Isotek Aquarius Mains Conditioner

[MCRU]

http://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt309/themainsman/Logos/ebay-logo-new-brands.jpg

I have the award winning Isotek Aquarius with a special offer for all AOS members, firstly I am including a high current mains power lead of my own design free with all Aquarius's sold between now and the end of February and also included will be a free Blue Horizon Record Mat. The Aquarius is available in silver or black. £795 inc. delivery in the UK.

http://i622.photobucket.com/albums/tt309/themainsman/hifiplus-awards-comp.jpg

[colinB]

Wish i had the cash for that mate. Ive read they are better than the Isotek sub station which i heard once and liked very much.

[MCRU]

Wish i had the cash for that mate. Ive read they are better than the Isotek sub station which i heard once and liked very much.

I took the Belkin PF30 out as I am selling it to an AOS nice man called Keith for what it cost me, the Aquarius is back in now, The Belkin is superb for the money but the Isotek is stunning.

I can do you a deal if you PM me.

[colinB]

LOL. Oh no dont. Ive got AV amps and Oyaide platters spinning around in my head at the moment.
I am curious though.

[colinB]

Good review on the syncro mains cable in Hi Fi news.

[MCRU]

Good review on the syncro mains cable in Hi Fi news.

Yes someone recently asked how it would sound connected to an Aquarius, I told him to buy a turntable instead and get my Ultimate Mains Lead to connect it to the wall. It works exceptionally well with the Titan according to customer feed backs (The Ultimate not the Syncro)!

The Oyaide mat has to be the coolest looking hi-fi accessory on the planet, how sad am I.

[colinB]

No more Oyaide?

[MCRU]

No more Oyaide?

No comprende?

[Ali Tait]

Is that a conditioner or a regenerator?

[colinB]

Sorry when you said how sad am i , i thought you meant you had none left.:doh:

[MCRU]

Is that a conditioner or a regenerator?

Its difficult to categorize it mate, here is some blurb about it, just sold 1 as I type!

Isotek Aquarius is the long-awaited successor to the famous Mini Sub, arguably one of the best-known mains conditioners in IsoTek’s catalogue. The original Mini Sub was launched in 2003 to universal acclaim, and its eventual replacement – the GII Mini Sub – was held in even greater esteem, earning no fewer than 9 awards from prestigious audio publications around the world. Autumn 2009 sees the launch of the next generation, building upon the success of its illustrious forebears and benefitting from IsoTek continuous R&D programme to set another new performance benchmark.

Like the Mini Sub before it, IsoTek Aquarius is a six-way mains conditioning component that sits squarely in the middle of the IsoTek range, above the likes of the entry-level Sirius and below the high-end Sigmas, Nova and Titan. It sports two high-current and four medium-current outlets, all individually filtered and fully isolated from one another, together with a newly designed aluminium casing and host of enhancements under the lid, some trickled down from IsoTek’s top-end components, others newly developed and made available for the first time in Aquarius.

Current delivery is greater than the GII Mini Sub, with a full 16 Amps available from its two high-current outlets, ensuring musical transients are entirely unrestricted. Thermo-magnetic fusing contributes to this enhanced delivery, as does the use of a 16A IEC C20 inlet to connect Aquarius to the mains. Easily distinguished from standard IEC plugs and sockets because their pins are horizontal instead of vertical, IEC C20 connectors enable superior current delivery compared to the C13 plug and C14 socket most commonly found on audio equipment.
The four medium-current outlets now feature IsoTek’s Adaptive Gating technology – an auto-sensing filter stage that adapts to the current draw of the load, thus tailoring the filtering process to suit the component attached to each individual outlet. This proprietary technology first appeared in the high-end Nova and Sigmas power conditioners; Aquarius delivers it at a significantly lower price.
Also new for Aquarius is K.E.R.P. (Kirchoff’s Equal Path of Resistance), a technology specially developed for IsoTek’s latest EVO3 generation of power conditioners. This engenders a pure, symmetrical signal path throughout the unit, without interference from one socket to the next, thus helping to deliver a more coherent sound.
Further enhancements are made by an all-new choke design, incorporating improved magnetic material and enabling increased frequency bandwidth; the independent filter stages have also been improved throughout. Even the sturdy new aluminium case plays its part in raising performance levels, its massive ground plan allowing it to act like a Faraday cage when closed, thus providing further shielding from electromagnetic radiation (EMI).
It’s not just about sonic enhancement, however; Aquarius delivers greater protection from spikes and surges, too, with a massive 67,500 Amps of instantaneous and repeatable protection. The fact that it is repeatable is important: many mains filters have protection circuits that trip and need resetting manually. Or worse, they trip once and stay tripped, despite allowing the system to play, thus providing no protection at all, unbeknown to the end-user.


