Furutech Flux-50 NCF in the house....

[Vintage Pete]

For a good while now I've read nothing but praise an accolades as to the benefits of adding one or more Furutech Flux-50 inline power filters to a system. Our beloved late friend Dan had posted very positive reviews of the device, and it came very much recommended by Ivan and others. Over the last few years I would visit these threads from time to time, and talk with Dan about it. I knew one day I would get around to trying at least one of these in my main system.

That day arrived last week, with my first filter arriving Friday evening. It is the most current version, carrying the "NCF" suffix. Since Ivan shipped it, I've been pretty excited awaiting its arrival.

Let's first cut to the point: I'm definitely impressed. It's only been two days, and a good part of Saturday I was distracted with another project (Installing LED kit in my McIntosh MC206 amplifier). I've spend more time listening today, and I can only echo what most have said, improved soundstage, better separation of voices and instruments, and so on. But perhaps what stands out to me the most goes back to a comment Dan made as to the improved "3D" effect that installing the device in his studio system provided.
While my system already had excellent dimensionality and imaging, installing the Flux-50 NCF has taken it even further, with even images occurring outside the plane of the loudspeakers themselves being located even more precisely. Also more spatial ambience seems to be present, in some cases in recordings where it had not been apparent at all.

Dan had installed his at the power inlet of his PurePower 2000 AC regenerator, where the bulk of his studio system was parked.I installed mine in similar fashion-at the power inlet of my PS Audio Direct Stream Power Plant 12 AC regenerator. In my mind, it doesn't seem to make a lot of sense that this should yield an improvement. After all, if we are using a regenerator, all that dirty AC has been cleaned up by the time it reaches the system, right? And yet, Dan and others report an improvement even putting one of these ahead of a regenerator.

I thought I would get a little scientific and note the display data provided by my P12 as to the THD coming in vs. coming out of the P12 before the installation of the filter. I was showing roughly 4.0% THD coming in, and 0.1% coming out. In theory, after installing the filter, it would seem that I should see improved AC signal coming into the P12, as reported by the P12.
The strange thing is, I see no real difference in the AC Quality characteristics coming into the P12 with the filter installed, but I still hear a performance improvement. I'm having trouble understanding what is happening here.

Dan noted some seemingly unexplainable phenomena with his as well. For example, he reported that in his living room, he saw a picture improvement on his TV, which was connected to the same dedicated circuit as his subwoofer, which he had installed a Flux-50 on. It didn't make sense to him; he speculated that somehow perhaps there was a backflushing effect which yielded a video benefit. He concluded that "whatever it is that is happening, I am liking it".

That's pretty much how I have to look at it. I (we) don't fully understand how are why some of these tweaks give us benefits, sometimes dramatic benefits.
It's happened to me, to some extent, with many of the tweaks I've implemented. Who would think a set of little feet could improve a component's performance? I was skeptical of these idea, but after I installed Stillpoints under a couple of pieces, I was a believer...even if I don't fully understand how they can produce that level of benefit. I have to admit I have an even harder time understanding how a filter connected BEFORE a regenerator can make much difference. I'd like to hear any insights my fellow members might have on this. I'd also be interested in knowing if there is a "break-in" period with these. It seems to me that I'd seen in previous threads that there is.

In conclusion, I'll repeat Dan once again..."whatever it is that is happening, I am liking it".

And as always, thank you Ivan for getting me fixed up with yet another winner!