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Every audio/video installation will be made or broken by the quality of the mains
Many enthusiasts of audio and/or video are familiar with the phenomenon that during the nighttime and weekend their system willperform significantly better than during other hours. This is due to the fact that there is much less distortion (consumersusing the mains) at off-peak hours.
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Distortions on the mains?
The voltage, that the European power companies ought to deliver us, is a sine-wave of 230 V (+10%, -6%) with a frequency of 50 Hz (+/- 1%). Every consumer of electricity has a negative effect on the mains. It creates an interference spectrum. Depending on the kind of equipment used, you have a different amplitude and frequency range of the interference spectrum.
There is a difference between narrow banded and broad banded interference spectra. |
Narrow band interferences are mainly created by switching power-supplies (e.g. computers and industry), digital equipment (e.g. CD players, minidisc- and DAT recorders), video equipment (e.g. television sets, videos and DVDs) and broadcasting units (radio, GSM and baby phones). This distortion manifests itself as discrete high frequency interference at changing amplitudes. In the electronic circuits of your audio/video system those interference distortions are demodulated (detector effect). The residue of the distortions is a signal in the form of a noise, which causes a muddy sound or picture.
The coarse, sharp sound of many digital devices can often be explained by contamination in the mains produced by these devices, which has a negative influence on the musical performance of the whole system.
Broad band distortion at the mains is caused by inductive users (e.g. electro motors) and mechanical switches (e.g. light switches, and fridge thermostats). Those disturbances mostly are carried by electromagnetic radiation (by air) to the audio/video-equipment. This will often cause clicking, humming, and similar kinds of distortion during the reproduction of sound and vision. In actual practice, those distortions are barely solvable by a line conditioner. The only way to solve this problem is to undisturbe those distortion producers themselves.
Another kind of distortion is overvoltage, which is caused by electricity generating circuits (power plants), induction changes and strokes of lightning. Those distortions are disastrous for your A/V system. It will express itself by means of a wobble up to and/or the complete breakdown of your equipment. Fortunately, the latter rarely occurs. All our products have an overvoltage protection for mains induction voltage and lightning strokes.
From the above you will understand that it is the rule rather than the exception to have pollution present at the mains. You can imagine that those distortions will influence the working of your audio/video equipment in a negative way. In the near future this will become a bigger problem given the enormous increase in electronic equipment such as computers and wireless communications, e.g. cellphones. Even as you read this, power companies are busy with planning the distribution of telephone and Internet connections through the mains.
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