Of course, what you hear is all that matters. Who said otherwise? My point is that it can also can be interesting to investigate further through measurements (of EMI for example) if possible. Maybe you learn something, maybe you don’t.
The Grid Protector, the EMI Protector and The Allocator By Schnerzinger-In My System and I’m Blown Away
- Thread starter Steve williams
- Start date
I think the most valuable insights to get is where the placement of the Grid Protector provides the best performance. So for example being it just next to the wall socket of where the power-strip / power conditioner is running from (as many have a double socket and have one left anyway) or at a wall socket that is somewhat apart from the rack having a different input on the power line. But it will also have a different effect on all hifi components as it's located more distant away (most of the time a few meters) so will have a different effect on the devices.
Happy Thanksgiving to everybody!.Special thanks to all WBF members, professionals who provide us with they knowledge,passion,discovery.So many new, unbelievable,unexplainable things happened in our journey.Already few weeks with EMI and Grid.Happy,very happy with my music.Nuances,ditails,naturalness.Happines can't measure.As Gideon said more fun more enjoyable are coming with Zellaton, which will change my Wilson Sasha II.Looking forward.
The Allocator-Initial Impressions
The Allocator arrived a few days ago but with family here and events scheduled I finally found time yesterday to set it up. So where do I begin. How about this.....
@pk_LA
From day one I was a skeptic and thought this was more snake oil but the last 3 months with the Grid Protector and the EMI Protector has proven otherwise. These devices to me are essential to any system no matter how great or how modest. I don't consider them tweaks
For those of you who say to themselves or to others who have been reading my posts that they never pay attention to anything I say, I reply by saying, "you are the biggest losers" to something that is so different and so good that I just cannot consider them tweaks
The Allocator arrived beautifully packaged and my initial impression was my surprise as to how heavy this device is. The package must have weighed easily 30 lbs and once fully unpacked the Allocator is a beautifully designed piece. I would estimate it's weight easily at 20 lbs.
It was my initial plan to have the Allocator sitting on a Critical mass Systems platform behind my Qnap NAS which is just recently moved from a downstairs bedroom where my network and house router is situated. My wife was not enamored with it in the bedroom so I purchased an Uptone JS-2 LPS and use this to power the Taiko DCD, Taiko router and Taiko switch and the Qnap NAS 4 bay with 16 TB's HDD. First off the Uptone performs these functions without a hiccup. That was the easy part. The tough part was getting my old body between the back of my rack and the side wall without disrupting any of the connections. That was no mean task but I was finally able to remove from the dedicated AC lines along this side wall which housed power cords for my Lamm LL1 Signature dual mono, dual power supply preamp, Taiko Olympus and IO, LampizatOr Horizon 360, the Uptone JS-2 and then further back my Studer A810, Lamm LP1 Signature dual mono, dual power supply phono stage and then crawling back in a reverse fashion to attach all 9 power cords. Now here is the first caveat. When I purchase my Tech Das AF1 there was noise on the line which necessitated many things to tame this noise. First I had to use Voodoo AC cheater plugs on each power cord from my preamp. I also had to physically remove the ground plug from each power cord coming out of the LP1 and finally to curb the noise, I had to purchase a Furman 6 input power conditioner. This was the only thing I found that could remove the noise I heard when playing vinyl. Well much to my reluctance to remove and undo everything I had done years ago I had to find out whether THE Allocator was the Full Monty. The LP1 phono stage Power cords and the Studer power cord were all plugged into the Furman which was then connected to a 20 amp AC dedicated wall outlet.I powered on my system and sat in the dark for several minutes as I was stunned that the blackness was filled with nothing but stark silence. The sound floor has virtually disappeared
I began by listening to all of my demo tracks that I have used for years and here's my second impression.....@pk_LA....if you were a skeptic before the Allocator together with the EMI and Grid Protetors had such a synergy that the best way I can describe things is that everything I heard before was not only stlll there but so much better. There is an obvious synergy with these 3 devices and I wonder if the 3 antennas tie everything together. Im certain there must be some Grid and EMI protection in the Allocator as everything was silent. There is no more transformer hum from my amplifiers, phono stage or preamp. The was an ease in the presentation of the music, yet the speed and attack of drum sticks and plucked guitar strings was the best I've ever heard in my system . The openness of the sound was such that the music floated in the air . Timbre, tone and dynamics was giant leaps better still than what I heard with the EMI and Grid Protectors. The sound was unlimited and unrestricted from aberrant sound. Again the sound floor was so low that everything came through and several of my demo discs when played had to be with a lowered volume. PRAT......dumb acronym yet the use of the Allocator clearly brought meaning to the saying. It was like being outdoors on a crisp clear, cloudless day with bright blue skies and overhead sun. Dare I use the proverbial adage that yet another layer of the onion was peeled back. Simply put there were no restrictions and the fact that my Furman was now a relic and I could use grounded AC Power cords from my phono stage to the Allocator and all previous noise in the suystem was gone.
