Hi-Fi Mains Cleaners and Conditioners

[AndrewGP]

I've just acquired an Isotek Cleanline Mains Conditioner which looks like this







It was owned by my late brother from new and dates back to around the early 2000s I believe. It was always part of his hi-fi set up but has been in my nephew's care since we lost my him to a brain tumour in 2013. Since it was my brother that got me in to hi-fi in the first place, it holds a great deal of sentimental value to me and as such I would never sell it. It apparently works fine though so I want to see if it's a useful addition to my hi-fi setup.

Opinion in these from googling seems to be very mixed! Everything from 'transformed my system' to 'made no difference' all the way to 'it made music seem very closed in'

I'll get it cleaned up today and hook it up in my main system but in the meantime what's the PH collective thoughts on these?

[Mr Pointy]

There's no reason why it shouldn't "condition" the mains waveform to remove any interference, harmonics or spikes if it's been designed correctly. Whether or not it will make any audible difference is a very different matter though; I'd suspect not.

[Easternlight]

Whip the top off I'd love to see how little there is inside!

Thread here for this stuff:-
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Tony1963]

If I were to try a conditioner, I’d probably use it to feed everything except the power amp/s.

However, I don’t appear to have any issues with the mains supply, so I wouldn’t rush into it.

[anonymous-user]

Probably a Argos multi adapter inside lol.

[anonymous-user]

Easternlight said:

Whip the top off I'd love to see how little there is inside!

Thread here for this stuff:-
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=31wydPPap1o

About 6 minutes in looks to be the box the OP mentions, there is stuff inside whether the stuff improves anything is wel! in the eye of the beholder.

[Sporky]

For that sort of thing to make an audible difference, the power section designers at every hifi manufacturer would have to be absolutely incompetent. And they aren't.

[LunarOne]

Sporky said:

For that sort of thing to make an audible difference, the power section designers at every hifi manufacturer would have to be absolutely incompetent. And they aren't.

They may well be incontinent though. I'm sure a lot of designers of "hifi" ancillary equipment have pissed themselves with laughter that people not only fall for their tricks, but pay good money for them!

[theboss]

I'm in a similar situation to the OP, my stepdad who first introduced me to hifi in the 90's was a stickler for upgrades and sound quality enhancing "tweaks" and left half the russ andrews catalog when he died.

Therefore I have some of this stuff for sentimental value also. Sadly I've never been able to hear the "day and night" differences it imparts.

I was tempted to put a £500 mains lead on the kettle though, hoping it would lend a cheap tea bag some added depth of flavour.

[LunarOne]

theboss said:

I was tempted to put a £500 mains lead on the kettle though, hoping it would lend a cheap tea bag some added depth of flavour.

It's got more chance of improving your tea than it does of improving your sound in my opinion!

[Tony1963]

Ignore the naysayers and just give it a go. It’s a free test.

Next up will be those who insist that you have a team of five people round so that double blind abx testing can be carried out. It’s all laughable.

Your hifi, your ears, your choice.

[rjfp1962]

Tony1963 said:

Ignore the naysayers and just give it a go. It’s a free test.

The OP acquired it and didnt actually shell out any of his hard-earned on it..
If I'd acquired it, I'd try it..

[Tony1963]

rjfp1962 said:

The OP acquired it and didnt actually shell out any of his hard-earned on it..
If I'd acquired it, I'd try it..

I’m not sure what your point is or whether you’re agreeing or disagreeing with me.

[rjfp1962]

Tony1963 said:

rjfp1962 said:

The OP acquired it and didnt actually shell out any of his hard-earned on it..
If I'd acquired it, I'd try it..

I’m not sure what your point is or whether you’re agreeing or disagreeing with me.

Completely agree and just backing up your point..

[Zumbruk]

Sell it and spend the money on something that actually works, e.g., better loudspeakers.

Edited by Zumbruk on Tuesday 31st August 11:57

[outnumbered]

The acid test for all these things is of course whether your wife can detect the "upgrade" from the kitchen, which is where audiophiles wives apparently spend most of their time.

[bungz]

I have a old Arcam Alpha 3 that has a very basic power stage, it is picking up a appliance on the ring it is connected to, likely fridge!

Would be interested to see if that did anything to combat the few pops I get.

However its likely worth ten times the Arcam amp

Edited by bungz on Tuesday 31st August 12:17

[AndrewGP]

Thanks all for interesting comments

Yes, I acquired it for free as mentioned in the OP. I cleaned it up yesterday and gave it a quick 20 minute listen. I deliberately did this before I popped the lid off as I wanted to be as unbiased as possible. Suffice to say.....I couldn't tell any difference whatsoever

My system sounds (to my ears) really nice already, it's a Node 2i (running off a upgraded 5v dc PSU) -> RME dac -> Cambridge CXA81 amp -> Acoustic Energy AE509 speakers. Not the most high end, but not too shabby. I hooked the Isotek in to the dac and the amp making sure they went in the recommended outlets. Obviously A-B testing is tricky due to all the plug spaghetti behind to rearrange each time but I heard no difference at all, not better, not worse just the same.

I then popped the lid and this is what's inside:

[url]|https://thumbsnap.com/yjH9kMyR[/url



It's been 25 years since I did any electronics lessons, but there's not much in there. Just looks like some filter caps and a fuse to me.

Anyway, although it won't go back in the hi-fi rack, with it being my late brother's and holding the sentimental value it does, I'll of course keep it and probably just use it as a nice looking 6 gang extension lead!

[Evolved]

all that space, for that.

Ahh the good old audiophile magic beans.

[TonyRPH]

Oh dear, that's a sparse interior.

At least this one contains a decent amount of (passive) electronics, however it too did nothing to change the sound - some filtration was evident however.

The review is worth a read, as are the forum comments - some of which go into very technical detail.