Burmester 948

[bart]

Originally Posted by TommyC

What kind of effect does it have on a tv?

The image has even less grain, is clearer, intenser, more stable.

[m.tonetti]

The manual:
948_manual_eng.pdf

[JemHadar]

The principle of the 948 reminds me of the old Exactpower EP15A AC units..that is regulating and correcting power rather than completely regenerating.

Although regeneration, like the PurePower units do, would seem to yield the most benefits, I'm very curious in the results of a PP vs 948 shoot out.

BTW...I must confess, that as time goes by, I find the Burmester gear more and more appealing...they have that "je ne sais pas quoi" that McIntosh has lost since their new Marketing strategy was put into effect.

[jdebonth]

Funny how this 948 thread has come up as I was just on the phone with Burmester this morning regarding an issue I am having with my 911mk3. I have noticed hum in the power transformer at certain times during the day. After Burmester recommended some experimentation to identify the root cause it turns out that it is due to a large amount of DC current in my mains. In my case when I have my TV on (or washing machine running) it raises the DC level to the point where the 911’s toroidal transformer reaches a point of saturation and this then begins to hum with a significant intensity; it is audible at over 5 meters away. When I turn off the TV and the hum stops. No problem for me as I typically do not have the TV on when I listen to music, although it is annoying when I want to watch movies. Although the hum is not harmful for the 911 it is not good either according to Burmester. This is apparently only an issue with very high end transformers which are ultra sensitive to DC; with my MC402 I never had such as issue.

The solution they recommended is one of their conditioners which were designed exactly for this purpose; the elimination of DC from the mains. Fabian from Burmester (who gave fantastic technical support) recommended two ways of using the device; either plugging everything from sources, preamps, TVs and power amps into the conditioner (he explicitly stated not to plug in a PC if this is used as a source), OR plugging everything into the conditioner APART from the power amps. As long as the power amps are plugged into the same socket circuit (group of plugs on the wall) to which a 948 is plugged the power amp will receive DC filtered electricity.

So looks like I will be adding one of these to the arsenal

[JohnThomas]

Originally Posted by joeinid

I am sure the 948 is decent, but I am itching to try the Running Springs conditioners. They are supposed to be better. I love my PP2000 and because my power drops once in a while, I feel more comfortable with it.

I wonder if the PP2000 will handle a 909

I've been told that the Running springs was better than the 948.But I'm with Ivan when you have all that bling going on it just looks better. But I'm sure it's harder to go from something better if you heard it already.Then again how much better is all relative.

[joeinid]

Originally Posted by jdebonth

Funny how this 948 thread has come up as I was just on the phone with Burmester this morning regarding an issue I am having with my 911mk3. I have noticed hum in the power transformer at certain times during the day. After Burmester recommended some experimentation to identify the root cause it turns out that it is due to a large amount of DC current in my mains. In my case when I have my TV on (or washing machine running) it raises the DC level to the point where the 911’s toroidal transformer reaches a point of saturation and this then begins to hum with a significant intensity; it is audible at over 5 meters away. When I turn off the TV and the hum stops. No problem for me as I typically do not have the TV on when I listen to music, although it is annoying when I want to watch movies. Although the hum is not harmful for the 911 it is not good either according to Burmester. This is apparently only an issue with very high end transformers which are ultra sensitive to DC; with my MC402 I never had such as issue.

The solution they recommended is one of their conditioners which were designed exactly for this purpose; the elimination of DC from the mains. Fabian from Burmester (who gave fantastic technical support) recommended two ways of using the device; either plugging everything from sources, preamps, TVs and power amps into the conditioner (he explicitly stated not to plug in a PC if this is used as a source), OR plugging everything into the conditioner APART from the power amps. As long as the power amps are plugged into the same socket circuit (group of plugs on the wall) to which a 948 is plugged the power amp will receive DC filtered electricity.

So looks like I will be adding one of these to the arsenal

I discovered DC on my mains when I had my Spectron amps. The transformer hum was unbelievable. Every other amp I've had was quiet. The way I am getting rid of the DC is to use 2 PS Audio Humbuster III's in series and that kept the Spectrons totally silent. So to this day I continue that tradition. Power re-generators like the PP2000 and the PS Audio PPP strangely do not remove the DC by themselves. I am not sure why. At some point, I will try the 948 and see if it helps.

Please post your experiences with this unit, I am very curious.

Joe

[JemHadar]

Originally Posted by joeinid

Power re-generators like the PP2000 and the PS Audio PPP strangely do not remove the DC by themselves.

I'm not familiar with the innerworkings of the PS audio...but the PP is a classic AC to DC, DC to AC inverter circuit...there should be no more DC in the output...so I'm curious to the origin of this statement.

THX for shining more light on this Joe

[joeinid]

Originally Posted by Jem666

I'm not familiar with the innerworkings of the PS audio...but the PP is a classic AC to DC, DC to AC inverter circuit...there should be no more DC in the output...so I'm curious to the origin of this statement.

THX for shining more light on this Joe

Based on my experience and nothing more, I can not get rid of DC on my line unless I use both PS Audio Humbuster III's in series. Probably not typical, I know. If I use either a PPP, or the PP2000 alone I still have DC. I would have thought the re-generators would have taken care of it.

[TommyC]

Originally Posted by joeinid

Based on my experience and nothing more, I can not get rid of DC on my line unless I use both PS Audio Humbuster III's in series. Probably not typical, I know. If I use either a PPP, or the PP2000 alone I still have DC. I would have thought the re-generators would have taken care of it.

Could the DC be generated by other electronic equipment, then leaked into the line? I don't believe the sockets in PP2000 are isolated from one another.

[TommyC]

Originally Posted by bart

The image has even less grain, is clearer, intenser, more stable.

That's good to know.