Power Filter Advice for a Dev 200 pls?

[Krorghar]

Hi again friends.

This time is the Power Filter Turn. I have Read that the Dev is specially vulnerable to Noise and unconsistent Waveforms in the power net, and that a Power Filter is a necessary upgrade.

I dont want to spend half the cost of the Device in a Power filter (mostly because cables will follow), so I have been considering these models, that have a decent price tag:











Which one would you recommend for a Devialet 200? also, please feel free to advice any other models. All comments greatly wellcome, many thanks guys.

[Kunter]

Hi...

Power "filter" is not a very good idea with Devialet. You will probably get closed in, less dynamic sound.

I would invest in a good cable, a good wall outlet, and then may be a regenerator (like PS Audio) or an isolation transformer. The price for the last two components would be considerably high, so see for yourself the improvement you will get with the first tweaks.

There are some suggestions in the board for power cables... I also found the wall socket is quite important for great sound. I have Furutech Gold on the wall (rhodium sounds a bit too energetic for my taste).

But as a distribution block, the Furutech's you mention are really good. I had the TP80, but used the unfiltered sockets for Devialet.

Cheers...

Kunter

[Krorghar]

Thanks Kunter, would you please elaborate? these are noise filters, as far as I know, to get a more "pure" power waveform (correct me if I'm wrong here please), why are they not suitable for the Devialet please? Im still newbie in this

[Kunter]

Krorghar,

Power is drawn by the electronics rather than the wall socket pushing it. Some give the analogy of running water, which is far from the truth.

Voltage is there, in my case 220 VAC (Alternating at 50 cycles per second) but the amount of current drawn, so the power drawn, depends on the "then" requirements of the electronics. (simply Power = Current x Voltage). If the amp needs to deliver sound for a sudden drum kick from nothingness, there will be a very quick request from the wall for increased current to deliver that power. And the wall needs to be ready all the time to provide whatever the requirements are...

Class A solves this problem by taking a steady amount of power from the wall, and turning the unused amount to heat. The louder Class A Amps play, the cooler they are...

For anything other than that, the requirements of power from the wall depends on the music... The ability to adequately deliver the requirement is the "low impedance" of the wall power... (impedance is "resistance" for AC) So the power grid should not "resist" the amps requests...

The noise in the power line comes in various forms, but one of the biggest problems is the presence of higher frequency information (Other than the 50 Hz we need) that does unwanted things to our power supplies. It seems like a very good idea to clean and diminish those by filters (in this case, a low-pass filter which effectively lets the 50 Hz pass, and tries to stop anything bigger)

Most filters, while trying to clean up high frequency noise, increase impedance so it is harder for the electronic component to draw adequate power. The increased impedance is the direct result of the components used by the filters to "resist" higher frequency "noise". So they also resist the instantaneous changes in power requirements which look like noise...

This in turn kills the dynamics (mostly macro, but sometimes microdynamics). This is mostly ok for Class A equipment, where their power draw is almost always the same, however for anything other than that, and in my experience Devialet in particular, which requires varying levels of power depending on the musical passages, it takes all the fun away...

This is a rouge generalization as some filters act worse than others, but I have yet found one that I could live long term. Initially most sound good, but then you get bored of your music too easily...

Best if you try to audition some for your home, and watch out any dynamics loss together with the positives of filters...

So far the only in-line so called filtering device I am happy to put between my Devialets and the wall is a very large Isolation Transformer...

Cheers...

Kunter

[Krorghar]

Many thanks for the explanation Kunter, didn't knew that. So filtering is a bad iddea then for the Devialet. Which power cord could you advice pls? And any Isolation transformer? budget about 1000€, don't want to spend more in this Area.

[Kunter]

Many thanks for the explanation Kunter, didn't knew that. So filtering is a bad iddea then for the Devialet. Which power cord could you advice pls? And any Isolation transformer? budget about 1000€, don't want to spend more in this Area.

I would spend a bit more than 100 euros for the wall outlet
Furutech Schuko FT-SWS Gold is good...
http://www.vhaudio.com/acreceptacles.html#schuko

and for the remaining 900 euros you can find second hand Synergistic Research (Precision Reference or better yet Hologram A / D, all previous generation than the current production and are excellent) or Nordost (anything above Valhalla)...

It is a good idea to buy power cords second hand (in many cases less than half retail price), give a good clean on connectors (I use ultrasonic cleaning from time to time with a cheapo jewellery cleaner) and enjoy...And yes this cleaning is a must, especially if the previous owner likes cigars as much as I do ...

JPS Kaptovator was also a winner at the brief time I had the chance to try it out..

Sablon audio is getting rave reviews for Devialet but I did not have a chance to hear their products...

LessLoss, Furutech Alpha, Telos Power Cords were not to my liking for the Devialet...

Hope you find your cup of tea. Just don't rush, and try to have more than couple of hours listening/testing sessions with each cable you try...

Cheers...

[Krorghar]

Many thanks Kunter, will do.

For the wall outlet, gold is enough or I should get rhodium if I can? I mean .. does the extra 50€ rhodium cost, make a noticeable difference?

[GuillaumeB]

Many thanks Kunter, will do.

For the wall outlet, gold is enough or I should get rhodium if I can? I mean .. does the extra 50€ rhodium cost, make a noticeable difference?

Some good advice from Kunter there...

I know I've already said this before elsewhere but I do believe one of the most cost effective upgrades you can carry out is installing a dedicated consumer unit/distribution board for your hi-fi circuits. If this is not possible then at the very least I would look into having one or two dedicated spurs running from your existing CU.

I use Furutech GTX-D ® wall sockets:

http://www.furutech.com/2013/02/02/1746/

Guillaume

[Kunter]

Many thanks Kunter, will do.

For the wall outlet, gold is enough or I should get rhodium if I can? I mean .. does the extra 50€ rhodium cost, make a noticeable difference?

Rhodium has a much smoother finish and better contact, but takes forever to burn in and may sound a little lean with the wrong system... I have them both next to each other and I am using the gold...

[Jwg1749]

I'm afraid I'm very sceptical about all of this. Kunter has his point of view, which is fine. My point of view is that none of this will make any audible difference.

The only thing I think might be a problem is that the Devialet's SMPS can inject noise back into your mains which might affect other equipment, though even this is unlikely.

As we say, you pays your money and you takes your choice.

Matt