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Audioquest Niagara 7000 tested with Power Line Meter

A few months ago I bought a Niagara 7000.  Upon plugging all of my components in I noticed an immediate, dramatic improvement in the sound.  I was blown away.  
This post is not a review of said unit, but I wanted to share with you a test I did in comparing the noise of the electricity in my house to that which is coming from the Niagara 7000. 
 
I bought a Power Line Meter from Alpha Labs.  https://www.alphalabinc.com/product/plm/
My local dealer had one at the shop and I immediately wanted one so I ordered it online.  
I plugged it into the outlet that the Niagara is plugged into and it read between 1100 and 1200 mV.  For comparison, I tested the power at my office and it read in the range of 450 mV.  Needless to say, my home power lines have a lot of noise in them!  

Now, when I plugged the meter into an outlet on the back of the Niagara it read only 11 mV.  That is an incredible reduction in line noise.  I did not expect it to read so low. 
The dealer I mentioned did the same comparison between the standard outlets in the shop and a Niagara 5000.  Without the Niagara it was around 500 mV and with it was around 50 mV.  I had wondered what the performance gains might be between the 7000 and the 5000, considering the former costs twice as much.  If the meter test is any indication, the 5000 allows around 5 times the noise through. 
Granted, none of these tests are done scientifically or in a controlled environment, but they are still interesting numbers.  

It would be interesting to test different brands of power conditioners to see how they compare.
128x128snackeyp
snackeyp's avatar
snackeyp OP
455 posts
 
Of course simply knowing how much noise is eliminated is one indicator of how effective these components are, including power cables.  But the real test is in how good the music sounds.  
My experience with the Niagara 7000 is the background is black as night and the music appears from blackness.  The sound is also more powerful and the soundstage wider and deeper.  I really just want to sit and play record after record, the music sounds so good.  
To my lay ears the unit does everything it's advertised to do.  It does not choke or compress the music, but rather brings out the best.  I always thought the system I had sounded great, so I was astounded how much better it got after plugging everything into the Niagara unit.
 
jafant
18,871 posts
 

Right On! snackeyp

the figures that you tested, home mv vs. office mv, will indeed depend on locale. Do you live in one of our major U.S. cities? Apartment, condo or single dwelling residence (house)? These places will vary as well.

The AQ Niagara is proving to be quite a revolutionary product.

I look forward in reading more about your findings as you massage this conditioner into your system.

Happy Listening!

mcrib
10 posts
 
out of curiosity did each outlet read the same in terms of noise? was one end noisier than the other?
snackeyp's avatar
snackeyp OP
455 posts
 
out of curiosity did each outlet read the same in terms of noise? was one end noisier than the other?

Do you mean did all the outlets in the Niagara test the same?
If so, I don't know.  I didn't test them all.  But it's an interesting thing to do so I will try this when I have time and report back.

markjk
10 posts
 
Since I am in the market for a power conditioner, i wonder how the Niagra would stack up against the new Shunyata Denali
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