I have been thinking about clean power for a while.
There is an audible hum through my monitors (EVENT 20/20 BAS)..... I live in an old farmhouse, and It has been suggested that an Isolation transformer, AND a power conditioner is the way to go.....Furman makes AN AR1220 and an IR1220...These are WAAAAAY out of my budget..
..but....Some of the lower end stuff ie. Furman PL series, ART, DIGITECH, ET AL, seem to get mixed reviews....Like the sonic difference is barely audible...


I have nil for knowledge when it comes to electricity.

Was wondering if this was a waste of money?

I was thinking of this as the main source, and using some sort of power conditioner after this..

Just wasn't sure how much I could piggy back off of something like this??

This also seemed like an option.....giving the added bonus of a UPS....as well as surge protection and line conditioning..

I know it may seem kind of funny to ask, but do I really need to spend a lot, or can I get away with some of the options mentioned above??

And yes I have done a search here, and a few other forums, and It has only left me more

Any help would be greatly appreciated..

cheers, kt

Hey Kilgore,

I am dealing with some noise issues of my own. Mostly 60 cycle hum which I gather probably means some type of ground loop. I am going to check the earth ground for my electric to start. Or have an electrician friend check it for me. I also have a couple of dimmers in my space that I am going to take out or replace in case that is a contributer.

I am interested in the hospital grade transformer as well but more to prevent unwanted pops or clicks when another instrument in the building, ie water pump, washing machine etc. goes on. Such is my newfound and limited knowledge of the use of this transformer.

Ethan Winer has some ideas about getting rid of unwanted hum here...

http//www.ethanwiner.com/dimmers.html

I am just learning bout this stuff, I am sure others out here can either elaborate on, and/or correct what I have to offer.

Where is that old farmhouse of yours anyways?

Best,
Carl

Hey Carl, wassup mang?

Good to see ya...
I wonder how many of the hospital grade transformers you would need; how many pieces of gear can piggy back off of it?
I was thinking one or 2 of 'em, with some sort of conditioner power strip (probably rack mounted with the plastic grounding tabs of course)...and all of my gear (about 7 or 8 pices LOL) plugged into that...just not sure if that is a waste of dough..or dangerous/do-able..or beneficial??
There is a thread at gearslutz, which was a good read, re: this very topic....Ethan chimed in..

I'll look for the link... here it is...
A good read indeed..
There is a cat in NYC who actually has copper spikes driven into the ground in his studio...to truly ground his juice....

Now of course I am not a PRO setup, and that would be ridiculous for me to do, but I would like my recordings to have a great start, right off the bat (with clean power)...from the ground up (no pun intended)

..and not being a Pro, I don't want to make brain surgury out of this.... which I fear I already have....

But the noise I am hearing is audible, and annoying...
Hindering ??
...not really..but If I could spend a little bit to help the problem, I think it would be well worth it...and with renters blues, I have to fix the problem post power outlet...

Yeah I look forward to hearing some experience and opinions on project studio power...

Cheers, kt

Kilgore,

An isolation transformer can help depending on exactly what's going on.

If the issue is a ground loop - or a 60Hz hum from compressor motors, etc., - then an isolated transformer with a faraday shield can help (I doubt that is what you see at the ebay site)

But - if the hum is being caused by radio transmissions (RFI) as is the case quite often with transformer hum from flourescent lighting - then your gear could pick it up after the transformer and stop it from solving your problem.

If you had a 50's fender mustang you could tell if RFI was an issue - because the single coil pickup is great for locating RFI source.

The UPS is not really what you want - unless you are working in an area where power failure happens a lot - and you're working on a DAW.

here is a great 1,000 watt system from triplite:

http://www.tripplite.com/products/product.cfm?productID=231

If you want more power here's 1,800 watts:

http://www.tripplite.com/products/product.cfm?productID=705

Rod

Rod, thanks a million!! Good to see Connecticut peeps here..looks like what I am after..

2 Quick questions:

From the tripp lite site...for the 1000watt hospital grade unit.

quote:

ELECTRICAL: 120V AC, 60Hz, 2.1A (Requires NEMA 5-15R wall receptacle)

What does Nema 5-15r wall recepticle mean?

I viewed a pic. of it, and it almost looked like a standard 3 pin wall plug, but ostensibly the ground pin was comprised of 3 smaller pins?

I also viewed a picture of what a 5-15r outlet looks like....It looks identical to the ones in my studio. Can I use this item as is or do I need a special adapter?

As I stated , I know nothing about elctricity...

2nd...On the back of some of my gear there is a watt rating, but some of it is Volt..

How do I determine how many watts I need? As I said earlier:

quote:

and all of my gear (about 7 or 8 pices LOL) plugged into that..

I gues I am asking how do I determine the draw of these devices?

I guess I was thinking I don't need to plug all my gear into an Isolation transformer, just crucial stuff...and the other stuff would get just surge prtection/conditioning..

Am I off there?

Was just thinking I could save a little money.

Cheers, kt

kt,

The conversion of Volts to Watts is governed by the equation Watts = Amps x Volts

For example 1.5 amps * 12 volts = 18 watts
-

As far as the other goes - it all depends...... you may find that it's no problem having some of your gear outside the loop - but I am a firm believe in keeping everything off the same power supply - that's really the cleanest way to go.

I guess it's just something you have to decide to call for yourself.

Sincerely,

Rod