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Improves the Quality of AC Power Feeding Your AV System
The audiolab DC Block 6 has been designed to improve the quality of AC electricity that feeds audio and AV systems.
Electricity as if comes from a wall plug has a fundamental influence on the audio signal as it passes through a system, from source to amplifiers to speakers. The AC power supply in a typical home is subject to interference induced by a range of issues, causing the AC waveform to distort before it reaches each component. This creates noise in the audio signal, which degrades sound quality – a situation that continues to worsen with more and more electrical devices being added to the home power supply.
Household Power is Particularly Bad for Power Amps
In theory, the mains electricity we obtain from the AC receptacles in our homes should be pure AC, with a perfectly symmetrical sine wave alternating between positive and negative phases. But this is not the case, and common power problems can degrade the performance of a wide range of AV gear, particularly power amplifiers.
The AC transformers commonly used in home audio equipment cannot tolerate the presence of significant levels of DC voltage without being compromised. Less than 500mV of DC – typical in an average household electricity supply – can be sufficient to cause toroidal transformers of the kind often found in amplifiers to become saturated, which adversely affects sonic performance and may cause audible mechanical vibration.
A Six-Outlet Solution
The audiolab DC Block 6 is a six-IEC-outlet solution for this all-too-common problem.
By blocking, or cancelling, DC voltage found within the AC mains supply, the DC Block 6 corrects the DC offset and rebalances the mains sine wave. But tackling ‘DC on the mains’ is not the only benefit delivered by this dual-action device – it also contains a high-performance audio-class filtering circuit that removes RFI/EMI contaminants from the mains supply. This is effective in reducing both differential-mode noise (exacerbated by cheap switch-mode power supplies used by many home appliances) and common-mode noise (aggravated by airborne interference from phones, Wi-Fi networks, and Bluetooth).
Perfectly sized to match audiolab components and to easily fit into a typical hi-fi shelf / rack system, the DC Block 6 features a front-panel voltmeter display, which can be powered off for a more discreet placement.
The DC Block 6 is available in black or silver. It comes with a full set of power cables – six IEC C14 to C13 cables to connect its outlets to your system components, plus a cable to plug it into your AC wall receptacle.
