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EquiTech 1.5RQ Balanced Power Review

AnalogSteph

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What balanced power does is:
1. It eliminates common-mode E field radition from the mains. I imagine recording electric guitar would benefit from this if nothing else (high impedance circuitry where shielding is not always all that great - even if the cable is alright that doesn't mean the instrument itself is).
2. It reduces voltages to ground. That's why it's used on ships.
3. It eliminates power supply leakage currents from IEC Class II devices with SMPS mains filter topologies originally derived from Class I jobs (i.e. L and N capacitively coupled to secondary-side ground only as the PE connection got axed).

If this makes such a major difference in studios even outside item #1, I do have to wonder how many devices with AES48-2005 compliance issues are still out there in this day and age. They no doubt would still have been very common when RaneNote 151 was written in 1995. Otherwise I don't think there would normally be long runs of signal wires right next to mains wiring that could push CMRR limits in the face of item #1 - right? (This may not even be up to code depending on where you live.)
 

jasonhanjk

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Better spend money on this:
product_slider_6400_1.jpg
 

Bear123

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I honestly don't understand how or why anyone would purchase something like this, especially for such an exorbitantly expensive price? Don't people do the slightest bit of research on a joke like this before dropping thousands? Isn't there just a basic level of human intelligence or common sense that would prevent this? Congrats to the scam artist that sells this I guess?
 

michaelahess

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I'm talking about assisting the utility in clearing its own faults by basically becoming part of the utility's multi-point grounding system—all legal and to code.

I'm curious then, why not avoid the problem completely with a whole building double conversion online ups? I have installed many of these, including three phase units. Power coming out is absolutely pristine.
 

Cuniberti

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Audio equipment makes no assumptions about clean AC power. It converts it to DC and filters it as needed for its application. So it doesn't matter how dirty the AC power is.

Now, if you have an industrial machine shop on the same feed maybe you get interference from that. But office parks where studios are located are not such. And even if they were, such devices will be of no help, other than randomly changing something that "fixes" the problem.

That has not been my experience. I worked at a studio that was across the street from a metal fabrication shop that polluted the studio's AC until closing time every M-F for years. Guitar amps, monitor systems, and tape recorders were the most affected. When a 75 amp Equitech wall mount unit was installed the problem disappeared. Trust me, no one wanted to spend the 10k but it had to be done.
 

Billy Budapest

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Not talking about any quality of power, but in general what is the deal with not using MOVs (why are they bad)? I have this installed on my main panel (would only help with really high voltage spikes):
http://www.intermatic.com/en/Surge-Protection/Whole-House-Surge/IG1240RC3
No idea how much protection it offers, but I figured better than nothing, and it's not that expensive to put on or replace if it gets damaged.
There is nothing bad about using MOVs other than if the surge is large enough, the MOVs will be destroyed and either your surge suppressor will need to be repaired with new MOVs or just replaced entirely.
 

Billy Budapest

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i am not planning on retrofitting surge suppression my self and I note that Amir says that you dont need it as it is built into most products, I am just reporting on current IET guidance and how future installations will judged.
Having experienced gear (audio, telephony, and computing gear) being destroyed by power surges (mostly due to nearby lightning strikes and power outages and restoration), it’s my opinion that surge suppression built into these products is often not good enough to protect them from damage and use of surge suppressors is a necessity.
 

wwenze

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I'm curious then, why not avoid the problem completely with a whole building double conversion online ups? I have installed many of these, including three phase units. Power coming out is absolutely pristine.

What if your UPS fails and send a surge
 

Francis Vaughan

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I'm curious then, why not avoid the problem completely with a whole building double conversion online ups? I have installed many of these, including three phase units. Power coming out is absolutely pristine.

Money, and you may not actually own the building. I have commissioned lovely huge double conversion UPS systems for computer rooms in the dim dark past. 30kVA units or bigger. I have a pretty good idea as to just how expensive they are. If you want ultra pure, nothing beats the old gen-motor sets. CDC systems used them to provide 400Hz power to their computers.

But also, whilst you have eliminated external noise, you have not isolated noise generation internal to the building. And moreover, it has not addressed the core part of the design - avoiding induced currents on the ground leads of the equipment. As clean as your power from the UPS is, it is still capable of inducing hum.
We keep coming back to the core point. The balanced power delivery system is not a power conditioner. It is addressing a separate problem.
 

DualTriode

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When I first read about these balanced power units about 15 years ago, my reaction was “why would anybody purchase something that would defeat the safety ground of their equipment?” This product seems to counteract that danger by use of a GFCI. It does bear the ETL mark, giving me some confidence. Still, should the GFCI fail, you could be in trouble—and GFCI outlets have gone bad in my house at an alarming rate.

Hello,

That thing looks like it is built to be an isolation power transformer. Looking at the test plots it does not do much of anything to clean up the junk and distortion coming in. It may not do anything to protect the line from the connected load either.

In a previous career I was an engineer at a large teaching hospital with many isolated power systems. Picture a 750 motor powered pump coasting to a stop. You need some fancy protection relays on the load side of the step down transformer that feeds the pump motor.

If you really want isolation for a critical load use a motor driven generator.

