Vibex filtered power strip clone

[StefanAC]

A few days ago I finished my filtered power strip. After some burn in on the TV / surround system in the living room, I had a thorough listen in my main system. I was expecting some light changes in sound compared to my old filter less power strip (which is already better than average!), but I was blown away by how big the difference was!

The whole noise floor dropped noticeably while the separation of sound effects was increased – there was simply more room between the different musicians and their placement was rock solid. But the biggest surprise was the improved quality of the bass – there was more of it and yet it was better defined.

Just to make sure my mind wasn’t making up all those improvements, I switched back to the old power strip. And guess what – the improvements were gone with the old power strip. I did so several times, always with the same outcome. Even my girlfriend who isn’t interested in any music system easily heard the difference.

I based my filtered power strip on the following designs which have been discussed here already and altered them for my needs:

Jon Risch

Lampizator

For the filtering caps, I used 100nF Wima MP3 X2 rated and 10nF Wima MP3 Y2 rated – theses are the best for this application. The varistors are Epcos S20K300, the chokes are wire wound with iron powder cores and the wire is 2,5mm² solid core copper. As casing, I used an IP65 cast aluminium block which I filled with sand – the total weight of the filtered power strip is about 8kg.

My system consists of a choice of CD players (Philips CD304, Philips CD304 MKII, both no oversampling and heavily modified, T+A DVD1210R), TMR CMA1 amplifier (from a German High End manufacturer) and Dynaudio Contour 1.3 stand mount speakers. I use a variety of cables, either commercial or DIY types.

Best regards,

StefanAC