V5 SIGMAS

THE SELECT SERIES

REMOVES MAINS NOISE

Differential Mode mains noise is created by all electrical appliances – everything with a power supply, in fact. This includes your microwave oven, your television and your computer, as well as every hi-fi component you own.

Common Mode mains noise is often referred to as RFI – transmitted frequencies that surround us but we cannot see. For example, imagine how much data is transmitted by smartphones and tablets; cheap power cables act as aerials (antennas) for these unwanted frequencies.

SINE WAVE CORRECTION

From a high quality audio point of view, mains electricity needs two factors; a nice 50 or 60Hz sine wave supplied from a very low impedance source, without radio frequency noise. The low impedance makes for a near constant voltage regardless of how much power is used in the surrounding area. In reality we can typically expect around 5% fluctuation. The very low impedance of the mains, which is way below 1 ohm at 50 or 60Hz is not maintained when approaching radio frequencies (> 50 ohms > 100 kHz) and acts as an aerial (antenna) inviting RF noise.

IsoTek’s power cleaning circuits are designed to reduce impedance whilst remaining safe as well as correcting well into the audio frequency bands. This is not only a judgment from sound electrical engineering, but it also follows the codes of electrical safety, which are independently assessed.

MULTIPLE FILTER SYSTEM

Many IsoTek products are not just a single power cleaning system but are multiple power cleaners in one convenient chassis. The advantage being that each component in your audio system has own dedicated clean power delivery system. Furthermore, Differential Mode noise, created as electrical devices draw power, is kept to a minimum and the possibility of electrical noise cross contamination between outlet sockets is eliminated.

Many power cleaning systems simply place a standard filter design in a box with all outlet sockets joined together in series one after the other, thus connected equipment cross contaminates and the purpose of the product is lost.

INDEPENDENT SOCKETS

IsoTek products feature outlet sockets that are totally independent from each other; no two outlet sockets being directly connected. This is a critical point for limiting or eliminating the cross contamination of Differential Mode mains noise.

Each socket connects directly back to the PCB and is serviced by IsoTek’s unique power cleaning technologies.

HIGH GRADE COMPONENTS

Every IsoTek product uses the finest grade electrical components, many custom made, using the highest quality metals and materials which are specifically designed for purpose. Quality doesn’t stop at parts but also extends into the PCB designs, which maintain high levels of amperage and extraordinarily low levels of resistance, using up to eight times the general standard of copper prior to pure silver plating.

Internal wiring also uses high purity coppers combined with silver plating, with either Fluorinated Ethylene Propylene (FEP) dielectric or IsoTek’s Virtual Dielectric of Air (VDA), where a FEP tube is wound around the conductor before an extruded FEP dielectric protects this construction giving unrivalled performance and the ultimate low resistance, high performance internal power delivery system.

SURGE PROTECTION

Power surges or spikes on the mains supply are generally very bad for any electrical device especially a high quality audio replay system. Power surges occur when there is a boost to the electrical charge at some point in the power lines. This causes an increase in the electrical potential energy, which can increase the current flowing to your wall outlet. This in turn can damage your sensitive audio system.

The IsoTek protection system uses an array of VDRs which offer a cascading level of protection, in some cases over 100’000A. These step in fast and sequentially dependent upon the severity of the encountered power surge or spike. The architecture of the protection circuit extends dramatically and almost instantly when required.

The protection circuit has two primary functions, one to preserve itself and the second to step in gradually as any problem increases, with the ability to act very fast should an extreme condition occur. The protection circuits also protect the filters and the filters assist the protection in the initial stage. Unlike many protection devices these assist sound quality as well as providing protection.  Studies suggest this problem is not subtle and is frequent. The disturbing challenge is the 1’000 to 6’000V range. It is likely most protection systems do very little good and probably cause sound degradation.

ADAPTIVE GATING

IsoTek’s unique Adaptive Gating system determines the appropriate level of differential filtration for any connected load. The maximum level of overall power filtration is achieved whilst respecting current requirements.