I did not see a separate ground on the load side of that transformer. Separate grounded and grounding conductors on the line side of the transformer would help getting rid of much of the junk shown on the test plots.

Thanks DT
 

martijn86

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I honestly don't understand how or why anyone would purchase something like this, especially for such an exorbitantly expensive price? Don't people do the slightest bit of research on a joke like this before dropping thousands? Isn't there just a basic level of human intelligence or common sense that would prevent this? Congrats to the scam artist that sells this I guess?
I guess that if you already own a super expensive system you may:
1) Get paranoid about anything that could stand in its way of reaching its full potential.
2) Be easily talked into spending that little extra for ultimate performance by a reseller.
3) Get upgrade fever but are at your budget sealing for your setup.
4) Just get it because they value money in a different way. Some pocket change for piece of mind?

But with this budget I can give family and frieds a kick ass hi-fi system. I'd be more inclined to do that.
 

roog

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If you really want isolation for a critical load use a motor driven generator.

I often feel like suggesting this solution to many an audiophile type, it is true, it would be clean, a supply dedicated to your hifi, isolated from your normal utility supply, but on the downsides, it would be expensive to purchase, it would probably have to be a big machine in order to match the low impedance of the utility supply, the vibration and noise could prove to be a nuisance even if bolted to a separate block of concrete in the garden with a sound-attenuating room built around it, not to mention the running costs, maintenance.

Yeah, maybe the utility supply will do! :0)
 

milosz

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Try measuring this balanced power with DAC and preamplifier.

Most of the people who are using balanced power with source equipments can hear obvious sound quality improvements

...and they have done blind testing to be sure they ACTUALLY hear these differences, rather than just **THINK** they hear these differences?
 

wwenze

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I often feel like suggesting this solution to many an audiophile type, it is true, it would be clean, a supply dedicated to your hifi, isolated from your normal utility supply, but on the downsides, it would be expensive to purchase, it would probably have to be a big machine in order to match the low impedance of the utility supply, the vibration and noise could prove to be a nuisance even if bolted to a separate block of concrete in the garden with a sound-attenuating room built around it, not to mention the running costs, maintenance.

Yeah, maybe the utility supply will do! :0)

I wanted to be shocked at "clean" and "motor driven generator" in the same sentence. But I fact-checked and it checks out. So have an upvote.

http://www.jkovach.net/projects/powerquality/

http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b298/professor95/BrandY.jpg

While it remains true that cheap generators produce horrible sine waves, a good generator can be cleaner than the grid.
 

milosz

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AC POWER CONSIDERATIONS:

It's not a bad idea to have a good surge protector in series with the AC power to your gear. Might save it from a big spike. ( Then on the other hand it might NOT.... but there is at least a chance it might help if there's some awful spike.)

Also it doesn't hurt to have some RFI filtering, though many audio components already have a filter on their audio input. HOWEVER having an RFI filter between your Class D amplifiers and the power line might keep your dirty switching transients off the public utility.... hahahaha.
 

Spkrdctr

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I honestly don't understand how or why anyone would purchase something like this, especially for such an exorbitantly expensive price? Don't people do the slightest bit of research on a joke like this before dropping thousands? Isn't there just a basic level of human intelligence or common sense that would prevent this? Congrats to the scam artist that sells this I guess?

Yes, you see the problem with humans on planet Earth. Many are so ignorant of any science they will believe anything. They will drop lots of money on equipment that has an extensive snake oil marketing scheme. The other issue you didn't bring up is that these same idiots (they walk among us) will argue to support their ignorant ideas as if they are scientifically valid. Or as I always say on this forum, they double down on their ignorance instead of learning! Remember, YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID. After trying, you are worn out and they are still stupid. Such is life........:)
 

infinitesymphony

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There is nothing bad about using MOVs other than if the surge is large enough, the MOVs will be destroyed and either your surge suppressor will need to be repaired with new MOVs or just replaced entirely.
It doesn't necessarily take large surges. MOVs in consumer-grade power equipment can also degrade over time with cumulative small surges.

"Cumulative degradation occurs as more surges happen. For historical reasons, many MOVs have been incorrectly specified allowing frequent swells to also degrade capacity. In this condition the varistor is not visibly damaged and outwardly appears functional (no catastrophic failure), but it no longer offers protection. Eventually, it proceeds into a shorted circuit condition as the energy discharges create a conductive channel through the oxides.

The main parameter affecting varistor life expectancy is its energy (Joule) rating. Increasing the energy rating raises the number of (defined maximum size) transient pulses that it can accommodate exponentially as well as the cumulative sum of energy from clamping lesser pulses. As these pulses occur, the 'clamping voltage' it provides during each event decreases, and a varistor is typically deemed to be functionally degraded when its 'clamping voltage' has changed by 10%. Manufacturer's life-expectancy charts relate current, severity, and number of transients to make failure predictions based on the total energy dissipated over the life of the part.

In consumer electronics, particularly surge protectors, the MOV varistor size employed is small enough that eventually failure is expected. Other applications, such as power transmission, use VDRs of different construction in multiple configurations engineered for long life span."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varistor
 
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