RMAF: The Interocitor Saved My Life

[LL21]

Rather than sounding ss, the newest cj amps/pre sound...like music eg. they retain the tube sound while reducing the euphonic caramelish cj stereotypical coloration.The latest cj efforts are far more transparent and extended at the frequency extremes; OTOH, you still have that wonderful harmonic tube envelope, palpable three dimensionality of instruments as well as unsurpassed abilty to resolve recording space eg. ceilings and walls The magic is in part due to those Teflon caps. Beasts to break in but once cooked, sound wonderful.

could not have said it better myself...and i have tried on numerous occassions! Thanks, Myles.

 

[LL21]

Hi Folks,

It's my first time on the forum, so I extend my greetings to all. Gary Koh was nice enough to start this thread (but then he's a very nice guy) when I brought the first prototypes of the Interocitor to RMAF. Since then I have developed the production design and brought the first production units to THE Show in Las Vegas where I demoed them in my exhibit room along with The Lotus Group (distributor for my VRE-1C preamp) and the WAVAC folks. Steve McCormack
SMc Audio

Hi Steve, welcome! How much is the Interocitor? What, for a non-techie like me, is the difference between Interocitor and the Tripoint Troy? I think Troy is the grounding unit which Tripoint makes...i have heard this one, and was impressed. thanks for any guidance.

 

[SMcAudio]

Hi Lloyd,

The Interocitor One sells for $1895. It is not at all like the Tripoint Troy, which is a device for optimizing system AC grounding specifically. The Interocitor is a line-level isolation transformer system that is based on work I developed for my VRE-1 preamplifier. I realized that I could make a completely transparent (well, to the extent that anything is completely transparent) isolated connection system that would have a variety of benefits - freedom from ground loops and inter-component ground noise contamination (especially in digital + analog combos), user choice of balanced or unbalanced connections in and out, a useful degree of attenuation in high-gain systems, high input impedance and low output impedance allowing the use of long interconnects, including the ability to run long balanced interconnects from an unbalanced preamp, for instance. It even gives you the ability to create a set of balanced-bridged monoblock amps from a matching stereo pair (when combined with the required adaptor cables). I will try to add some photos that will help to clarify things.

 

[LL21]

Steve,

that sounds very, very interesting...Look forward to reading more. Now, let me ask a [naive] question. I have a tubed DAC...at my peak audio listening volume of 30...i can just start to hear the rectifier tube (or perhaps transformer?) hum...when i play video tracks...at 45-50, it is clearly obvious hum during quiet passages (obvious to an audiophile anyway)...

...is that something the Interocitor can 'block'? Someone had said it might be that a choke needs replacing in my DAC?

 

[SMcAudio]

The Interocitor One saves the day again! - now with photos

Here are some photos of our system at THE Show in Las Vegas this January showing the Interocitor One in the setup.

 

[LL21]

Here are some photos of our system at THE Show in Las Vegas this January showing the Interocitor One in the setup.

Thanks, Steve. Pls see my question just before your pictures. Also, where does the Interocitor go in the chain exactly?...between preamp and amp?

 

[SMcAudio]

The Interocitor won't block anything in the signal besides DC and RFI. If the noise you hear was caused by a ground interaction between your components, it would eliminate this. But if the noise is part of the signal (which is implied rather strongly in your description) then no, the Interocitor would not filter it out.

 

[LL21]

Thank you! Still intrigued by your Interocitor!

 

[amirm]

Welcome to the forum Steve! I see some switches in the Interocitor. What do they do?

 

[SMcAudio]

Thanks, Steve. Pls see my question just before your pictures. Also, where does the Interocitor go in the chain exactly?...between preamp and amp?

