Standard Jaya mains filter

The standard Jaya mains filter is our cheapest mains conditioning product. But that fact does not reduce its significance one jot - in our view its a very important piece of kit.

In the Jan 2010 issue of Hi-Fi World, Paul Rigby wrote in a 'soundbites' review of the Jaya...

"... Plugging the Jaya into the block socket nearest to the mains cable proved the most effective position, a lovely cohesive stereo image, beautifully seamless across the room. The Jaya is surprisingly effective for what looks like a lump of metal with a lead, improving overall sound quality and making me wonder what other improvements are possible."

Roy Gregory also reviewed the standard Jaya (and Silver Jaya) in issue 48 of Hi-Fi Plus. You can read the review here.

But what exactly is the Jaya? Well, its a radio frequency shunt filter. The simple explanation is that the filter circuit allows harmful radio frequency noise that might be present on the live (or neutral) to be 'shunted' to the earth return. That is, the circuit provides a low-resistance 'short circuit' to earth for high-frequency noise - but not for low frequencies, such as the 50Hz power signal. Physically, its just a box with a single captive mains lead, and you simply plug it into an unused socket.

But as well as employing a good quality shunt filter circuit, the Jaya has another trick up its sleeve. A large part of our research and technology is based around the fact that electronic components are microphonic - and that includes 'self-microphony', whereby signals travelling through components such as capacitors (part of any filter) impart their own forces which cause vibration. This vibration then causes the capacitor to generate its own signal, which becomes another source of electrical noise. So the circuit inside the Jaya is built onto its own mini acoustic absorption labyrinth, which significantly reduces microphonic distortion. The result of this effort is a much cleaner and sweeter sounding filter (in repeated listening tests the same circuit without the labyrinth sounds nowhere near as good).

Now you can see from Paul Rigby's quote above, that the Jaya gave a considerable performance improvement when plugged into a spare socket in his system's distribution block. And when only one is used, this is invariably the best place to use it. But there are two more important cases to consider with the Jaya.

First, in a higher-end system context the Jaya becomes a very powerful, and cost-effective device indeed - when used in a different way. If a high-end system is employing a full Vertex AQ mains loom and say a HiRez Jaya and/or a HiRez Taga distribution block (or indeed, mains conditioners from other manufacturers!), then an additional one or even two further Jayas can be used in sockets further away from the system. This has the effect of lowering the background RFI before it gets near to the hi-fi system, in essence we are pre-filtering the mains, producing a far quieter zone around the system. Indeed, in practical terms for a high-end installation, the Jayas should be tried in various locations in the listening room and even in other parts of the house. Seeking out other 'noisy spots' in the house, and dealing with it locally often brings another leap forward in the sonic performance of the system.

Secondly, one or two standard Jayas correctly installed in a high-end home cinema system can bring a staggering performance improvement. And not only with sound quality - DVD and blu-ray picture quality improves massively too, particularly with red colours, detail and fast action.

For more information and specs on all the Vertex AQ mains conditioning products, click here.