PS Audio Noise Harvester

There's a similar product put out by AudioPrism I believe. AudioPrism also sells something they call a 'sniffer' that detects higher frequency components on an AC line. Their thinking, which is analogous to PSAudio, is the more Prisms you put on your lines, the quieter your lines become. This is monitored by the the 'sniffer' which puts out an audible signal, the strength of which is somehow proportional to the amount of noise. Not too long ago, a fellow posted on AVS about his experiences with the 'sniffer'. Sure enough he found it to emit a sound when plugged into the AC lines directly but when he plugged it into the outlet of his surge protector/conditioner (might've been a Panamax or Monster...not sure), the 'sniffer' was quiet.


The way these type of products work is the innards contain some basic circuitry that has inductors and capacitors. Maybe a resistor too. Not too long ago I posted a typical circuit diagram for such a circuit. In PSAudio's case, perhaps some enterprising person will buy one and split it open for an examination. I'd guess that they're using a small storage capacitor to trigger the LED for effect. If the rest of their info is reasonably accurate, then the only thing in that device is a capacitor.


With respect to PSAudio's link that you provided, some careful reading should be done. For instance...

1) Noise is not always transmitted through the AC. It can be airborn in which case, if it's of sufficient magnitude it can propogate down an interconnect or through some other means.

2) No mention was made of what dimmer was used in their example. We don't know if it was an el-cheapo, defective, or rendered defective. Many people simply don't run their dimmers on the same circuit and those that do, often spend a few extra bucks for HT friendly dimmers like from Leviton.

3) We don't know the level of the noise and for that matter if it resulted in any audible or visual improvement.

4) No 'scope readings were provided for the noise if the the device was plugged into one of PSAudio's products.

5) We don't know over what frequency range it works and if it's filtering is frequency dependent.


I guess you could buy one and plug it into whatever surge protection device you've got to see if it 'blinks'. As PSAudio says, "They can be placed anywhere in the home to do their job and the more the merrier." The only question is who is the one getting merrier?