$15 Noise Sniffer

This tip comes from PS customer Bill Erdman. We thought so much of the simplicity and effectiveness of this tip that we have added the little noise sniffer to our permanent arsenal of test equipment we use when going into the field. Bill Mentions you can go to the hardware store and purchase one. We had a little trouble finding it, but succeeded in the end. This tip is so cool that we're thinking of having some of these made for us. Perhaps in the future we can even offer them to our customers. Ours is a different brand than Bill's but they are essentially the same.

The unit can be purchased at Home Depot and many other retailers. You can click here for the datasheet.

Here's Bill's tip (for which he won an Ultimate Outlet for:)

I love my PS300 and I love the Multiwave upgrade but this fifteen dollar tweak has improved the sound of my system as much as both upgrades. It is based on science and it is extremely easy to verify the significant beneficial sonic effects. In fact I was able to accomplish this wonder in about 90 seconds.

You will need an AC line voltage sniffer. I got mine from the hardware store for around ten bucks. It is made by AW Sperry and it looks like a fat pencil. It has a sensitivity control, a red LED and an audible squeal which increases as the device is brought in proximity to any source of alternating voltage.

Set the sensitivity so that it squeals and glows when it gets within 4 to 6 inches of an electrical outlet. Then run the tester along the length of your speaker cables while the amplifier is muted. I was amazed to find there were several feet of cable that were picking up AC voltage even though the nearest source of power was a lamp cord 3 feet away. Even more amazing was the tester squealed like a stuck pig when placed near the speaker cones themselves (All my efforts at keeping grunge out of the system were defeated by a lamp cord!!!)

Nonetheless, the solution was easy. Unplug the lamp and "bingo" the tester goes silent. Apparently the lamp cord acts like a radio transmitter antenna and my unshielded speaker cables act like a radio receiver antenna.

Although I could not hear any hum in the speaker with the lamp plugged in, there was a clear difference in listening to music with lamp plugged Vs unplugged. The bass was fuller and richer and the highs were more crisp and had more air about them (especially cymbals). I performed a blinded plugged Vs unplugged comparison and was easily able to get it right 6 out of 6 times. So until I can afford a long (39 ft) set of your shielded lab cables I will be listening (happily) to music in the dark.

Obviously you can use the tester to check shielding on interconnects and power cords. You can even "watch" the music in your speaker cables by laying the tester on top of the cable (lamp unplugged of course) and turning up the volume a bit. The led glows brightly with each drum beat or crescendo. At high volume the tester will glow to the music even if held 2 inches away. That will give you an idea of just how far apart cables need to be separated.

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