Isol-8 is a pioneer of high quality power conditioning components distributed in 32 countries. All Isol-8 products are designed and manufactured in the UK.

With a 20 year history of innovation, Isol-8 has a thorough understanding of how noise gets introduced into your HiFi system and then designs power conditioning units to effectviely get rid of this noise. From the start, founder Nic Poulson scrutinized where noise was being generated within an audio system and developed far more effective solutions than most power conditioners that are simply not built to solve.

Where does 'noise' come from?

Certainly mains borne noise can be passed on to your components from the wall outlet. DC voltages, harmonic distortion, radio frequency interference introduced by other users on the power grid gets passed on via your wall socket and there is a contribution from the mains wiring throughout your home and dimmers and other items connected to your ring mains supply. But there is also noise generated by diode rectifiers in the power supplies and circuits of the components themselves. Noise is a by product of switch mode power supplies. This internal noise will vary according to temperature, load, and resonance interactions and can only be partially addressed by the manufacturer of the component. Most importantly this internal noise can be passed on from one component to another locally in your system stack. The high quality components needed to tame this noise would add a lot of cost to each individual component. A dedicated power conditioner however, is actually a cost effective way to reduce noise to all the components connected to it and the effects of this reduction can easily be heard. Clean power can not be taken for granted, it has to be created.

Understanding the job of the dedicated power conditioner

Many power conditioners use a front end filter followed by a chain of outlets connected to each other and simply ignore the issue of cross contanimation from one component to another. They ignore DC in the mains supply - a common occurence - and supposed fixes for common and differential noise often shunt the noise back onto the ground plane where it can still do harm to sound quality through noise floor modulation. With Isol-8's no compromise approach, all of these issues are addressed so that real performance gains are heard and not just promised - right at the start of the Hifi chain.

Comparing power filters

Isol-8 power conditioners only specify continuous power ratings because theoretical peak current ratings can be exaggerated under zero ohm supply and load conditions; a unique situation that does not exist in the real world. What is true is that power filters with a larger current capacity require larger more expensive components. The depth of filtration should be effective across a large enough bandwidth and under dynamic conditions. Specification test conditions may not reflect the real world environment; numbers don't always tell the story although they are often used to draw conclusions. Poor designs don't live up to the optimistic claims made for them and may have a negative impact on sound quality. Through Nic's dedication to quality and comprehensive approach to noise reduction, Isol-8 power conditioning reveals more of what's possible in sound reproduction.

Link to order ISOL-8 power conditioners from kemela

Transmodal Filtering and Axis DC blocking technologies

Mains noise is filtered across both Differential (generated within single conductor current loop)and Common (generated within two conductor current loop, the second loop created by stray capacitance in ground plane) modes. Isol-8's transmodal filter combats both types of noise using the right filter network and appropriately sized components without resorting to the 'shunt to earth' method which is less expensive (saves on set of series inductors) and much less effective while at the same time introducing the problem of a polluted ground plane. When DC voltage is present on the AC mains supply it has a degrading effect on sound quality by distorting the sine wave power waveform. Nic developed the AXIS technology to combat this and championed its use as an important attribute in power conditioning.

Blocking noise transferred between HiFi Components

After designing an effective filter topology, Nic pioneered the use of multiple filter sections to tackle the issue of cross contimination between audio components. Here are the multiple filter section in the flagship LCX source component conditioner which features Mundorf foil Inductors which are normally only found in the highest level loudspeaker cross-over networks. These are very expensive but are audibly superior to regular wire wound inductors.

Highest Quality Components

Using the best available components in the right configuration gives effective filtration for power amplifiers.

Long Life

All Isol-8 products are built in the UK and designed to last incorporating non magnetic and non resonant CNC machined aluminum. Throughout the range, high quality power outlets with hinged covers (to IP54 standards) protect unused outlets from dust, dirt and little fingers. Internal wiring is all carefully selected silver plated copper with PTFE insulation.

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