People have asked about the effects with vinyl....well the Allocator has added so much more than I have ever heard and no more aberrant noise. Vinyl still rules supreme but I have to say that the Allocator with the Olympus and IO has brought things damn close. . I wondered if there would be benefit with the Battery power supplies but there was indeed
The Allocator is a must. Damn, "just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in" as said by Michael Corleone in Godfather 3.
Finally my goal is stilll to sit the Allocator on the Critical mass System platform. I can do this by changinging one PC from !.5 meter to 2 meters and that will be the solution.
A few photos to follow shortly
The Allocator arrived a few days ago but with family here and events scheduled I finally found time yesterday to set it up. So where do I begin. How about this.....
@pk_LA
From day one I was a skeptic and thought this was more snake oil but the last 3 months with the Grid Protector and the EMI Protector has proven otherwise. These devices to me are essential to any system no matter how great or how modest. I don't consider them tweaks
For those of you who say to themselves or to others who have been reading my posts that they never pay attention to anything I say, I reply by saying, "you are the biggest losers" to something that is so different and so good that I just cannot consider them tweaks
The Allocator arrived beautifully packaged and my initial impression was my surprise as to how heavy this device is. The package must have weighed easily 30 lbs and once fully unpacked the Allocator is a beautifully designed piece. I would estimate it's weight easily at 20 lbs.
It was my initial plan to have the Allocator sitting on a Critical mass Systems platform behind my Qnap NAS which is just recently moved from a downstairs bedroom where my network and house router is situated. My wife was not enamored with it in the bedroom so I purchased an Uptone JS-2 LPS and use this to power the Taiko DCD, Taiko router and Taiko switch and the Qnap NAS 4 bay with 16 TB's HDD. First off the Uptone performs these functions without a hiccup. That was the easy part. The tough part was getting my old body between the back of my rack and the side wall without disrupting any of the connections. That was no mean task but I was finally able to remove from the dedicated AC lines along this side wall which housed power cords for my Lamm LL1 Signature dual mono, dual power supply preamp, Taiko Olympus and IO, LampizatOr Horizon 360, the Uptone JS-2 and then further back my Studer A810, Lamm LP1 Signature dual mono, dual power supply phono stage and then crawling back in a reverse fashion to attach all 9 power cords. Now here is the first caveat. When I purchase my Tech Das AF1 there was noise on the line which necessitated many things to tame this noise. First I had to use Voodoo AC cheater plugs on each power cord from my preamp. I also had to physically remove the ground plug from each power cord coming out of the LP1 and finally to curb the noise, I had to purchase a Furman 6 input power conditioner. This was the only thing I found that could remove the noise I heard when playing vinyl. Well much to my reluctance to remove and undo everything I had done years ago I had to find out whether THE Allocator was the Full Monty. The LP1 phono stage Power cords and the Studer power cord were all plugged into the Furman which was then connected to a 20 amp AC dedicated wall outlet.I powered on my system and sat in the dark for several minutes as I was stunned that the blackness was filled with nothing but stark silence. The sound floor has virtually disappeared
I began by listening to all of my demo tracks that I have used for years and here's my second impression.....@pk_LA....if you were a skeptic before the Allocator together with the EMI and Grid Protetors had such a synergy that the best way I can describe things is that everything I heard before was not only stlll there but so much better. There is an obvious synergy with these 3 devices and I wonder if the 3 antennas tie everything together. Im certain there must be some Grid and EMI protection in the Allocator as everything was silent. There is no more transformer hum from my amplifiers, phono stage or preamp. The was an ease in the presentation of the music, yet the speed and attack of drum sticks and plucked guitar strings was the best I've ever heard in my system . The openness of the sound was such that the music floated in the air . Timbre, tone and dynamics was giant leaps better still than what I heard with the EMI and Grid Protectors. The sound was unlimited and unrestricted from aberrant sound. Again the sound floor was so low that everything came through and several of my demo discs when played had to be with a lowered volume. PRAT......dumb acronym yet the use of the Allocator clearly brought meaning to the saying. It was like being outdoors on a crisp clear, cloudless day with bright blue skies and overhead sun. Dare I use the proverbial adage that yet another layer of the onion was peeled back. Simply put there were no restrictions and the fact that my Furman was now a relic and I could use grounded AC Power cords from my phono stage to the Allocator and all previous noise in the suystem was gone.