It can be used in either location, as required. There are actually quite a few reasons why you might use it either way. For instance, say you had a DAC or file server with balanced outputs, but your preamp is unbalanced. You could insert the Interocitor between the source and preamp and run a balanced connection from source to Interocitor, and unbalanced from Interocitor to preamp. This would give you the double advantage of utilizing the balanced output from the source while also eliminating the noisy digital ground from contaminating the analog side of your system. In another scenario, say you had an unbalanced tube preamp with a fairly high output impedance (quite common) but your amplifier had balanced inputs that you would like to use and were located some distance away from the preamp. Your preamp 1) cannot take advantage of the amp's balanced inputs, and 2) is not appropriate for driving long interconnects. Add the Interocitor One between preamp and amp, and voilà - problem solved. The Interocitor One has a high input impedance that your tube preamp can drive easily with a short, unbalanced connection, while the output side has a low impedance that can run long interconnects - either balanced or unbalanced - properly. Even if the amp is close to the preamp and long interconnects are not required, the ability to properly run unbalanced-to-balanced connections (or vice-versa) can be very useful.

This illustrates just a few ways in which the Interocitor One can be used. In any of these scenarios, the ground connection between the equipment is also eliminated, along with and possible noise interaction or contamination.

 

[SMcAudio]

Welcome to the forum Steve! I see some switches in the Interocitor. What do they do?

Thanks Amir - happy to be here (at least as time allows!). The switches affect the grounding topology only, and are the same on both the input and output sides. This allows the user to configure the grounding for the lowest noise, as required. This is necessary since grounding design varies among brands of equipment and possible interactions are unpredictable (something of an understatement). The Interocitor's flexible grounding allows the user to quickly and easily find the lowest noise configuration.

Another photo showing both input and output sides. Color options available by request - silver is standard.

 

[MylesBAstor]

Welcome to the forum Steve! I see some switches in the Interocitor. What do they do?

+1

Great to see you here Steve!

 

[SMcAudio]

Thanks Myles!

 

[garylkoh]

Welcome to the forum Steve. It's great to see you here.

 

[JackD201]

Hi Steve and Gary

Have you tried the Interocitor between tonearm cables with balanced termination and single ended input Phonostages and vice versa? I ask because I still have a BAT VK-P10 SE that is gathering dust since I went with single ended preamps.

Thanks in advance!

 

[SMcAudio]

Welcome to the forum Steve. It's great to see you here.

Thanks Gary - much appreciated!

 

[SMcAudio]

Hi Steve and Gary

Have you tried the Interocitor between tonearm cables with balanced termination and single ended input Phonostages and vice versa? I ask because I still have a BAT VK-P10 SE that is gathering dust since I went with single ended preamps.

Thanks in advance!

Hi Jack,

Thanks for your question. The Interocitor One is a line-level device, so it is not appropriate for use with a phono cartridge (although it would be fine between a phono preamp and main preamp). You may be thinking about moving-coil (MC) step-up transformers, which would do the job you have in mind. By the way, I am a big fan of using balanced phono connections, and this is something that a transformer allows for naturally. It is certainly possible to design an electronic balanced-input phono stage (and there are several good examples), but for reasons that elude me, they have never become common.

 

[garylkoh]

Hi Steve and Gary

Have you tried the Interocitor between tonearm cables with balanced termination and single ended input Phonostages and vice versa? I ask because I still have a BAT VK-P10 SE that is gathering dust since I went with single ended preamps.

Thanks in advance!

I tried it - put a huge veil over the music. It's a line-level device (2.6V) not a cartridge transformer (0.3mV).

However, your VK-P10 SE might sound GREAT with your single-ended preamp with the Interocitor converting the balanced output from the BAT into single-ended.

 

[JackD201]

Thanks Steve and Gary

I visited the SMC website and it says SMC isn't selling any new products. The message is a bit confusing. Has SMC stopped production or has it gone to a non-direct distribution model?

 

[garylkoh]

Yeah - Steve knows that his website needs some serious work. He's too busy building VRE-1's to spend time updating his site. The VRE-1 is distributed through the Lotus Group, but I believe that he sells the Interocitor direct.