This system also eliminates Differential Mode noise cross contamination between outlet sockets, as all connected devices will corrupt the supplied clean power upon consumption throwing back Differential Mode noise. It is vital that this noise isn’t allowed to affect another component’s performance.

K.E.R.P.

Technical papers state that Kirchhoff’s circuit laws are two equalities that deal with the current and potential difference (commonly known as voltage) in the lumped element model of electrical circuits. They were first described in 1845 by German physicist Gustav Kirchhoff. This generalized the work of Georg Ohm and preceded the work of James Clerk Maxwell. Widely used in electrical engineering, they are also called Kirchhoff’s rules or simply Kirchhoff’s laws. These laws can be applied in time and frequency domains and form the basis for network analysis.

The guiding principles for IsoTek circuits are driven by Kirchhoff’s two current laws, a simple analogy would be that for every litre of water placed into a water distribution system we would expect to get the same out.

To put it another way, Kirchhoff and Gauss described how seemingly impossible problems could be resolved by the concept of a town. If traffic flows on a circular orbital road around the town there is no effect on the town. However, if traffic enters the town, then there will be an effect on the town, and however many cars that enter eventually have to leave. The structure of that town will have either a positive or negative effect on that migration. In electronics this is also true. We must totally respect the signal path as, whether one wishes it or not, ultimately everything will be in the signal path to a greater or lesser degree.

SOLID OCC COPPER AG

As one would expect the internal wiring of any IsoTek product is of the highest standard, ultra pure Ohno Continuous Cast copper solid core conductor strands with silver-plating offers low resistance and high amperage. A Fluorinated Ethylene Propylene (FEP) helix is wound around the conductor before an extruded FEP dielectric protects the conductor and creates a Virtual Dielectric of Air (VDA). This construction gives unrivalled performance and gives the ultimate low resistance, high performance internal power delivery system.

IsoTek’s internal wiring synergizes with the range of IsoTek power cables. One critical but overlooked area is maintaining commonality of design and material properties though an audio wiring loom, be it signal carrying cables or your power cable network.

CONTINUOUS ABSOLUTE POWER

IsoTek delivers absolute power, unrestricted current delivery within what the power company can supply, and regulations allow. Generally, for power amplifiers or high wattage electronics IsoTek provides output which offers extremely low impedance and low DCR, this completely eliminates (within the concepts of power filtering) any possibility of current restriction and enhances dynamic range, the impedance of the chain back to the power station being far larger. When power is contaminated, dynamic range is reduced.

It is impossible to get more than 100% out of the mains supply. The very principle of AC power is that it doesn’t store energy in the transmission system. It is therefore impossible to store energy in an AC system by the very principles by which it works. There can be no so-called power reserve, thus a power reserve within an AC circuit in the truest sense of the word does not and cannot exist.

Power reserve would require the voltage to increase as ohms law insists it must, saying a circuit doesn’t sag isn’t a reserve of power. The AC waveform goes between maximum and minimum points at 50 Hz in 10 mS, it then swings to the maximum negative value. At 20 mS a full cycle is achieved. Therefore, in fact the average values of an AC waveform is zero. Only as a power wave can it be positive, this is due to the law of squared negatives. It looks like a ballooned sine wave where the value of 45 degrees is 0.5 not 0.7071 from a trigonometric table. Were this only a voltage wave it would have a long-term value of zero! As far as energy storage is concerned zero is the value of stored energy.

Direct Current resistance (DCR) will cause sag. To put it in other words, a system has to be developed which does not limit the power reserve of the power station, meaning a circuit needs to have extremely low resistance whilst maintaining sufficiently high inductance. When done correctly and in perfect balance the inductance is virtually zero at 50/60 Hz and the Direct Current resistance (DCR) is also very close to zero. Therefore, an ideal filter circuit must maintain zero Ohms resistance DC (or very close) and considerable AC resistance to noise above 50/60 Hz. Despite statements to the contrary, this is precisely where correctly specified materials matter most. Whilst some might consider these ‘exotic’ they represent a critical and important part of the function and appropriate to use. Remarkably IsoTek filter designs can maintain very low resistance at 50/60Hz but have very high amounts of noise cancellation above that frequency.

