ADD-Powr Wizard in the house!

[Vintage Pete]

Ben....to be honest, I don't even recall for sure but it seems to me that it was a threaded standoff or something that was rattling around inside my Wizard when it arrived. Like you, I was uneasy about it so I opened her up. It seems to me it was that there was a loose piece, a standoff or something, and maybe a companion screw was missing. What I do remember for sure was that this hardware was to hold one corner of a circuit board, and I think my intent was to one day find the screw I needed at work, and one day address it. I put the cover back on, began my evaluation, and never got back to it. At the end of the day, it wasn't a big deal. I think if my unit were opened, we'd see that the one corner of that circuit board is still not secured.

What is strange is that so many of us have had this same experience, with hardware clacking around in these units when they arrive. That really isn't a good thing, it appears to be a very basic QC deficiency. Perhaps Bill should consider using some mild, reversible thread locker on the internal hardware to prevent it. It's obviously happening a lot.

The good news is, we have all shared another common experience, that being we've all experienced the very positive impact the Add-Powr devices have had in our systems. It's really nothing short of remarkable, especially when we consider how ridiculously simple the integration is.

Congratulations again, Ben...and enjoy, as I know you will.

[Clyde2]

Just another quick thought regarding the Wizard. While the improvements already discussed are still readily apparent, I was doing some listening a little while back and had a random thought about grounding it to my Shunyata Altaira Chassis Hub. I sent an email to Bill Stierhout asking him his thoughts. As usual, he replied quickly but was unsure if grounding the Wizard would be effective because it operates outside the “signal path”. I decided to check the Wizard with a multimeter according to the Shunyata instructions and determined the chassis screws are connected to its chassis ground. Using a DIY grounding cable I made to utilize the ground Post on my Denali some time ago (before Altaira) I connected it to the CG hub. In my system, the result was another lowering of the noise floor and increased dynamics. Shunyata definitely has it right when focusing on the removal of “noise”. If any of you are inclined to give this a try, with a CG hub or PC grounding post, I recommend it. It’s not a significant commitment in terms of time or resources and the payoff could be well worth it. If not, you can say you gave it a shot. Not sure why I decided to try it, but I’m very happy I did.

[100db]

Outstanding, thanks for sharing.

[crwilli]

Originally Posted by Clyde2

Just another quick thought regarding the Wizard. While the improvements already discussed are still readily apparent, I was doing some listening a little while back and had a random thought about grounding it to my Shunyata Altaira Chassis Hub. I sent an email to Bill Stierhout asking him his thoughts. As usual, he replied quickly but was unsure if grounding the Wizard would be effective because it operates outside the “signal path”. I decided to check the Wizard with a multimeter according to the Shunyata instructions and determined the chassis screws are connected to its chassis ground. Using a DIY grounding cable I made to utilize the ground Post on my Denali some time ago (before Altaira) I connected it to the CG hub. In my system, the result was another lowering of the noise floor and increased dynamics. Shunyata definitely has it right when focusing on the removal of “noise”. If any of you are inclined to give this a try, with a CG hub or PC grounding post, I recommend it. It’s not a significant commitment in terms of time or resources and the payoff could be well worth it. If not, you can say you gave it a shot. Not sure why I decided to try it, but I’m very happy I did.

Good post!

[Vintage Pete]

Altaira is my next stop....

[Clyde2]

Originally Posted by Vintage Pete

Altaira is my next stop....

You will not regret it!

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by Vintage Pete

Altaira is my next stop....

Pete, what are you waiting for?

All "silliness" aside, I've found the Altaira to be one of most important foundational "components" for a system I've yet experienced. I think that the majority of folks that bought them would say they're transformational in what they do to make a system quieter, more accurate, and most importantly, much more "natural and organic" and thus, musically engaging. I'm personally of the view I'd go down on the specification of the DAC or pre and put those funds towards an Altaira set-up; that's how foundational I find this sytem to be. Just my 2¢.

Presently running a segmented system with one SG hub dedicated to the signal components' "front end", the Lumin P1 (which functions as my streamer, DAC, and preamp) and phono stage, and one solely dedicated to the Constellation integrated amp.

[Vintage Pete]

[Masterlu]

I now have Altaira on all but one system; and that’s getting ordered this week before the pricing could change.

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by Masterlu

I now have Altaira on all but one system; and that’s getting ordered this week before the pricing could change.

I'll just add that the new "little" Gemini 4-outlet power distributor (which is a great PD, BTW) also has a "subsystem" built into it with 4 ground terminals that provides CG Altaira-specification ground-plane noise reduction. It's great for headphone amps and DACs, small systems, and also for remote server room/network closet applications, which is how I use mine.

Here's a shot it sitting on top of the P1's SG Altaira, simply because it was an easy and well-lit place to "stage it" for a product shot, as it were.


Photo of the rear panel. Gemini provides as much AC mains noise-reduction as the original Triton V1, which was a breakthrough at the time. The four terminals along the bottom provide the Altaira CG ground-plane noise reduction. Each terminal is fully isolated from the other, as well.


It then was set up in the RSR (Remote Server Room).


Alita (my Akasa-cased NUC), EtherREGEN, and my Pace router are all powered by Gemini. Alita and ER are in Zone 1, and the dirty Pace router is in Zone 2 (which is fully isolated from Zone 1). There's also ground-plane noise reduction provided by Gemini by connecting Alita, ER and the Pace router to it's CG GP-NR system with Alpha and Venom CGCs (chassis ground cables). The Altaira-subsystem really provides a notable improvement in audio quality for these applications, because devices like "consumer-grade" internet routers (e.g. my AT&T Pace router) and the like are really dirty when it comes to ground plane noise. Altaira functionality really helps out here...