ACOUSTIC REVIVE RTP-4 EU 레퍼런스 파워서플라이 전원장치

A power strip is simply a "splitter" of the power supply—it goes in with a single cable, and it goes out via several outputs/sockets. Acoustic Revive in Europe offers one model, featuring four sockets. We would like to present you the latest version called the Absolute.

This is the first part of a two-part test. Later we will present also the Absolute power cable and an entire Absolute system with the power strip, power cable and two filters.

"To filter or not to filter?" I was stopped with this question for much longer then it would take to chose one of these two answers. If it were as simple as it might seem, it would have taken me about five seconds plus a handshake.

The thing happened during the Audio Video Show 2018, on Friday evening, in the corridor of the Radisson Blu Sobieski hotel, and the question was asked by one of the High Fidelity readers who wanted to know if it was better to connect his beloved headphone system to a power strip, in which there are no filtering elements, is it better to reach for one of the power supply conditioners. The answer should be simple and unambiguous, and in reality it requires reaching for something other than just knowledge—to our expectations and imaginations about an absolute sound.

Each of these ways has its advantages and disadvantages, that's just life. Each of these techniques in one system works better, in others worse—again: as in life. But even more important is that their success or failure is largely related to the condition of the whole installation in the building, as well as to how noisy (distorted) is the supply voltage. There are so many variables that the best solution is to try again and again, which will bring us closer to one of two answers: "to filter" or "not to filter."

RTP-4EU Absolute

It is worth knowing, however, that in addition to technical premises, the issue related to the power supply of audio devices is particularly saturated with ideology. If you heard the influence of some power strip, conditioner with passive filtration or active conditioner and "befriended" with the changes introduced by one of these methods, you will look for similar ones regardless of the circumstances I mentioned earlier.

This is also the case with Mr. Ken Ishiguro, designer-artist, music lover and expert, Sekiguchi Machine engineer, a thriving company producing industrial equipment, which is a mother company of the Acoustic Revive brand; Mr. Ishiguro is its CEO. His first products, RD-1 demagnetizers from 2002 and later RD-2, as well as the RTP-6 power strip from the same year, won a lot of awards in the audio press, and licenses for them were bought by Furutech, which presented their own versions.

The cooperation between these two Japanese companies is extremely tight. The new version of the RTP-4EU Ultimate strip, which I have been using in my reference system for several years, the RTP-4EU Absolute model, has Furutech's elements in its DNA; power and IEC sockets. The former were developed jointly by both companies and these are the latest NCF versions.

The Nanocrystalline Formula (NFC) is a material with 'active' properties. First of all, it generates negative ions that eliminate static electricity in the socket and secondly it converts thermal energy into easily extinguished infrared waves. This material was combined by Furutech with nanoceramic particles and carbon powder, that have piezoelectric properties. Their copper contacts are also rhodium-plated.

These sockets were bolted to the milled aluminum block in the variant chosen by Mr. Ishiguro based on listening sessions. The whole bottom is flooded with material suppressing high-frequency interference, also suppressing the bar mechanically. Connections are made with Triple-C cables, that we already know from the Power Reference Triple-C review. These are solid-core cables with an oval 2.8 x 2.4 mm cross-section in silk and Teflon insulation.

The interior was also filled with a material resembling wool—another material minimizing RF interference, used in industrial devices for special purposes. On the bottom of the strip's housing, as well as on the IEC socket, Mr. Ishiguro glued small discs of mountain crystal—a thing we have known for a long time (more HERE). A unit prepared for me featured his signatures placed everywhere and some special signs made by this artist, as if during some secret rituals.

The new strip is smaller than the older one, it has other sockets and cabling and additional vibration damping elements were used in it. This however, is still a power strip without any electronic filtering components, with four power sockets, set on four small feet.

Technical specifications (according to manufacturer)

Number of outlets: 4

Mains input voltage: 230V/50 Hz

Dimensions (H x WS x D): 880 x 700 x 265 mm

Weight: 2.5 kg