The effect that Aquarius has on a system’s sound, compared to the same system without conditioning, is unequivocal – just as it was with the GII Mini Sub. The noise floor drops and the sound gains greater focus, with reduced grain and improved clarity. Bass is tighter and better defined, treble gains space and ‘air’, and the overall musical performance appears more solid and dynamic, and hence more ‘real’.
What’s more, compare the Aquarius to the GII Mini Sub and it is clear that the gains are considerably greater with the new unit. The sound appears more dynamic, rising out of a quieter background, and the music connects with the listener more emphatically as a result. IsoTek has achieved its objective: Aquarius sets a new mains conditioning benchmark below £1,000.
“The original Mini Sub is the product that put IsoTek on the map,” said Keith Martin, IsoTek’s founder and Managing Director. “In may ways, it was also responsible for making mains conditioning a serious component of the UK hi-fi scene, introducing a legion of audio fans to the tremendous improvements that effective mains conditioning can bring to any hi-fi system. Replacing such a stalwart with a new model is a tremendous responsibility, but no one who tries Aquarius can be in any doubt that we have succeeded in improving on its award-winning predecessor. Unlike other performance-enhancing accessories – cables and the like – Aquarius will improve the sound of every component in your system, ensuring it’s the most cost-effective upgrade an audio lover is ever likely to make.”

[Reid Malenfant]

Is that a conditioner or a regenerator?


<snip> Its difficult to categorize it mate, here is some blurb about it, just sold 1 as I type!
Isotek Aquarius is the long-awaited successor to the famous Mini Sub, arguably one of the best-known mains conditioners in IsoTek’s catalogue.
Like the Mini Sub before it, IsoTek Aquarius is a six-way mains conditioning component
It's a conditioner :)

[MCRU]

Thanks Mark.

[Ali Tait]

So I see, now seeing the posted blurb. Is it really that much better than the Belkin?

[MCRU]

So I see, now seeing the posted blurb. Is it really that much better than the Belkin?

I think it depends on your system a lot, other forums I frequent has members with don't mean to be rude but I would say mediocre systems who think they are audiophiles but IMHO they cannot hear the improvements things like the Isotek introduce. Is the Aquarius worth £750 more than the Belkin, probably not in a lot of systems but an absolute no brainer in others. I doubt if the Belkin has the sophisticated circuitry that the AQ has. Maybe I could be wrong, with my system I could hear the improvements immediately but like I said it is different for each system.

Never could work out why they were selling at less than cost?

[Ali Tait]

It does strike me that if something like this has such a marked effect on expensive electronics, then the expensive electronics were not properly designed in the first place.

[Si74]

Saying that I have never heard a system that my Shunyata Hydra doesn't
make sound way better.
Lots of my gear is 120v, ran of a step down tranny so I know it can never get 130/140v so like a mains regenerator at a 20th of the price:eek:

[MCRU]

It does strike me that if something like this has such a marked effect on expensive electronics, then the expensive electronics were not properly designed in the first place.

Yawn......:)