Thanks for the invite Mike. We had some good fun.
The CD we used for the comparisions was chosen because AM told Mike that soundstage will be the cue to listen for when the devices are pulled. Not being familiar with Mike's music collection, and not hearing any particularly good natural soundstage recordings in the testing playlist he made up, we chose the CD which we could both hear a great soundstage, along with clear, dynamic acoustic recording with steel, wood, flesh instrument with somewhat extended freq range. It is the disk I got from Marvin, (mboldda1.)
http://www.audionervosa.com/index.php?topic=1520.0 I think it was track 4 that we used.
The changes made by pulling and reinstalling the Maher pieces were audible, but more subtle than those from removing the Jaco, which was night and day. I hate passive AC filters! Granted Mike did have the power amp plugged into the Jaco too but Running Springs says no problem. NOT!
Pulling out the Maher small wall wart thingies was a bigger change to me than pulling out the Studio. But the wall wart removal may have only been audible while the studio was active, holding down other noise that would have otherwise obscured the warts' effects. The wall warts added textural detail and focused soundstage cues more clearly. It enhanced the illusion of reality by a small amount. On lesser speakers and amp I would question whether it would be as audible, but then maybe I would have noticed something else in that circumstance. Mike's soundstage exists in the pit of his brick fireplace, so he needs all the help he can get! The effect of the wall warts was significant enough to warrant the price. I did not know the timing of Mike removing the warts from outlets in other rooms, so it is hard to tell whether the effect is from one wart, or one in particular, or all three being removed. If the effect is coming from curing one particularly bad outlet like the one with PCs SMPS then it would be a bargain for the price. If it is cumulative effect then less valuable for the price of three units. But we did not test the warts without the Studio to know their value working on their own.
Removing the Studio had a bigger effect than removing the warts. It was heard as grunge entering the tone, especially in lower midrange (related to 120Hz?) The system became subtly less refined, it was a bit of an edgy grunge, so I don't think it is sinewave related. I did not notice any additional spatial blurring as I did with the wallwarts, but that could be because the tonal grunge masked the spatial differences. The excitement and clarity of the high end audio system was reduced, but I think I would adjust to the grunge and survive just fine. It is a still magnificent sound. At home I have tube amps plugged straigt in. My AN review of Equitech would suggest I am total denial and suffering with godawful sound without the Q, but I can tell you that is not true - at least not the suffering part. I believe the power conditioning would make my system better, but I also believe a Porsche would make my driving experience better, but I choose not to partake for many reasons, financial and otherwise. How much is good enough? Different for everyone according to passion and means.
The flying guitar discussed above was still all over the place with or without the Maher components in. It is an artifact of poor miking on the recording or room nodes in the recording room. I think it is caused by some lower notes peaking at the location of another mic panned right and cause the guitar to sound like it is stretched across the stage only on some notes. Crazy! The spatial focusing of the Maher products, wall warts especially, made the panned notes more easily noticed.
The most valuable discovery last night IMO was putting some couch pillows on top of the couch behind Mike's head. The echo from behind was much more disturbing than the noise on the powerline. But the Maher devices DO work, although I would not agree it is to the extent that others have described Maher products here, but they are using different products in different ways, every system is different, every person has different priorities in their listening, and challenges in their listening environment. Maybe in my own system which I am very used to I would notice bigger changes over time. I hope to get that opportunity. But I hope to afford new interconnects even more at the present moment.
From memory, I judge the Equitech Q1.5 having a bigger effect on my system than Mike's Maher products did on Mike's system in terms of tonal clarity, spatial improvement and dynamic headroom. But my imagination and memory are scary things, and the Maher parts definitely don't have mechanical hum. Maybe the products Alan sells at similar price to the Equitech would outperform it. It would fun to hear Mike's Maher filters on some of our other systems in the area.
I think Mike had a big relief when he heard the positive effects of the Studio return in < 15 minutes after replugging it. I could tell he was nervous about removing it. We did try to plug the thing into a UPS, but then we thought the UPS was still plugged into the house, and I did hear a drop off of clarity when he unplugged it from the UPS. But unplugging the UPS from the wall didn't work because it started beeping.
A potential explanation is that it requires greater time to break in from new, and then reforms quicker after subsequent unpluggings. But it did need to warm up for a few minutes after unplugged for 20 minutes.
Thanks to Mike for the chance to hear these popular and controversial products for myself.
Rich