Description
Aquarius is a six-way mains conditioning component that sits squarely in the middle of IsoTek’s range, above the likes of the entry-level Sirius and below the high-end Sigmas, Nova and Titan. It sports two high-current and four medium-current outlets, all individually filtered and fully isolated from one another, together with a newly designed aluminium casing and host of enhancements under the lid, some trickled down from IsoTek’s top-end components, others newly developed and made available for the first time in Aquarius.
A full 16 Amps available from its two high-current outlets ensures musical transients are entirely unrestricted. Thermo-magnetic fusing contributes to this enhanced delivery, as does the use of a 16A IEC C20 inlet to connect Aquarius to the mains. Easily distinguished from standard IEC plugs and sockets because their pins are horizontal instead of vertical, IEC C20 connectors enable superior current delivery compared to the C13 plug and C14 socket most commonly found on audio equipment.
The four medium-current outlets now feature IsoTek’s Adaptive Gating technology an auto-sensing filter stage that adapts to the current draw of the load, thus tailoring the filtering process to suit the component attached to each individual outlet. This proprietary technology first appeared in the high-end Nova and Sigmas power conditioners; Aquarius delivers it at a significantly lower price.
The effect that Aquarius has on a system’s sound, compared to the same system without conditioning, is unequivocal. The noise floor drops and the sound gains greater focus, with reduced grain and improved clarity. Bass is tighter and better defined, treble gains space and ‘air’, and the overall musical performance appears more solid and dynamic, and hence more ‘real’.