People have asked about the effects with vinyl....well the Allocator has added so much more than I have ever heard and no more aberrant noise. Vinyl still rules supreme but I have to say that the Allocator with the Olympus and IO has brought things damn close. . I wondered if there would be benefit with the Battery power supplies but there was indeed
The Allocator is a must. Damn, "just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in" as said by Michael Corleone in Godfather 3.
Finally my goal is stilll to sit the Allocator on the Critical mass System platform. I can do this by changinging one PC from !.5 meter to 2 meters and that will be the solution.
A few photos to follow shortly
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so here's the next tickler. When I asked what the attachment is on the dedicated power cord for the Allocator, I was told that there is also a "Cable Protector" for further cleaning of the dedicated power cord. Stay tuned
The Grid, then the EMI and then the Allocator is the way I did t but many will start with EMI before Grid. I have node if there is a right or wrong way. I can say however that many might start with the Allocator and quit there. I think they would be disappointed because I keep coming back to the word "synergy"as my gut tells me that these all work together. Check with Gideon
Im betting that many are saying that if The Allocator is so good why by the EMI and/or the Grid Protectors . Having them all I can say that the Allocator alone is pretty darn good but the synergy that comes with each of these in the system is more than cumulative.. It's like 1 + 1 +1 = 4-5. Dont ask how they work as Ihave no clue nor do I have any desire for measurements. The mere fact that I no longer have transformer noise from my Lamm ML3 Signature dual mono, dual power supply amps was but the start. The icing on the cake was that the noise is gone completely from the analogue side of my system. Cheater plugs, lifted grounds and no further need for a Furhman power conditioner brought the biggest smile to my face.
So those are preliminary thoughts. My next goal is to get a longer power cord from my Horizon 360 which will allow me to move the Allocator onto my spare Critical Mass platform
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Steve, not sure if you did already, but I’d put the NAS out of the hifi dedicated power cirquit and as far away from the hifi equipment and listening space as possible. Otherwise you’ll fight grid-, radiation-, environment noise (for example with the Schnerzinger devices), you could avoid from start.
two, just less active
Think of the Schnerzinger stuff as something that delivers what we usually hope our systems will finally evolve into (but not always do), after we put together expensive components and speakers.
Depending on the starting point, consider it as a realism enabler or booster.
this a good point but TBH I havent noticed any change since I moved my NAS from my downstairs bedroom to my listening room My NAS is powered via DC cable from an Uptone JS-2 . The Uptone is plugged into the Allocator and so far listening yesterday was remarkable. The other factor that Iim sure mitigates the issue you raise is that the Allocator must have some Grid and EMI protection as there is an antenna attached. So all is good at my end
I havent done that but as I described , the Grid and EMI eliminated the transformer hum from my Lamm ML3 amps. but did northing to the analogue side go my system. When I plugged my preamp and phono stage into the Allocator I no longer needed to use cheater plugs nor did I require plugging my power cords from the LP1 phono stage into the Furman . So all extraneous noise is gone. I am merely reporting what my ears are hearing in my system. I , like everyone reading here, was as big a skeptic but this is something now so good that I just cant go back. As the saying goes YMMV
That’s fine, only you can hear the effects in your environment.
What I just can say is, that a separate power cirquit only for hifi equipment and everything else in the room/house on a different one, will quite sure be a noticeable improvement. It’s a not too expensive measure and great bang for the buck.
My entire sound room is on a separate panel completely isolated from main house panel and each outlet in my sound room is a dedicated line so yes I have that issue covered
The comment about a NAS in the room is ridiculous. A server and DAC as well as the switch and modem put out a lot of noise too. Anything with a chip is making noise. Should all be out of the room. Maybe.
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