Most AC circuits are reactive – produce a reaction either from the power drawn or the circuit itself, put simply they are not pure resistors and behave like a capacitance and resistance or an inductance and resistance. In an ideal world the only allowable impediment is resistance and ideally this needs to be extremely low. A dilemma, do you want high transient power, or do you want heavy filtration – amazingly you can have both, but one must have components of the very highest quality, which are designed specifically for purpose with totally correct architecture. This is extremely complex and has resulted in the design of specialist parts; these do not exist outside the world of specialist power engineering and are unique to IsoTek designs.

SYSTEM LINK

Some IsoTek products (all V5) contain a System Link outlet, which is designed to connect multiple units together, maintaining a stared earth reference, and preserving the need for multiple wall outlet sockets.

This is particularly useful for joining multiple units together using our System Link cable available in EVO3 Initium, EVO3 Premier, EVO3 Sequel and EVO3 Optimum quality.

3 YEAR WARRANTY

As part of our on-going commitment to the highest standards of customer service, IsoTek offers you the opportunity to extend the standard 2 years product warranty to 3 years, free of charge.

Simply REGISTER YOUR PURCHASE with IsoTek. We do not share your personal details with any third parties without your permission.

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"Die jüngste Inkarnation des IsoTek Sigmas-Stromaubereiters ist perfekt aufgebaut und mit sieben Anschlussmöglichkeiten schon sehr gut ausgestattet. Der Einsatz der V5 Sigmas  hebt jede gute Anlage auf ein musikalisches Niveau, das mit einem Austausch von Geräten kaum erreichbar ist. Der Anschaffungspreis relativiert sich, weil sie den Genuss beim Musikhörens immens steigert. Damit wird die IsoTek V5 Sigmas zum wichtigsten Gerät in einer HiFi-Anlage, die überdurchschnittlich klingen soll. " - Stephan Schmid

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"Keith Martin and his team have always made good power filters, but what he did with the V5 generation is actually a mystery. V5 Sigmas - similar to the basic V5 Polaris , V5 Corvus , V5 Sirius or medium V5 Elektra and V5 Aquarius, and especially the top V5 Titan - offers cleaning, sharpening and clarification of your reproduction, pushing the components to their maximum performance and mainly improvements which - in the judgment of course only according to two different places, but still - it surpasses what we've had the opportunity to hear in the power filter segment so far. Why is it so good? Hard to say. But if you're looking for a filter that fits three components with a larger and four with a smaller draw and that makes a big difference, then V5 Sigmas is a great solution. In fact, so great and convincing that it was immediately added to the editorial equipment alongside the V5 Titan ." - Daniel Březina

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"There’s a question always asked; is it worth upgrading? Often, the answer is ‘no’; the change is incremental, and you aren’t going to get a big performance boost. That’s not the case with the IsoTek V5 Sigmas. The change on paper is not as big as the real-world boost in performance. The EVO3 Sigmas made decent systems sound more realistic, and the V5 Sigmas improves upon that realism significantly. IsoTek’s V5 Sigmas will improve the performance of a good medium-sized or larger audio system. It could be your first IsoTek product. If it isn’t, and you have an EVO3 Sigmas, a V5 Sigmas is your next upgrade." - Alan Sircom

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"The latest incarnation of the IsoTek Sigmas power amplifier is perfectly designed and, with seven connection options, is already very well equipped. Using the Sigmas V5 raises any good system to a musical level that can hardly be achieved by replacing devices. The purchase price is put into perspective because it increases the pleasure of listening to music immensely. This makes the IsoTek Sigmas V5 the most important device in a hi-fi system that should sound above average." - Stephan Schmid

SPECIFICATIONS