.. I owned it for 23 years before I moved and went to a 15 amp unit.. I can attest to the low noise floor and never Lacking for power..
I ran 2 BAT VK75SE monos and source on that Equitech on a dedicated line.. It was rock solid and never noticed anything lacking. IME. At the time many power conditioners were becoming popular.. I went for the BPIT based on the CMR principle and its simplicity.

 

[Mikem53]

Thank you, yes. I remember now having seen the Equitech writings about this.

I don’t know if I ever got an answer to the question as to whether installing a whole house BIT was against code in the U.S.

not sure.. The person who bought mine broke it down and mounted it in the house panel for his audio circuit. This saved him the space in his listening room.. some things don’t work well or at all in BPIT’s .
since the line is 60/60 vs 120/0. All my audio gear has worked fine and with a very noticeable improvement in the noise floor and the way the music emerges from a dark background..

 

[Mikem53]

Hmm...

Noticed Your VS speakers... Very nice.. Sad to hear of alberts passing not that long ago.. Was a friend of mine for many years.. I had his Flagship VR7’s for 18 years.. Very nice gear and Albert was great to talk audio with.. RIP..

 

[tony22]

I’m sorry to have met Albert only once at a show. He seemed like a good fellow. The E SE’s are quite nice indeed. Did you move on from VSA to Daedalus? Why did you decide to go in that direction? I’ve met Lou many times at shows, and use some of his isolators. I like his stuff.

 

[Mikem53]

I’m sorry to have met Albert only once at a show. He seemed like a good fellow. The E SE’s are quite nice indeed. Did you move on from VSA to Daedalus? Why did you decide to go in that direction? I’ve met Lou many times at shows, and use some of his isolators. I like his stuff.

I had a dedicated room when I had the VSA speakers.. I downsized about 6 years ago and needed something “less“ in mass to fill my needs.. So I let go of the big stuff and started on another audio quest.
I tried Focal, but not for me.. I wanted something efficient to use with tubes/low power, but not horn based..
Daedalus looked great spec wise and from a bespoke perspective.. Very pleased with them.. Not quite the projectors the VR’s were, but they certainly are easy to listen to and look at..

 

[tony22]

Your observations about Daedalus mirror mine. A sound you can listen to for the long haul, and a beautiful bespoke appearance.

 

[Al M.]

Manufacturers seem to disagree on this. Others such as PliXiR and Mudra Akustik claim it’s better to isolate components separately by their own IT. Audioplan from Germany also takes this approach with the addition that all separate ITs should be connected to the same power strip. I‘m not a technical expert myself on this matter, so I would be interested if others with more knowledge in this field could chime in.

I use isolation transformers only for source components, all my digital and the preamp, because of potential loss of dynamics. I have two 1000 W transformers from Tripp Lite and a minimum load on each (6-7 % of max consumption load of 1000 W). I found that separation of the preamp from the digital source (CD transport, reclocker, DAC) in terms of AC pollution, by having the preamp on one transformer and the digital source components on the other, gives a cleaner, more resolved sound in my system.

 

[LL21]

So an update on the Gryphon Mephisto and Torus AVR16...after speaking with many owners of this EXACT combination, I played a hunch and it worked! All back in action. I hope it stays...been working perfectly for approximately 6 hours straight no problems with some powering on and off to test. Here is the story:

- The Gryphon has inbuilt protection circuitry to avoid turning on if it senses the voltage is too low
- After a while, I started thinking about the fact that the Gryphon was on standby fine but did not power on with the Torus...but powered on fine straight into the wall (ie, not broken)

- Was the Torus (made for UK with UK plugs) really calibrated to put out too low a voltage (235V in a 240V market?)

- My hunch was that because the Gryphon had just come off a truck and perhaps a full day or so of no power...it capacitor banks were empty...and between slightly lower voltage and nothing in the capacitor...when we first plugged it in...it needed the wall at 251V to really kick start it.

- So when after a couple of months and speaking our local dealer, I plucked up the courage to replug the Gryphon into the Torus...it was on the hunch that if I moved the cables across efficiently (ie, within 10 minutes), there would still be more than sufficient capacitance in the Gryphon

- And whether that hunch was correct or not...it worked...the Gryphon turned on.

- Interestingly...when it did for the first hour the amps read 3.3 amps (out of 16 amps capacity on a regular steady basis)
- But I remember that originally the Gryphon was around 4.2 amps...and NOW we also had the Velodyne in there (another 0.7amps)
- After a few hours, the Torus showed 4.9 amps...clearly something happens when you plug in the Gryphon and you let it settle in with power, capacitance, etc, etc...

And this is at the same volume (40-45db volume) so quite moderate.

All the benefits of Gryphon into Torus are back! Play on...hopefully it stays!