Yesterday's post covered common mode noise and today's will cover differential mode noise.
To refresh your morning brain, common mode noise is radiated noise from cell phones, WIFI, etc. that get received by both wires in our home's AC wiring at the same time. When you look at an AC outlet you see two holes where you plug in your equipment: one is the hot and the other the neutral. Common mode noise is on both of these wires at the same time - common to both the hot and neutral.
Differential mode is generally a type of noise generated by the very equipment being powered. It is referred to as differential mode noise because the noise is present on one of the two conductors and not the other - remembering that common mode noise is equal and on both conductors at the same time.
So in any effective one way gate filter, we really need two filters to be effective: a common mode filter and a differential mode filter. This is exactly what you find in all our power products like the Dectet, Ultimate Outlet or the upcoming PowerBase (as well as any properly designed power conditioner).
The differential mode filter makes sure that when the equipment being powered by the one way gate generates its own garbage, that junk doesn't travel back down the power line to pollute anything else on the same circuit. The common mode filter helps reduce any of the radiated noise in your home from getting into the equipment being powered in the first place.
So, in summary, the PowerBase works on several levels: isolation from power problems coming into the base, power problems generated by the equipment sitting on the base and diffusing and adding back just the right amount of diffuse mechanical energy generated by the loudspeakers in your listening room.
Isolation is a big deal and, while certainly a finishing touch to any fine system, an important one at that.
Tomorrow we leave the world of power and vibrations and onward to something entirely new.
