Jonathan's Toys

Power

To improve the AC power being delivered to the system, I installed a balanced power system from EquiTech. This provides a very clean and stable basis for the the rest of this complex system.
Even the power outlets in the HT room where the MartinLogans plug in are fed balanced power.
Here is a review and example deployment of the EquiTech technology at Secrets of Home Theater.

I run the 5KVA EquiTech transformer such that it feeds my entire A/V system. It has made a noticeable difference in the audio and the video. Primarily, a lack of noise and ‘grime’ in the low level audio and reduced noise-bars in the video.
Plus, the huge reserves of the big torodial transformer smooth any peak demands from the five power amps (15 channels total, some biamping and a 7.1 layout).
The voltage meters never vary, even under the most intense demands (movie explosions, with full field white on the big CRT projector and all channels driven hard).

While I originally ran multiple 20 and 30 amp feeds into my HT from the breaker box, I wound up hooking up the Equitech to a 30 amp dual phase line and creating my own local power distribution network in my HT equipment room. This eliminates any RFI or other interference picked up along the way to the HT equipment room (50’ from mains box).

The rig is controlled by an automation system (HouseBot) through a bunch of custom relay’s I put into the outputs of the Equitech. This lets me perform sequential startup and shutdowns of the system under full automation control. This is a requirement when peak inrush for the entire rig is somewhere north of 50 amps

I also wired the power outlets for the MartinLogan speakers into the Equitech fed network. This eliminated some slight hum and buzzes they were picking up from dimmers in the house. No problem with Balanced power, and much more effective than any power cable ‘upgrade’ in terms of what the speaker can do.

Since were talking power management and conditioning, I also added a set of Powergy PowerMax power factor correction and whole house surge protection to my mains panels. These power factor correctors made a huge difference in the noise generated by electric motors in the house (refrigerators especially) and since my main kitchen built-in fridge is over the HT, I appreciated the results.
They also attenuate the noise side effects of dimmers throughout the home.
And they help save money to boot. They paid for themselves in less than five years. Should pay for itself in about five years ( or less time if you live in California ).

Funny side note: The electrical wiring specification in this home was so over the top  that the original electricians quit on the very first day of the job

Fortunately, the next batch were very professional and did a great job. No power issues here.

 

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